Under the direction of the Academy’s new K-12 Science Education Initiatives Manager, Meghan Groome, a cadre of Science Alliance members will soon begin serving New York City’s middle school students as NYAS Education Fellows. More than 100 New York area graduate students and postdocs have already applied for the chance to participate in the new NYAS Afterschool STEM Mentoring Program, a unique partnership between the Academy and the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development. Applicants hail from institutions across the city including Columbia University, NYU, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, Cornell Weill Medical School, City University of New York, and Rockefeller University. Groome says that scientists chosen to become Education Fellows will participate in curriculum, pedagogy, and youth development workshops before they teach science courses or mentor robotics teams.
The program has been designed to serve as a model to bring the young scientific talent from labs into afterschool classrooms across the country. “Our applicants hail from the top programs in the city and express a desire to improve their teaching and help the community,” Groome says. “These are amazing young professionals who want to ignite the spark that so many NYC kids have for science, technology, engineering, and math.” The NYAS Afterschool STEM Mentoring Program was made possible with the generous leadership support of the Infosys USA Foundation, Goldman Sachs Gives, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and Laurie Landeau.
- Education
