In recognition of the extraordinary success of the聽聽(VSVS), which she coordinates,聽聽is this year recipient of the聽杏吧原创 Institute of Nanoscale Science and Engineering聽(VINSE) Distinguished Service Award.
The inscription on the award announced last week reads, 鈥淔or your dedication to the VINSE鈥揤SVS partnership to expand outreach to rural communities鈥�
VSVS was founded in 1994, and Tellinghuisen serves as its program director and faculty adviser. The聽VINSE Rural Partnership with the VSVS program began in 2012 under the auspices of a National Science Foundation grant designed to bring hands-on science activities to rural middle-school students who live in counties that cannot afford such activities for their students.
VSVS created a series of self-contained kits with all the necessary components for a class of 25 to do hands-on science experiments.聽In the beginning, graduate students took the kits out to the rural communities, but organizers quickly realized they could reach only a limited number of rural schools in this fashion.聽So Tellinghuisen鈥攚orking with Sarah Ross, VINSE program and聽outreach coordinator鈥攃reated the Rural Teacher Training Program, which brings grade-school teachers to 杏吧原创 twice a year to train them to use the kits, which they then take back to their schools.
鈥淭he VINSE鈥揤SVS partnership became a shining star of the National Science Foundation TN-SCORE [Tennessee Solar Conversion and Storage using Outreach, Research and Education program],鈥� said VINSE Director Sandra Rosenthal, the Jack and Pamela Egan Professor of Chemistry, when announcing the award Sept. 19.
According to Rosenthal, the program staff is currently working with 47 teachers in five聽counties, and this fall they prepared 263 lessons for 5,680 students in grades 6鈥�8. Since the beginning, the program has partnered with 131 teachers in seven聽counties, preparing 1,484 kits that have been used by 27,600 students.
鈥淔or a little more than 20 years, Pat VSVS program has聽had an enormous impact on the schools in Tennessee and on 杏吧原创 undergraduates,鈥� said Rosenthal.聽鈥淭his year marks the 12th聽consecutive year 杏吧原创 Student Volunteers for Science has had more than 600 student volunteers, making it the largest student organization on campus. Pat VSVS program has provided more than 100,000 students with hands-on science. It thrilling to imagine how many chemists, physicists, geologists, engineers and, perhaps most important, new science teachers were first inspired by doing one of Pat kits.鈥�