PCCM Education recognizes that through training teachers in materials science content and providing real research experience, we can make a tremendous impact on their students for years to come. Through Research Experience for Teachers and specialized workshops, teachers have
direct access to PCCM's faculty and their work, breathing new life into their curriculum and, through the teachers, inspiring students.

Teachers as Scholars 2024

On Monday December 16, 2024, PCCM collaborated with Teacher Prep on the Teachers as Scholars program, Hairy Materials Science! Fourteen k-12 teachers from various NJ schools spent the day with us learning about materials science and hair. The day included several talks, including an introduction by Education Outreach Director, Janine Nunes, who talked about PCCM, materials science, and using hair to teach materials science to high school students. Director of the Imaging and Analysis Center (IAC) and Professor of the Practice, Nan Yao, talked about the instrumentation capabilities in IAC and how advanced instrumentation can advance materials science. Prof Yao also led the teachers on a tour of the IAC facility. The teachers met Ananya Chakravarti, a graduate student in Chemical and Biological Engineering working in the Joseph research group for Computational Biophysics and Bioengineering, who gave a talk about her research. Also, we were joined by Dr. Ernesta Malinauskyte, Director – Hair Research, TRI Princeton. She introduced hair science basics and described experiments involving hair that can be done at the high school level. Dr. Malinauskyte also led a demonstration on one of the IAC’s scanning electron microscopes to show hair samples. Dr. Nunes also demonstrated experiments with contact angles to illustrate the wetting properties of hair.

For Research Experience for Teachers (RET) programs, visit: Pathways to Science - NSF RET 
Highlights:
Read the Polymer (Science Direct) article about PUMA master teacher and RET participant, Nicole Carro, about her work with Professor Jay Benziger.
Professional Development for Science Teachers Archive

Teachers as Scholars 2019
Teachers as Scholars 2018
Teachers as Scholars 2015 poster