This award supports the Adler Public Education fellowship program. The Fellowship provides young researchers with the opportunity to build high-quality public education and outreach skills, while continuing to perform cutting-edge research leading towards their graduate degrees. Each year, a Fellow is selected from a competitive pool of promising physical science or engineering graduate students. The Fellow is responsible for planning, developing, managing and teaching a prestigious summer program for Chicago area gifted high school students. The AstroScience Workshop (ASW) is a themed program that combines classroom lectures, hands-on lab activities, guest lectures by leading astronomers and planetary scientists, and student-directed investigations in astronomy, atmospheric and planetary sciences. The Fellow has the full support of the Adler, working most closely with the Astronomy and Education departments. The Fellow spends the academic year developing the curriculum and technology for the ASW, inviting speakers, and organizing the program. Because the Fellowship is intended to promote the development of true scientist-educators, the Fellow is fully expected to continue a vigorous program of research at their home institution. After the ASW is completed the Fellow presents the lessons learned, the effectiveness of various techniques tried and the success of different curricular units at a national conference. This award is supported through the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate.
