Transcript Graduate Fellows K12 NSF Invitational Conference March 16-19, 2012 Washington, DC

Graduate Fellows K12 NSF
Invitational Conference
March 16-19, 2012
Washington, DC
Only 30 graduate students from across the
United States were selected to participate in
a poster session held at the National
Science Building in Arlington, VA. This
research is supported through the NSF
Scientists as Teachers – Teachers as
Scientists Project. Shohreh Amini, Ph.D., is
PI; Eric Borguet, Ph.D., and Judith Stull,
Ph.D., are co-PIs.
Elizabeth Reilly, graduate student in Biology,
presents her research poster.
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Laura Skorina, a graduate fellow in Biology, stands in front of her poster. The three other posters
presented are by Paul Finn, Justin Kaplan, and Matthew Sender, all in the Chemistry Department.
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Matthew Sender, graduate student in Chemistry, presents his research.
Session Title: Taking Advantage of Every Opportunity to Expand STEM Pipeline: Chemistry and
Biology in the Food Science Classroom
Session Abstract: Desiring to raise scientific knowledge and skills, teachers from Saul Agricultural
High School, located within the city limits of Philadelphia, have been participating in the Temple
University project with positive effects being realized by the fellows, the teachers, and their students.
One example of raising the high school students’ appreciation and understanding of science has
been taking place in the “Butchering” class. Students attending this school do so for many reasons,
one of which is to have the necessary skills to enter the labor force upon graduation. All too many
students see college as beyond their grasp, even though they have the ability. One way to change
their perspective is to start with what they think they need to know and then to add the scientific
content so that they see the connections. In this workshop, the presenters discuss how lessons on
the need for licensing and food cleanliness progressed to an identification of bacteria and DNA and
continued on to the underlying chemistry.
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