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Community Corner

Yorktown Educator Returns After Conducting Research With The Country's Top Scientests

Theresa Guthrie, a teacher at Tabb Middle School in Yorktown, will return to the classroom this year a ‘STAR’ after participating in the prestigious “Siemens Teachers as Researchers” (STARs) fellowship program. Guthrie was one of 40 teachers from across the country selected to learn new tools that will help her students gain a more practical understanding and stronger appreciation for the use of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) concepts in their daily lives. 

The program allowed her to participate in an immersive research program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

Guthrie took part in an elite fellowship program and worked with a team of respected research scientists and fellow educators on a project involving Plant-Microbial Interfaces.

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“My involvement in cutting edge research at ORNL made evident the importance of collaboration, communication, innovation, and inter-disciplinary experiences in the science classroom. The most memorable aspect of my experience was working with the chemical engineers who were supporting the project by testing microfluidic devices that they fabricated in the clean rooms at the ORNL Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences,” Guthrie said. “But I also worked with chemical engineers, biologists, microbiologists, and computer scientists each providing their own unique insight into the plant microbe relationship.  This project clearly demonstrated that science research cannot be done in isolation because the applications of any small discovery reach across the disciplines.” 

The STARs program is part of the Siemens STEM Academy, a premier online professional development community for STEM educators that encourages and celebrates excellence in STEM education through a wide offering of innovative resources, webinars and networking opportunities. 

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The research program was sponsored by the Siemens Foundation and administered by Discovery Education and and the Oak Ridge Associated Universities. 

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