K-12
Outreach Program
RET: For the Teacher
For more information and applications, click here.
For the past four summers, VUSE has hosted the
Vanderbilt University Bioengineering Research Experiences for
Teachers (RET) program, for which I serve as principal
investigator. This six-week-long program serves 11 to 16 high
school teachers each summer from Middle Tennessee. It seeks to
give teachers a broad overview of bioengineering, engage the
teachers in meaningful research experiences, and help them take
their research experiences back to their high-school science
classrooms.
Professors from across VUSE and Vanderbilt University Medical
Center participate in
the program by hosting the teachers in
their labs for 23 days, providing them with a research project
to complete during that time, along with the support and
guidance to do so. This past summer 10 professors served as
mentors for projects ranging from assessing the effects of the
heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) on wound healing to photosystem I
extraction from spinach leaves and its use in providing
electrical power. Many of the teachers end up with
bioengineering research results that are published with their
professor mentors in peer-reviewed engineering journals.