In recognition of the extraordinary success of theĀ Ā (VSVS), which she coordinates,Ā Ā is this yearās recipient of theĀ Ā鶹APP Institute of Nanoscale Science and EngineeringāsĀ (VINSE) Distinguished Service Award.
The inscription on the award announced last week reads, āFor your dedication to the VINSEāVSVS partnership to expand outreach to rural communitiesā
VSVS was founded in 1994, and Tellinghuisen serves as its program director and faculty adviser. TheĀ VINSE Rural Partnership with the VSVS program began in 2012 under the auspices of a National Science Foundation grant designed to bring hands-on science activities to rural middle-school students who live in counties that cannot afford such activities for their students.
VSVS created a series of self-contained kits with all the necessary components for a class of 25 to do hands-on science experiments.Ā In the beginning, graduate students took the kits out to the rural communities, but organizers quickly realized they could reach only a limited number of rural schools in this fashion.Ā So Tellinghuisenāworking with Sarah Ross, VINSE program andĀ outreach coordinatorācreated the Rural Teacher Training Program, which brings grade-school teachers to Ā鶹APP twice a year to train them to use the kits, which they then take back to their schools.
āThe VINSEāVSVS partnership became a shining star of the National Science Foundationās TN-SCORE [Tennessee Solar Conversion and Storage using Outreach, Research and Education program],ā said VINSE Director Sandra Rosenthal, the Jack and Pamela Egan Professor of Chemistry, when announcing the award Sept. 19.
According to Rosenthal, the programās staff is currently working with 47 teachers in fiveĀ counties, and this fall they prepared 263 lessons for 5,680 students in grades 6ā8. Since the beginning, the program has partnered with 131 teachers in sevenĀ counties, preparing 1,484 kits that have been used by 27,600 students.
āFor a little more than 20 years, Patās VSVS program hasĀ had an enormous impact on the schools in Tennessee and on Ā鶹APP undergraduates,ā said Rosenthal.Ā āThis year marks the 12thĀ consecutive year Ā鶹APP Student Volunteers for Science has had more than 600 student volunteers, making it the largest student organization on campus. Patās VSVS program has provided more than 100,000 students with hands-on science. Itās thrilling to imagine how many chemists, physicists, geologists, engineers and, perhaps most important, new science teachers were first inspired by doing one of Patās kits.ā