STEM Pathways - NYAS

A young girl built a small, wheeled vehicle out of LEGOs.

Middle school students tackle “Nature’s Fury” through teamwork, persistence, and robots at an Academy event.

Published August 1, 2014

By Caitlin Johnson

Image courtesy of LIGHTFIELD STUDIOS via stock.adobe.com.

For a moment, 12-year-old Gabriella Ryan was distracted by the sweeping view of the Hudson River from The New York Academy of Science’s (the Academy’s) fortieth-floor conference space at 7 World Trade Center.

“This is the first time my team has competed in the city this year and it’s really cool to be in this atmosphere,” Ryan said, admiring the spring sun reflecting off the buildings below. “It’s like, so real because we’re here. I’m really excited to see all the different teams. And of course, all the robots.”

Ryan, a seventh grader at the St. Clare School on Staten Island came with her team, the Transformers 2, and 10 other middle school teams for the Academy’s fourth annual Family Engineering Challenge Day this spring.

In all, more than 100 students from schools across New York City took part in the daylong celebration of science and engineering. Students worked together to problem-solve, learn, and have some serious fun with science.

Teams came prepared to compete in three activities: a LEGO® Robotics Gameboard Challenge, a research project—both of which are part of a global series of events sponsored by LEGO and the nonprofit science mentoring program, FIRST®—and a networking challenge where students collected stickers for successfully interacting with scientists and engineers.

The National Geographic Explorers’ Engineering Challenge

This year, a fourth challenge was announced the day of the event: the National Geographic Explorers’ Engineering Challenge, which asks students to tackle a problem that a National Geographic photographer might encounter in the field: how to lift a camera 10 feet in the air for an aerial shot while the photographer’s feet remain firmly on solid ground.

Each of the challenges picks up on the theme of this year’s event, “Nature’s Fury.” It’s a theme that hit close to home, especially for those who live in areas of the Northeastern U.S. hit hard by Superstorm Sandy just over a year ago.

In addition to the students, their families, and coaches, more than 30 adult volunteers—most of them graduate students or professionals in STEM fields—volunteered to spend their Saturday serving as mentors or judges for the research projects.

For Bridget Huang, a biochemistry PhD student at Columbia University and volunteer mentor for the day, it’s all about demystifying science and helping kids see that it’s not boring, scary, or foreign.

“It’s not necessarily about making everyone here become a scientist,” Huang said. “My goal is that I don’t want any of them to be afraid of science. I want them to have interest, which will help them in any case. Even if they work in business, they should to be able to talk to scientists.”

Tinkering & Teamwork

The centerpiece of the day was the tabletop LEGO® Robotics scrimmage, where teams design and program a LEGO robot to navigate an 8-foot by 4-foot game board in two-and-a-half minutes. The layout of the board simulated the aftermath of a natural disaster. Teams earned points for each task their robot completed—for example, clearing debris, avoiding obstacles, and picking up and moving pieces from one spot on the board to another.

Many of the students said they were especially excited about learning computer programming to “teach” their robots what to do, and about incorporating high-tech components into their LEGO creations. “The coolest thing was the ultrasonic sensor we put on our robot. We could program the distance from barriers and surfaces and it could avoid them,” said Ariel Sanchez, 9, with PS 94K’s Master Blaster team.

His teammate Eric Velasquez, also 9, said that they first learned about the sensor by watching others use it and “we decided to learn how to use it for the missions. The sensor makes me feel like, ‘How can we learn and use new things?’”

That spirit of collaborative learning—borrowing and building on what works—is a big part of what this annual event is designed to foster.

Because this was a scrimmage, not an official FIRST LEGO League (FLL) competition, it was open to teams who didn’t qualify for the FLL finals taking place later in the spring at the Javitz Center in New York. And while the scrimmage mimicked the competition format—with four tables of teams competing at the same time—each robot was going for its personal best rather than trying to beat the others.

Collaboration and Problem Solving

Each team got three runs on the scrimmage tables; in between, they could take their boards back to their “base camps” and tweak things. “As with all good engineering, there’s iteration that happens and the teams learn a lot about what happens with the robots as they watch them perform,” said Stephanie Wortel, Academy Education Program Manager. “They work together to problem-solve and make their robots even better.”

That’s what members of team Flash from Genesis Middle School at Xavarian High School in Brooklyn did after their first run. Huddled over their gameboard, Ryan Clark, 11, and teammates CJ Ruiz, Michael Cuddy, and Chris McElhinney, all 12, were replacing their robot’s treads and swapping out some of the parts.

“This wasn’t planned, it was more like a last-minute thing,” Cuddy admitted. “The referees told us we could use more accuracy and speed.”

Teammate Alexander Ayoub, 13, stopped tinkering long enough to reflect: “The thing about this, it’s just a great experience because many other people don’t do this kind of stuff and it really makes us a lot smarter. But it takes a lot of things, like building and programming, and you need strategies. That helps you with practically everything in life, not just if you want to become an engineer or a programmer.”

Nearby, David Cadunzi, 13, with St. Clare Transformers, said that’s what he likes most about this annual Academy event: “It’s about having fun, and the trial and error that helps you succeed. When my team and I don’t get a program we want to get, we don’t back down. We keep trying it even though we mess up a lot.”

“Gameifying” Science and Mathematics

John Steib, 12, with Team LEGO Force agreed: “That’s a good thing you have to learn in life, too. You can’t just fix everything by doing it one way or with the push of a button.”

“It’s easier working together with a team because if you’re doing one thing and it’s hard for you, your friends are there and you can learn from them,” Shameekah Gray, 13, said.

Some pretty grownup lessons were being learned through “gameifying” science and mathematics.

The Robotics Challenge may have been the main event, but students were equally excited about the research project. In September 2013, teams were given an assignment: identify a real community and a nature-related problem it faces, and come up with an innovative solution that will prevent damage or help the community recover from the natural disaster.

And innovate they did.

Projects ranged from a waterproof coating to prevent generators from exploding (developed by students in Bay Ridge and Breezy Point, Brooklyn, which was plagued by fires after Sandy) to an inflatable “SnapAlert” life vest that includes supplies and a homing device to alert rescuers, to a full-body suit to keep wearers safe and warm in dirty flood waters. A more fanciful project, Hurricane Fighters, centered on large flying robots that emit countervailing winds to disrupt hurricanes.

At the Academy, each team got 20 minutes to pitch their ideas and field questions from a panel of judges, all of them STEM professionals from Tata Consultancy Services, Moody’s, Goldman Sachs, and InfoSys.

“It felt so real because we were in a conference room and the judges were actual engineers and people in the field,” said Thomas Drennan, a member of St. Clare’s Transformers.

Special Recognition

Judges gave special recognition to several stand-out projects, including those designed by the two St. Clare Transformers teams from Staten Island.

“Sandy was definitely a big motivator for us because we lived it,” said Mary Lee, coach of both Transformers teams. “We were out of school for a week with no electricity, and we had kids whose families lost homes.”

“We considered a lot of ideas and decided on the ones we thought would be the most effective and would help our community the most,” St. Clare student Daniella Gomes said.

Transformers 1 designed “Pack N’ Track,” a waterproof box that keeps valuable papers safe and has a transponder so it can be tracked at a distance of 35 feet (in version two, the team plans to boost the distance).

Transformers 2 built “The Window Seal,” a window that automatically seals itself during a flood. They used a typical basement window and lined it with a bicycle tire tube that inflates when water activates a pressure sensor, indicating that flood waters are nearing the window.

Not all teams designed research projects to solve hurricane and flood-related problems. Team LEGOForce from MS 442 in Brooklyn chose Boston as their community, and blizzard-related power outages as their problem to solve.

“During a blizzard, it’s really important [to keep power on] because you can get hypothermia and that can be deadly,” said Ivan Sanchez, 13.

After talking to an Office of Emergency Management employee and one of the team member’s landlords, an electrician, they came up with the idea for a cover for electric power lines made from a flexible series of connected casings “like the shell of a millipede.”

A Little Scary, A Lot Cool

That way, “it’s a little bouncy so when a tree or a branch lands on it, it will bounce off a little. It reinforces the wire,” Yosmai Bielma, 13, said.

“The quality of the presentations and the ideas and the access the kids have to information continues to amaze me,” said Paul Walker, a physicist by training who leads technology for Goldman Sachs and is also an Academy Board Member. He volunteered to judge the presentations, as he has done each year of the event.

Walker noted that this year, the networking component was integrated throughout the event. “In so many science programs, formal communication and science are emphasized but informal communication or networking—which is really the difference between success and failure in many of these fields—is not part of the program.”

Bronx Taskforce coach Oscar Lemus said the Academy scrimmage “gives kids a career awareness that other tournaments can’t offer. They have unlimited questions, and this is a place where they can ask real scientists.”

For Enxon Zheng, from PS 94 in Brooklyn, the networking was both “scary and cool. Today, I learned how to be braver and have courage to talk with others and learn and know about them. I’m usually kind of shy.”

Meeting Real Scientists

“That’s my favorite part,” said Darius Gravely with team LEGOForce. “I get to meet people who are actually, like, from science and ask how they work with science.”

This year, that included a visit from real-life astronauts, including Charlie Camarda and Rick Linnehan. Throughout the event, they visited with teams and fielded questions from excited students.

A Queens native and graduate of Brooklyn Polytech, Camarda praised the Academy for teaching teamwork, communication, and the importance of failing and trying again.

“The older these kids get, the more they’re going to be told what works and what doesn’t work. We have to make sure that they stay critical thinkers and lifelong learners and [don’t] just take at face value what someone says but figure it out for themselves and stay creative,” he said.

Check out the Innovation Challenges sponsored by The New York Academy of Sciences!

About the Author

Caitlin Johnson is the co-founder and managing editor of www.sparkaction.org, a website that covers a range of child and youth issues.

Supporting the NeXXt Generation of STEM

A graphic of five different women in various stages of work and school.

Professional role models help undergraduate women turn STEM aspirations into realities.

Published August 1, 2013

By Diana Friedman

Image courtesy of A-DIGIT via istockphoto.com.

“I grew up in a rural area [of the U.S.] with the ‘Fisher Price people’ jobs around me—most people built things or worked on a farm and if you went to college you could be a teacher, nurse, dentist, or doctor,” says Kristy Lamb, PhD, a Fellow in the NeXXt Scholars Program, through which she provides mentoring.

The program is a joint effort between The New York Academy of Sciences, the U.S. Department of State, and a consortium of U.S. women’s colleges that pairs professional women working in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields with undergraduate women from the United States and countries with predominantly Muslim populations who are majoring in STEM subjects.

“It wasn’t until I took AP biology in the 11th grade that someone told me that science was complicated and detailed and [that] we didn’t have it all figured out yet,” says Lamb, a postdoctoral associate in radiation oncology at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York. That uncertainty appealed to Lamb who enrolled in a science summer program targeting students from rural areas. “In three weeks—from just that taste of microbiology—I was hooked on research.”

Now, thanks in part to the summer program that got her started on the path to a research career, Lamb is reaching out to the next generation of researchers through mentoring.

The NeXXt Scholars Program: How It Works

The New York Academy of Sciences, in partnership with the U.S. Department of State and a consortium of women’s colleges, developed the NeXXt Scholars Program to support young women from countries with predominantly Muslim populations (International NeXXt Scholars) and college-appointed young American women (American NeXXt Scholars) as they pursue undergraduate degrees in STEM fields at U.S. women’s colleges.

The Program was inspired by a young woman from Egypt named Weam, who was accepted into a Master’s degree program in biological sciences at a U.S. women’s college. Weam’s father was initially resistant to the idea of allowing his daughter to live alone in a foreign country. But, two factors gave him the courage to break strong cultural norms and allow Weam to pursue the degree: his high regard for science and the higher education system in the U.S. and the environment offered by a women’s college.

These two aspects—science education and a women’s college—provided the tipping point for Weam to seize an opportunity that changed her future. Weam’s mother proudly attended her graduation and, since then, her family has even allowed Weam to return to the U.S. for the pursuit of a doctorate degree at a co-educational institution.

Inspired by Weam’s experience, former U.S. State Department staffer Sandra Laney conceptualized the NeXXt Scholars Program to provide opportunities and support for women, 50% of the world’s potential workforce, who she feels are critical to future innovations in STEM fields. The Program was officially launched by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in December 2011 and in fall 2012 the inaugural cohort of NeXXt Scholars began the Program.

Matched with STEM Professionals

All NeXXt Scholars are matched with women working in STEM professions (Fellows) who mentor the Scholars as they navigate their undergraduate careers, providing support regarding career paths and professional development. The Scholars have one-on-one relationships with their mentors, but are also linked to a wider network of STEM professionals through online resources and 5-year Academy memberships.

The first cohort of International NeXXt Scholars hail from Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and Turkey. They were nominated through the State Department’s EducationUSA centers, which help promote cross-cultural understanding via academic exchange and study programs for international students. American NeXXt Scholars, accomplished young women who are selected by their colleges to partner with the International NeXXt Scholars, hail from across the United States.

NeXXt Scholars are currently attending Barnard College, Bryn Mawr College, Columbia College (SC), Douglass Residential College at Rutgers University, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, Wellesley College, and Wilson College. Due to the success of the Program in its first year, a new class of Scholars and Fellows will be joining the program in the fall of 2013.

A Matter of Perspective

Fellows in the NeXXt Scholars Program interact with their assigned mentees on a regular basis. “We talk on the phone once a week and text at least every other day,” says student Sami Cahill, who is effusive about her mentor’s important role during her first year at Columbia College in South Carolina. “She gives me encouragement, but she also gives me the real-life perspective,” she says. “She’s really personally invested in me.”

Rabeb Layouni, a student at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, also cites a strong personal connection with her mentor. “We talk every week for almost 2 hours, but it’s not just me asking for help—she tells me what’s going on her life too. She puts things in perspective in a way that my friends can’t.” Layouni, who is from Tunisia, got into medical school—a very typical career path for smart Tunisian students—in her home country, but she felt that being a medical doctor wasn’t necessarily her calling. “My mentor really makes me feel there are more possibilities out there,” says Layouni, who hopes to identify a career path that incorporates her love of problem-solving.

Mentors use a variety of techniques to show their STEM students what’s possible. “Together we explore STEM career paths and gather information so she can make choices,” says Dana Miloaga, PhD, R/D project engineer at PPG Industries, Inc. in Pennsylvania, of her mentee. Miloaga knows first-hand what a lack of choice feels like, having grown up in Romania where she didn’t have access to the foreign language texts that she hoped to study. “I help my mentee identify persons to interview so that she can learn directly about their work and experience,” she adds.

Connections Across Cultures

Fellow Majd Matta, a PhD candidate in astronomy at Boston University, grew up in the middle of civil war in Beirut and relished thinking about science as a child—a welcome mental escape from the hard realities of many days spent in bomb shelters. She has learned through the mentoring process “that some social and cultural challenges are timeless.”

Matta’s mentee, Layouni, has had to face the same issues upon coming to the U.S. as Matta did many years ago. Despite their different backgrounds, challenges such as coping with being far away from home and switching to a different verbal mode are common ground. “I must have lucked out to get such an admirable mentee,” says Matta, who has been impressed by the grace with which Layouni has handled such obstacles.

Fellow Connie Jeffery signed up for the NeXXt Scholars Program thinking that she might be able to help bridge some of the cultural gaps an international NeXXt Scholar might face, having worked closely with many women from countries with predominantly Muslim populations throughout the course of her academic life as an associate professor of biological sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

But she has found the experience to be an excellent learning opportunity for her, too: “I’ve seen a lot in the news about [my mentee’s] country [the Palestinian Territories], but it has been interesting to learn more about what it is like to live there,” says Jeffery, who notes that she finds talks with her mentee an enjoyable way to fulfill her innate sense of volunteerism while creating lasting connections.

Unexpected Payback

Lamb, like her fellow NeXXt Scholar mentors, has found that paying it forward has payoffs of its own: “There’s something to sitting down and offering mentorship to someone younger…that helps you consolidate your knowledge about your career and reflect on the journey you have taken,” she says.

“Postdocs are often perceived to be in an odd limbo—part professional, part trainee—but I think participating in this program has helped me to better realize my professional self and to step away from thinking of myself as a trainee,” says Lamb. Working with young people also injects a sense of excitement and enthusiasm into her professional work, Lamb says. “It’s infectious.”

Jeffery and Matta both noted that they find the expanded NeXXt Scholar network—from the other mentors and mentees to the program organizers at the Academy—to be invigorating. “I have gained both a friend and great peer network,” says Matta.

A New Challenge A Mentor’s Worth

In April of this year, the NeXXt Scholars and their Fellows were invited to a special event at the United States Mission to the United Nations (USUN) in New York. At the event, the Scholars were able to practice their networking skills—honed through group activities at Barnard College and The Rockefeller University earlier in the day—with UN ambassadors and representatives from UN Women, the UN Secretariat, UNESCO, and other stakeholders interested in women and science.

Meghan Groome, PhD, executive director of Education and Public Programs at the Academy, gave a short talk, noting the overwhelming success of the inaugural cohort of the NeXXt Scholars Program, which is made possible by the generosity of the mentors who volunteer their time as well as the outstanding undergraduate Scholars.

She also issued a challenge to the students, tasking them with finding ways to mentor others, whether elementary or high school students, their peers, or next year’s incoming college first-years. Groome cited the importance of the Scholars in developing a continuous feedback loop in which mentees become mentors. “No matter what your age or experience, there’s always someone you can mentor.”

Support is Key to Inspire Tomorrow’s Visionaries

A man in a suit and tie poses for the camera.

Ashok Vemuri and the Infosys USA Foundation place a premium on promoting STEM. Thus far these efforts have been immensely successful and have surpassed their goals. But how do we maintain this level of success?

Published December 1, 2012

By Noah Rosenberg

Ashok Vemuri’s professional achievements are no small feat. But he insists that neither were his mentors’ roles in helping him arrive at where he is today: the Head of Americas and Global Head of Financial Services & Insurance at Infosys, where he also serves as a member of the board.

“In my career, I have benefited from being mentored by some key individuals,” says Vemuri, who in 2008 was selected by Business Today as one of India’s 25 Hottest Young Executives, and the following year was elected to the Forum of Young Global Leaders by the World Economic Forum. “And I also make it a priority to offer advice and support to our employees under the aegis of the Infosys Leadership Institute.”

It turns out that Vemuri’s support and advice, and that of Infosys, extends well beyond the company’s hallowed halls. In 2010, a passionate conversation between Infosys Co-Founder and Executive Co-Chairman S. (Kris) Gopalakrishnan and leadership at The New York Academy of Sciences (the Academy) about the value of mentors, led to the Infosys USA Foundation’s first U.S. grant, which went to the Academy to help seed its Afterschool STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) Mentoring Program.

Infosys’ involvement, Vemuri explains, enabled the company and its foundation to support “exploration and hands-on learning opportunities” for underprivileged students under the guidance of highly-skilled mentors—graduate students and post-docs who have successfully applied and trained to become Academy Education Fellows. Infosys employees find ways to get directly involved too; those who hold engineering degrees or Masters in science and math volunteer their time to engage students with cutting-edge subjects like robotics or space science, as well as the perennially vital fields of biology or earth science.

An Enormous Success

The first year of the Afterschool Mentoring Program was an enormous success, placing more than 120 mentors in 84 after-school and summer programs across all five boroughs of New York City. More than 2,100 elementary and middle school children benefited as a result and, Vemuri notes, the program continues to satisfy the Infosys USA Foundation’s mission of “fulfilling the social responsibility of the company by creating opportunities and working toward a more equitable society.”

Clearly, the Afterschool Mentoring Program, which initially partnered with the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development, is a win-win. The program is central to the Academy’s K-12 Education Initiative and its goal of encouraging higher achievement both in and out of the classroom with respect to STEM.

Fortunately, the Infosys USA Foundation was just getting started. The Foundation, which is financed by up to one percent of Infosys’ annual profits, recently expanded its challenge grant to the Academy to include a New Jersey partnership with the national non-profit organization Citizen Schools, effectively extending the Afterschool Program’s influence to low-income students in Newark via $50,000 in additional funding, bringing the cumulative total to $350,000.

Surpassing Goals

The additional funding support from the Infosys USA Foundation will allow the Academy to recruit, train, and support 30 new mentors in the 2011-2012 school year. The Afterschool Program will provide 180 hours of hands-on after-school activities for 450 fourth-through eighth-graders in New Jersey, as well as extend Academy membership to at least 300 teachers in the state.

“In today’s times when fewer students are graduating from high school than ever before, as responsible adult citizens of society, it is important for us to retain students in school beyond regular hours,” Vemuri says of Infosys’ decision to scale its involvement with the Academy’s Afterschool STEM Mentoring Program. He notes that participating students are immersed in subject areas that are “core to our business at Infosys.”

Naturally, Vemuri is pleased to have had a role in the Afterschool Program’s success, and he hopes the program continues to have an influence, churning out the next generation of science, technology, engineering, and math visionaries. “We are proud of our association with the Academy and the STEM Mentoring Program,” Vemuri says. “For me personally, it has been very satisfying to see the program surpass its goals.”

Learn more about the Academy’s educational programming.

About the Author

Noah Rosenberg is a journalist in New York City.

The Intersection of Sports and STEM

A soccer ball in the foreground, with players, a goal, and a sunset in the background.

Piquing kids’ interest in science, technology, engineering, and math may be as easy as picking up a ball.

Published August 1, 2012

By Adedeji B. Badiru

Image courtesy of nateejindakum via stock.adobe.com.

Much has been said about the need to find new strategies to spark the interest of kids in STEM education. This is essential for preserving the nation’s technological superiority and ensuring economic advancement. The key is to find the right “hook and bait” to get youngsters interested in technical and scientific fields.

Recent studies have concluded that physical activities can enhance the learning potential of kids. Why not, then, channel that connection toward enhancing STEM education through a structured sports and STEM curriculum?

Ball-based sports (soccer, basketball, tennis, softball, racquetball, etc.) are particularly well-suited for translation into engaging STEM lessons. After all, all balls are not created equal. The STEM properties of sports balls are different based on their intended purposes. Kids can study the properties of individual balls or do a comparative analysis of different types of balls.

Sparking Curiosity

On a recent visit to the Air Force Institute of Technology, Astronaut Mike Fossum, a 1981 graduate of the institute, showed a video where a colleague of his on the International Space Station played baseball all by himself. He would pitch the ball and then let himself float ahead of the ball so that he could bat, then catch the ball at the other end, eventually throwing it to himself again. This is an exciting illustration of how the lack of gravity in space can be exploited for a self-played game.

I do not know many young kids who will see such a demonstration and not ask further questions. With questions comes inquisitiveness and with inquisitiveness comes interest. Teachers can use this interest to explain, engage, and retain attention for STEM principles.

A specific example of using ball sports to teach STEM subjects is provided by the education-oriented website, www.physicsofsoccer.com. This resource presents an engaging connection between physics and soccer. Issues addressed by the website include what makes a ball bounce, how gravity affects the flight path of a soccer ball, and how friction and moisture impede a ball’s path.

These are issues that inquiring young minds would be delighted to explore in a fun, relational way. For example, the flight path of a kicked soccer ball can be modeled to provide engaging simulation experiments to teach kids new concepts about gravity, lift, and drag, without the intimidation that can often accompany these subjects.

Soccer Ball Dissection

Analogous to the way kids learn biology by dissecting a frog, the “dissection” of a soccer ball, both literally and figuratively, can reveal learning opportunities for the STEM properties embodied in the ball. The image to the right illustrates where and how STEM elements fit into the overall integrity of the soccer ball in terms of mathematical description of the shape, surface properties, and shape design of the ball.

The shape of a soccer ball is an example of a solid spherical polyhedron, also known as truncated icosahedrons, which has 12 black pentagons, 20 white hexagons, 60 vertices, and 90 edges.

This example of dissecting a soccer ball to illustrate STEM applications is not in itself the goal here, but rather provides an example of the ways that parents and teachers can leverage whatever is at hand (e.g., sports equipment or other props) to explain and spark interest in STEM subjects.

Every sports opportunity can be leveraged as a science learning opportunity. The key is to recognize and exploit the available opportunity. If we do this, STEM may spread more sustainably than we ever imagined.

About the Author

Adedeji B. Badiru is professor and head of Systems and Engineering Management at the Air Force Institute of Technology in Dayton, OH.

The Science of Start-Ups: From Idea to IPO

A graphic of a lightbulb with a human brain in the middle.

A revamped “From Idea to IPO” course program provides a crash course in entrepreneurship for the scientifically savvy.

Published June 1, 2012

By Christina Duffy

Image courtesy of ILEXX – istockphoto.com.

When Ching Yao Yang, a PhD candidate working in materials chemistry at New York University, received an email from his lab advisor detailing problems with lab management, he had a great idea for a new company: “I wanted to create an environment for people to use technology in the lab, not only researchers, but primary investigators and vendors.” But with no formal business training, he was not sure where to start.

Enter “From Idea to IPO,” a course offered by The New York Academy of Sciences through the Academy’s Science Alliance, which provides career education, development, and training for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Science professionals enrolled in the 12-week course gain the tools necessary to understand, grow, and sustain a start-up business—moving ideas from the lab to the business world—and bring it to life in the ever-changing marketplace of New York City.

Since Science Alliance introduced the “From Idea to IPO” course in 2004, it has been one of its most popular and longest running programs; approximately 500 young scientists in the NYC metropolitan area have taken the course thus far.

A Fresh Perspective

Earlier this year, Science Alliance Director Monica Kerr took over the direction and teaching of “From Idea to IPO,” using the opportunity to breathe new life into the program.

“My goal was to freshen up an ongoing, popular program that was running nearly unchanged since its launch in 2004 and also address some challenges I had observed,” says Kerr.

Kerr, who earned her PhD in cell and developmental biology from the Biological and Biomedical Sciences Program at Harvard Medical School, realized that in a world of constantly evolving technology and business models, the course had, in recent years, lost some of its luster and that beneath its dulled surface lay the perfect marriage of science and business.

“As I was restructuring the curriculum, I aimed to not only teach the nuts and bolts of starting a new venture, but to also cultivate entrepreneurial skills, off er exposure to the start-up community in NYC, and increase awareness of various career paths supporting the commercialization of science,” says Kerr, who took a systematic approach to revamping the course curriculum through use of existing successful models.

“I accomplished this by incorporating more active learning approaches, which have been shown to be highly effective in increasing student learning and recruiting 15 guest contributors from the local entrepreneurial ecosystem,” says Kerr.

These changes were directly influenced by a similar course taught at Stanford University School of Engineering by consulting professor Tom Kosnik, who was instrumental in sharing course lecture notes and materials, says Kerr. Andrew Nelson, co-author of Technology Ventures: From Idea to Enterprise, also assisted in thinking about syllabus design and how to utilize and incorporate the textbook.

“Opportunity Recognition and Evaluation” and “Pursuit of Opportunity”

Kerr has divided the course into two modules: “Opportunity Recognition and Evaluation,” which covers innovations in technology, the creation of business models, and entrepreneurial marketing, and “Pursuit of Opportunity,” which covers the more concrete components of business, including patent protection, finance, accounting basics, and start-up and venture capital.

Students put this knowledge to use by undertaking course-long team projects where they work through the process of starting a mock company using a science-based business idea they decide upon as a team. Each team is assigned a local mentor who works in the entrepreneurship field, who they can go to for support and advice.

Guest speakers for the course include entrepreneurs as well as members of the technology transfer, legal, accounting, and finance communities. Many of these guest speakers also come back to serve as judges for the final day of the course, when students “pitch” their mock companies to a panel of experts and get personalized feedback on everything from their business idea to their presentation style.

New York City Entrepreneur-in-Residence Melinda Thomas, who serves as both a guest speaker and a judge for the course, has noticed a positive change in the course over the past year. “I was very impressed by the change in terms of it being more engaging. Monica is using the case method to teach points. Students work through a real company that has a real issue and they become more engaged in having to think it through.”

Thomas—who has been the business brains behind several successful medical and science start-ups and is now a leader in the NYC start-up community—believes that the team building component of the course is very beneficial in crafting profitable science-based business ideas.

From Mock Project to Marketplace

“Once you have an idea and start your company, you won’t have all the skills needed to create the product. You’re going to have to work in a team and learn how to ask the right questions.” While scientists are used to working together to solve problems, points out Thomas, working through problems in a business capacity can take some practice.

One illustration of exemplary teamwork that came out of the most recent “From Idea to IPO” course is Team Benchsoft. Comprised of scientists from a variety of disciplines, three members of Team Benchsoft —including Ching Yao Yang, who came up with the idea for a better lab management system—have forged ahead with their mock class project, taking it to the marketplace. With their only formal business training coming in the form of Kerr’s instruction in “From Idea to IPO,” Yang, Jasmin Hume, and Raul Catena have made the commitment to start a real company.

Since taking the course, they have written a business plan, created an advisory board, and incorporated the company. They are currently shopping the company around to angel investors. “We are moving really quickly,” says Hume. “During the course, we were learning and implementing simultaneously.” Hume, a PhD candidate who works in the lab with Yang, feels that the material they learned in the course was directly—and immediately—applicable to the process of creating a start-up company.

“Learning about the sequence of events has been really helpful. It’s important to know where to focus at each point in the process, whether it’s on building a prototype or looking for money,” says Catena.

Success Story

Yang cites the expert guest speakers and the team’s mentor as a big part of their early success. “Our mentor has the same background as us (a PhD) so he was able to give us constructive criticism on both the technical and business aspects of our idea.”

When asked about the ideal outcomes of the course, Kerr cites a variety of potential results—from students obtaining positions in technology transfer, patent law, venture capital, or at a start-up to students gaining new skills that are helpful for advancement regardless of career path. However, it’s clear that she is particularly proud of Team Benchsoft and Yang, Hume, and Catena’s transition to real-life entrepreneurs.

“It has been very inspiring to instill in students very practical information and skills that they can begin to implement immediately. Hearing them report that they feel equipped with the tools to start a new venture, and then to see one team actually in the process of pursuing this with their team project, is very validating.”

About the Author

Christina Duffy is a freelance writer in New York City.

To Build an Economic Engine: Overhaul Education

From rural one-room schoolhouse to Chancellor of the State University of New York, Nancy Zimpher has a diverse perspective on education.

Published May 1, 2011

By Marilynn Larkin

When Nancy Zimpher entered the one-room schoolhouse in the foothills of the Ozarks, she knew she was in trouble. “I was the sole teacher for four grades meshed into one classroom. The disconnect between how I had been prepared—as an English teacher—and what I was expected to do in the classroom couldn’t have been clearer,” Zimpher recalls.

“I hadn’t developed the disciplinary skills to stretch across that range of subjects. And I didn’t know as much as I needed to know about managing a classroom. I also didn’t know enough about how young people developed cognitively and emotionally and socially at different grade levels. And I didn’t know how to provide for students the kinds of extracurricular and home life assistance that were required in what we now call a ‘high-needs’ school.”

That experience, in the early 1970s, helped shape Zimpher’s career, which ultimately took her out of the classroom and into the spotlight as a passionate advocate and respected leader in transforming education for students as well as teachers. In her current role as Chancellor of the State University of New York (SUNY), a post she accepted in 2009, Zimpher has continued her efforts to revitalize the educational system, focusing on New York State as a model for the nation.

Education Pipeline

“It’s not unusual for teachers to be teaching out of their depth and out of their discipline, often certified on some emergency basis to teach in some of the most challenging environments. This indicates that the supply chain is quite broken,” Zimpher says. “In terms of solutions, what started as a little ball rolling down the hill has become a huge issue that is coming together at this stage of my professional career through my work at SUNY, where we’re creating models that enable a very different approach to education.”

At the heart of Zimpher’s vision is an “education pipeline” that encompasses “everything people are learning at home and in schools, from the time they’re born through college graduation and as they pursue a career,” she explains. “We need to make a more connected pathway, supporting students not only in the classroom, but outside of school, in their families, in their neighborhoods, and in the whole social structure of our communities,” she says. This systemic approach is exemplified in two recent initiatives she spearheaded: Strive and the National Cradle to Career Network.

Strive, which Zimpher helped launch in Ohio when she was president of the University of Cincinnati, has since been adopted by a number of other cities across the United States, including Houston, Richmond, and Portland, Ore. The initiative brings together, among others, teachers, school district superintendents, college and university presidents, business leaders, and early childhood advocates—experts who usually work in their own “silos,” she says.

Working Across Sectors

By encouraging these individuals to work together across sectors, Strive aims to ensure that children are better prepared for school, supported inside and outside of school, succeed academically, enroll in some form of postsecondary education, graduate and embark on a career. Its most recent “report card” and other data how that in participating cities, Strive implementation has increased academic achievement, kindergarten preparedness, and college graduation rates.

The National Cradle to Career Network, launched in February 2011, is modeled after Strive, bringing together parents, teachers, administrators, and thought leaders from pre-kindergarten through higher education, as well as representatives from industry, community organizations, and government. For the prototype network, which is being developed in and around Albany, SUNY will collaborate with the Albany city school district, several regional SUNY campuses, and local governments and nonprofit organizations. Similar networks will soon be underway in Buffalo and in the borough of Brooklyn, in New York City.

“Clinical” Curriculum

Zimpher emphasizes that teachers “are in a practice-based Profession like doctors, nurses, and clinical psychologists, and they need a whole series of on-campus laboratory experiences, simulations, and video demonstrations to begin to understand the culture of specific schools and classrooms. Even when they’re sent out to a school to observe, they typically don’t know what to look for. Therefore, they cannot see.”

Convinced that clinical preparation should be the “centerpiece” of teacher education, Zimpher agreed to co-chair with former Colorado Commissioner of Education Dwight Jones the Blue Ribbon Panel on Clinical Preparation and Partnerships for Improved Student Learning, convened by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education in November 2010.

In line with Zimpher’s approach, the expert panel called for teacher education to be “turned upside down” and refocused on clinical practice; as in the medical preparation model, “teachers, mentors, and coaches, and teacher interns and residents [will] work together as part of teams.” Stronger oversight by states and accreditation agencies is also recommended to ensure that teacher preparation programs become more accountable.

Thus far, New York, California, Colorado, Louisiana, Maryland, Ohio, Oregon, and Tennessee have agreed to implement the panel’s recommendations.

Power of SUNY…and the Academy

Shortly after she came on board at SUNY, Zimpher launched a strategic plan, called The Power of SUNY, with the goal of making the university system an “economic engine” for New York State. Not surprisingly, a “seamless education pipeline” is a key objective. The plan highlights the increasing need for workers with knowledge and skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)—the very areas in which performance drops as students move from elementary school through high school.

SUNY is the largest higher education system in the United States, with more than 467,000 students on 64 campuses. Its breadth, scope, and potential are what drew Zimpher to her current post. “Over my 40 years in higher education, I’ve seen a great deal of innovation, but it all had the look of a cottage industry—boutique innovations that are very difficult to take to scale,” she says.

“I saw coming to SUNY as a one-of-a-kind opportunity to take innovation to scale at every level—in education, in the sciences, in art, and in healthcare. My greatest desire for an accomplishment is to realize the power of this complex, diverse system by implementing innovative ideas across multiple campuses.”

That aspiration propelled Zimpher to join The New York Academy of Sciences’ Board of Governors, largely because of the Academy’s “strong commitment to education and, in particular, to the STEM disciplines,” she says. “Linking SUNY’s many scientists, faculty, and graduate students to the Academy’s scientific community has the potential to yield mutual benefits on a huge scale.”

Global Affairs and Outreach

Zimpher also was attracted to the Academy’s international projects and connections. “These dovetail with our desire to better coordinate SUNY’s global affairs and outreach,” she explains. “Many people talk very vehemently about how America’s educational system lags behind those of other countries. Some of what ails our system is being taken care of in other systems.

Nevertheless, as word got out about our cradle-to-career partnerships, people in other countries learned about them on the web, and have begun to solicit our advice. So, I’m thinking that all educational systems around the world get pieces of the comprehensive picture right. But the whole picture—the need to imbue the education process with academic, cultural, and social investments in our future—is something that everybody is challenged with. And that means we have an opportunity to be a model.”

Zimpher’s passion for teaching and revamping the educational system has deep roots. Although her experience in the one-room schoolhouse was a precipitating factor, the foundation was laid much earlier. Her father was a principal in a Herndon, West Virginia, elementary school when he met her mother, who came from Kentucky to teach “commercial” classes in the local high school. “Commercial classes were taken mainly by women who were not college-bound,” Zimpher notes. “Ironically, though, these classes included the one subject that has the most value for us in the 21st century—keyboarding [typing].

“Another irony is that my mother placed students in cooperative internships in local businesses, and years later I learned that the city of Cincinnati was the founder of cooperative education, close to a hundred years ago,” Zimpher says. “And here I am now, working diligently to bring paid internships and cooperative education to scale in New York.”

About the Author

Marilynn Larkin is an independent health, medical, science editor and writer in New York City.

Guidance for Novice Educators and How to Thrive

A classroom with math equations on the chalkboard.

From surviving the “awkward phase” to methods for effectively engaging students, these education professionals offer advice for rising teachers.

Published February 25, 2011

By Adrienne J. Burke

Image courtesy of Drazen via stock.adobe.com.

On February 24, 2011, The New York Academy of Sciences (the Academy) hosted young scientists and mathematicians for a panel discussion titled Thinking about Teaching: Myths and Realities of Becoming an Educator. The panel included:

Hilleary Osheroff, Program Manager for the Science Research Mentoring Program at the American Museum of Natural History
Ellen Cohn, biology teacher at Bronx Science
Heather Cook, Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Wagner College
Nicole Gillespie, Associate Director of Teaching Fellowships at the Knowles Science Teaching Foundation
Gabriel Rosenberg, master teacher in the Math for America Program at Bard College Early High School.

The purpose of the panel was two-fold: to demonstrate a variety of teaching-focused jobs and to share the insight of people who have transitioned into these careers from a research background. Panelists gave their impressions of what it is like to hold these positions after doing research. The panel included a faculty member at a small, teaching-focused, liberal arts college, two high school teachers, an educator who both teaches and coordinates research for students at a museum, and the director of a program that recruits and supports math and science teachers.

Regardless of the speakers’ job titles, one idea was universally confirmed in their comments: teaching is a dynamic and difficult profession that does not mirror the teaching experience of most PhDs, namely as a teaching assistant. The panelists were candid about their initial naïvetè about the difference between being a content expert and being able to teach a subject to students. All of them identified a steep learning curve that leveled off after two to three years.

Surviving the “Awkward Phase”

In order to survive this initial “awkward phase,” new teachers need, as the panelists noted based on their own experience, key support resources that focus on helping teachers find a professional learning community that includes other teachers in the same general content area as well as master teachers who can help solve problems, offer teaching resources, and simply provide moral support on a bad day. For the panelists, balancing those bad days were the positive attributes of teaching, including building relationships with the students, watching them succeed, the designing creative lesson plans, and being a professional learner.

During the Q & A audience members were curious about the balance between research and teaching in the panelists’ education positions, but most of the panel members responded that they have not been engaged in research at a high level since they moved from academia to teaching. Some panelists, however, did articulate the efforts they have made to incorporate research into their current work.

Cook spoke about finding the right project for a given set of resources, working with undergrads, and her current scientific interests. Rosenberg discussed choosing to do research during the summer and taking on additional paid teaching responsibilities. Cohn, who coordinates two classes of students doing research, admitted that she missed doing research herself but that she was happy to live vicariously through her students.

Tips for Teachers

Find out first if you like working with kids by tutoring or teaching in an after school program. If you don’t like working with kids then teaching probably isn’t the right choice.
During an interview for a faculty position, ask specific questions about the teaching load, the expectations for academic advising, and the balance between research and teaching required to get tenure. There is a huge variation in these expectations across different small liberal arts colleges.
Don’t try to navigate the state certification system alone. Make contact with programs that recruit and train professionals like you.
Develop a method to learn from your mistakes, and don’t take yourself too seriously. Learn to fail gracefully, and trust that you can recover from a bad day teaching.
Learn how to capture people’s attention through hands-on demonstrations or interactive work. If possible, avoid lecturing.
Choose a school where the administration is supportive of your teaching style. Be prepared to deal with some students and parents who push for better grades than the students have earned.
Kids love fire, slime, gross stuff, and taking things apart. Learn to embrace the mess that science makes.
Smile and present yourself as a real person—this will help break down student misconceptions of what scientists are. Be very careful, however, about what you share, and maintain a cautious, professional relationship with students and parents.
Ask yourself what evidence you have that your students are learning. Design your assignments to gather that evidence and to learn about how students learn and what their misconceptions are about the subject.
No matter where you end up, develop a strong professional network. It will make a huge difference in your first few years of teaching.

Learn more about the Academy’s educational programming.

Supporting Graduate Science Education at the Academy

A shot of scientists working together inside a research lab.

Academy conferences not only provide graduate students and post-doctoral associates an opportunity to network and share their research, they can also provide an alternative perspective on the duties of scientists.

Published December 1, 2010

By Adrienne J. Burke

Image courtesy of Syda Productions via stock.adobe.com.

For nearly five years, The New York Academy of Sciences (the Academy) has been nurturing the next generation of scientists with a special program that provides professional development opportunities for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. The Science Alliance is a consortium of more than 35 universities, teaching hospitals, and independent research facilities committed to advancing the careers of students and postdocs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Serving more than 6,500 junior scientists worldwide, the Alliance provides programs and services focused on career education, development, and training. In addition to giving students access to all of the traditional benefits of Academy membership, Science Alliance offers exclusive live events, webinars, and a dedicated website as well as unparalleled opportunities for students to learn and network with individuals across institutions and disciplines, including many highly accomplished members.

Now, two Academy programs for physicists and chemists are also getting students involved in all aspects of planning, hosting, and presenting scientific meetings. The meetings are designed to provide graduate students and postdocs in the field of condensed matter physics a chance to forge new research collaborations.

One program is the “Gotham-Metro Condensed Matter Meeting.” An inaugural event held in April 2009, and a second one held in November that drew 130 participants for a full day of lectures and poster presentations, were entirely run by graduate students and post-docs. A council of faculty-nominated graduate students from New York area universities developed content, invited speakers, and hosted the meeting at the Academy. The meetings will now be held once per semester.

An Alternative Perspective

Rebecca Flint, 28, a sixth-year hard-condensed-matter theory graduate student at Rutgers University, was handpicked by her advisor, Academy member Piers Coleman, to sit on the student steering committee for the Gotham-Metro group. She says her involvement in meetings planning has given her an alternate perspective on the duties of a professor. “As a graduate student you mostly do research; I’m not even teaching. You get a view of just one side of what it’s like to be a professor,” says Flint, who aspires to run her own lab after completing her PhD next year. “It’s interesting to see what else you need to think about, and it’s nice to get a view of something other than research.”

Another way the Academy is nurturing graduate students is through involving them as members of a student steering committee for the Academy’s Soft Materials Discussion Group. The group, headed by a faculty steering committee, regularly convenes investigators in the New York region with an interest in soft materials research and development, and provides a forum for exchanging ideas and news of recent advances among scientists, engineers, and other key stakeholders working in academia, industry, and non-for-profit entities. Now, six graduate students from City College, New York University, Queens College, Columbia University, and the College of Staten Island have joined with a faculty committee to select topics and choose speakers for meetings.

“The idea is to empower graduate students—provide them with opportunities for professional development and a chance to critically judge their own contributions and those of their peers,” says Heidi Perry, the Academy’s Program Manager for Physical Sciences, Engineering & Sustainability Initiatives.

Also read: Non-STEM Skills Give an Edge to STEM Professionals

Advancing Science Education in New York City

A science teacher gives a demonstration to older elementary school aged students.

With support from donors as well as public entities, The New York Academy of Sciences is launching a new initiative to improve science education in the city, and beyond.

Published December 1, 2010

By Adrienne J. Burke

With the support of several generous and committed members and in partnership with the New York City Department of Education, The New York Academy of Sciences (the Academy) in November launched an initiative to serve science teachers in New York and beyond.

The Academy’s New York City Science Education Initiative was unveiled on the heels of President Obama’s announcement of a federal campaign to improve the participation and performance of America’s students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The Academy initiative aims to forge a community of science education professionals and provide a forum where they can convene, learn, and collaborate about science education policy, curriculum, and classroom best practices.

The initiative will also facilitate connections between education professionals and Academy members from the broader scientific research community. Seed funding of $130,000 from the Pamela B. and Thomas C. Jackson Fund and from Drs. Gabrielle Reem and Herbert Kayden will underwrite Academy memberships for as many as 1,300 high school teachers and cover the expenses for the Academy to host science educators’ events. Another $20,000 from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation will support development of a dedicated educators’ Website and underwrite Academy memberships for teachers in schools recognized for educational excellence by the Sloan Foundation.

“It’s critical that science teachers have access to up-to-date resources and research in order to inform and inspire their students,” says Kiryn Hoffman, the Academy’s director of development who spearheaded fundraising for the new initiative. “They are challenged to stay at the forefront not only of scientific trends and breakthroughs, but also of the best methods to shape learning goals and strategies to actively engage students.”

Serving the Needs of New York Teachers and Students

In September 2009, 28 New York City science education stakeholders gathered in the Academy’s boardroom. Among the group was New York’s Deputy Mayor for Education, Dennis Walcott. From the lively discussion emerged a proposal for how the Academy could serve the needs of New York’s teachers and students.

Fernand Brunschwig, a professor of science education at Empire State College, SUNY, is chairing the new initiative. Brunschwig says that from the time he was first introduced to the Academy many years ago by Don Cook, professor of science education at Bank Street College and a past chair of the Academy’s Science Education Section, he has seen great potential for advancing science education through the Academy. The stakeholders’ meeting presented a diversity of ideas, and, he adds “all in attendance agreed that it’s a good time to make this effort.”

Benefits of Academy Membership for Educators

Brunschwig led a steering committee meeting in November that brought several science educators together. The group agreed that science teachers could best be served by events that address classroom teaching issues specific to science teachers. “We’re going to be guided by teachers—by those on the committee and others, as well as by the Department of Education, in trying to make events valuable and attractive,” Brunschwig says. By virtue of being members of the Academy, teachers will also gain free admission throughout the year to more than 100 professional events in various scientific disciplines where they can build relationships with practicing research scientists.

The new initiative will also produce webinars and eBriefings targeted at science teachers, as well as online social networking and an online calendar that tracks events, workshops, and other programs elsewhere in the New York region specifically of interest to science education professionals. Brunschwig envisions the initiative providing unique opportunities for educators to meet, interact, and collaborate with others from outside their school, institution, or region.

Also read: Science Education: The Why Behind the What

Teaching the Cutting Edge: Martin Chalfie

The Nobel Prize-winning Columbia University professor offers guidance on how to be a more effective science teacher.

Published September 27, 2010

By Adrienne J. Burke

Caenorhabditis elegans, adult hermaphrodite. Image courtesy of Bob Goldstein/UNC at Chapel Hill via Wikimedia Commons. Licensed via Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. No changes made.

On September 22, 2010, Martin Chalfie kicked off the Academy’s Teaching the Cutting Edge series, designed to connect top scientific researchers to science teachers. Chalfie outlined how his research on nerve cell development in the model organism C. elegans, a small translucent nematode, led to his Nobel Prize-winning discovery on the use of green fluorescent protein (GFP). This now standard technique in biology classrooms revolutionized our ability to see and explore the inner workings of cells.

Chalfie’s life’s work explores nerve cell development using C. elegans. Chalfie and his team investigate how mutations in the worms’ genomes can lead to varying degrees of touch sensitivity in the worms’ simple nervous systems. Prior to the use of GFP, only a few highly flawed methods existed for understanding gene and protein expression, but Chalfie saw promise in the combination of the gene for a glow-in-the-dark protein and a translucent worm.

Studying Touch Sensitivity

The GFP gene could be used to show which cells express a particular worm gene by using the worm gene’s regulatory sequence to direct GFP production. Thus the fluorescing protein would appear in all the places in the worm’s body where the gene’s products would ordinarily have appeared. Chalfie used this method to study touch sensitivity, identifying the neurons that expressed the genes involved in touch sensation and examining where in the cell the gene products were located. Identifying where these genes were active was the necessary first step to discovering the molecules that allow the cells to respond to touch.

In addition to describing the scientific process that led to the discovery and use of GFP, Chalfie outlined myths that are often taught to children about science and scientists, providing teachers with an excellent resource to explore the Nature of Science and the truth about those who practice it. Chalfie framed the process of science not as a lone genius in a sterile room, but as a network of hard-working, creative, and clever scientists putting the pieces together over time.

Collaboration and the Scientific Process

Chalfie is the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Biological Sciences at Columbia University and former Chair of the Biological Sciences Department. He shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Osamu Shimomura and Roger Y. Tsien for the “discovery and development of green fluorescent protein.” Shimomura first isolated GFP from a jellyfish and discovered that the protein glowed bright green under ultraviolet light.

Chalfie showed that GFP could be produced in other organisms and be fluorescent without any added cofactor. His findings meant that GFP could be used to light up proteins, cells, and organisms. And Tsien extended the color palette, giving scientists the ability to tag various proteins and cells with different colors and study several different biological processes at the same time. Chalfie, Shimomura, and Tsien all contributed to the success and durability of each other’s work—their collaborations, intentional and not, were crucial to their scientific process.

This content is aimed at high school level biology and chemistry teachers and focuses on the following concepts:

Cells and cellular structures with an emphasis on nerve cell development
Genetics and genetic expression with an emphasis on mutations and genetic engineering
Chemical reactions and configurations of atoms, specifically proteins
Technologies that allow us to better visualize scientific phenomena and how those advances can lead to revolutions in a scientific field
The Nature of Science and how scientific questions and collaborations guide the development of new techniques and advances
Non-traditional career paths in science

While Chalfie’s talk was aimed at teachers, it was also very much enjoyed by the high school and college students and members of the general public in the audience.

Also read: Good Teachers Yield Promising Returns for Confident Students

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