Interdisciplinary Reseach Experiences for Teachers

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This award supports the renewal of the Research Experience for Teachers site at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The award will support seven teachers per summer and two teachers for year long research activities. High- and middle-school science teachers, pre-service teachers, and, exceptionally, elementary-school teachers, will be exposed to cutting edge research in the departments of Chemistry, Geosciences, and Physics, and the UWM Planetarium under the guidance of faculty mentors and teacher mentors (the latter will be experienced interns from the previous program). Specific areas of study, development, and research participation for RET interns may include: radio astronomy and pulsar detection (ARCC@UWM), gravitational wave detection (LIGO), high temperature superconductivity, measurement of molecular electric fields in biological systems and the development of novel optical fiber sensors for remote environmental monitoring, nanoscience and nanotechnology using scanning tunneling microscopy, imaging and manipulation of nanoscale objects such as single fluorescent molecules, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, investigation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in dairy manure and private drinking water wells in Northeast Wisconsin, Macromolecular Crystallography, kinetic and thermodynamic investigation of enzyme reactions, imaging of protein activity and interactions in living cells using laser-scanning fluorescence microscopy with spectral and temporal resolution, analysis of data of air showers produced by ultra-high energy cosmic rays from the Pierre Auger Observatory, and petrology of recent lava flows from northern British Columbia and Iceland. The interns in this program will not only strengthen their knowledge base by engaging in suitable research activities under the guidance of a faculty mentor, but, with the guidance of the teacher mentors, they will also develop an inquiry-based teaching project that will be: implemented in the classroom; presented to a state-wide audience at the annual Wisconsin Society of Science Teachers conference in the spring following the core summer program; and developed as a web-based resource for a national audience on the UWM RET website. This award is funded by the Division of Physics and the Division of Chemistry.