A MESSAGE
from the Director of COSAM Outreach
Mary Lou Ewald
The past year has been one of changes and
abundant opportunities for the COSAM Office
of Outreach. Erin Percival, the assistant director
of COSAM Outreach, moved from Auburn to
explore new and exciting opportunities in science
education in Virginia. Erin worked with COSAM
Outreach for more than 10 years and will be
missed. This summer, the unit hired two full-time
employees – Josh King as a program administrator
and Teddy Dubose as an accountant. We are
delighted that Josh and Teddy have joined the
COSAM family and are looking forward to the
many ways they will contribute to the continued
success of COSAM Outreach.
In Outreach, we continuously evaluate, modify,
and enhance our existing programs, while
also creating new programs for specific target
audiences. In the past year, we embarked on two
new and exciting initiatives focused on teacher
professional development:
• STEM-IQ
The objective of STEM-IQ, a five-year, National
Science Foundation-funded initiative, is to
advance teachers’ motivation and ability to
mentor their students through true inquirybased science fair projects. Specifically, we aim
to develop a professional learning community
that links Auburn University STEM faculty
with 6th – 12th grade students, teachers, and
administrators at high needs schools in southeast
Alabama. Participating faculty include Allen
Landers (Physics), Paul Cobine and Brian Helms
(Biological Sciences), Virginia Davis (Chemical
Engineering), and me (Mary Lou Ewald,
COSAM Outreach).
• Project Lead The Way (PLTW)
PLTW is a national K-12 STEM education
program that provides professional development
for teachers and school administrators through
core training, professional development
conferences, and on-going support. Auburn
University, through the COSAM Office of
Outreach, is now the state of Alabama’s PLTW
affiliate site for the Biomedical Sciences
curriculum. This summer, we trained 48 teachers
in three course offerings – “Medical Detectives”
(middle school), and “Principles of Biomedical
Sciences” and “Human Body Systems” (high
school). PLTW allows students to explore a range
of careers in biomedical sciences as they learn
content in the context of real-world, hands-on
activities, projects, and problems. Visit www.pltw.
org for more information.
The ultimate goal of teacher professional
development programs is to improve the quality of
STEM education for students at the K-12 level.
We look forward to developing these programs and
facilitating connections between Auburn University
and the K-12 systems we serve.
A final highlight of the year was learning that one
of our most consistently successful BEST Robotics
teams – Wetumpka High School – was invited
to participate in the 2015 White House Science
Fair. Throughout the year, we are always pleased
to witness and hear of the numerous success
stories at the schools we serve, yet the teachers and
students who are responsible for these successes
rarely receive the recognition they deserve. What
a fantastic honor for a local school – we look
forward to future acknowledgements such as this
for deserving teachers and students. Be sure to read
the following feature story to learn more about
Wetumpka High School’s exciting honor.
For more information on programs offered by
COSAM outreach, visit our website at
www.auburn.edu/cosam/outreach, or email me at
[email protected]. We’d love to hear from you
and hope to see you at a program this year!
Mary Lou Ewald,
Director of COSAM Outreach
College of Sciences and Mathematics
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