Beginning Summer 2010, the ITL Program in CU-Boulder's College of Engineering and Applied Science received a new GK-12 award from the National Science Foundation to fund engineering PhD students to teach hands-on engineering in K-12 classrooms to exploit engineering as a vehicle for the integration of science and math instruction.

Program goals include:

• Enhance Fellows' understanding of the global and societal context of their own research.
• Develop Fellows to become STEM and social leaders.
• Capitalize on GK-12 opportunity to recruit highly-qualified, diverse engineering doctoral students.
• Improve teachers' skill and comfort with STEM content knowledge and pedagogy.
• Transform the nine-school Skyline (in Longmont, CO) feeder system into a successful STEM school district/university partnership model.
• Employ engineering content and practices to enrich STEM learning by K-12 students.
• Engage faculty research advisors as Fellows create and deliver research-based, hands-on engineering K-12 STEM curricula.
• Broadly disseminate results.

Fellows spend ~10 hours weekly planning and delivering in-class instruction to K-12 students, and approximately five additional hours preparing curricula for both classroom instruction and the TeachEngineering digital library and participating in Saturday and summer workshops for K-12 youth and teachers. Pedegogical seminars in classroom management, assessment, gender equity and other educational topics that impact classroom instruction are provided throughout the year. Fellows partner with specific teachers in 5-12th grade classrooms in Longmont, Lafayette and Denver, introducing girls and boys to hands-on engineering and serving as engineer role models for youngsters. The combined 10 schools serve thousands of diverse student populations and prepare students for high school pre-engineering studies and college engineering pursuits.

This award provides 10 fellowships for civil, environmental and mechanical engineering PhD students who have an energy or environmenal focus to their research. Each fellowship provides a half-time GRA stipend (15 hours per week during the academic year; 20 hours per week during the summer months) funded 12 months annually, with opportunity for three-quarter summer appointment. In addition, tuition and partial medical benefits are covered. Current or prospective PhD students should apply online. Please contact Janet Yowell via phone (303-492-5230) or email.