by In the last couple of months, Math4Science has added more exciting new bios. Check our Meet the Scientists page to learn about Behavioral Ecologist John Hoogland, who studies prairie dogs; Bioengineer Derek West, who uses nanotechnology to treat cancer; Immunologist Kent Teague, who investigates the effects of physical (think football) and psychological (think psychological childhood traumas) stress on the immune system; and Civil Engineer Cynthia Bridge Clark, who helps allocate water supplies in her state. Like our other STEM professionals, these newcomers to Math4Science work across the United States and are based in Maryland, Texas, Oklahoma, and Idaho.
At the inaugural meeting of the Math4Science Board of Directors, which took place earlier this month, Colin Chellman (Chair), Kenyatta Matthews (Treasurer), Erica Heisman (Secretary and Funding and Outreach Coordinator), Eduardo Castell (Director), Justine Henning (CEO), and Brendan Mernin (COO) were elected and appointed to their first terms as Directors of Math4Science. We approved key documents that will go out to the IRS as part of our application for 501(c)(3) status and discussed plans to create a Board of Advisors.
Erica, Brendan, and Justine are in the process of following up on our meetings with Vladimir Yelizarov of the law firm O’Melveny and Myers in order to finish up our application for nonprofit status. We expect to send it off to the IRS at the beginning of November.
Brendan and Justine have been working closely with Mia Otte, our Director of Product, on a demo lesson and problem set, which will give visitors to M4S’s website an idea of how our curriculum will work. Each lesson and problem set will combine what we have learned about effective pedagogy with information about ways our STEM professionals learn math. We offer three key features:
- Links to the bios and field descriptions of our scientists and engineers
- Lessons and problem sets written by master teachers with extensive classroom and one-on-one experience with students at the grade level(s)
- Extensive, targeted practice within each problem set, enabling students to master each skill, and gain clarity, confidence, and competence as they work through our Common Core-aligned, Singapore-inspired practice problems and iterations
We hope to share our demo lesson at www.math4science.org, on our Explore Math page before the end of the year.
Recently we have been engaged in outreach with various New York teachers, schools, and nonprofits, with the intention of building relationships that will serve us well as we scale up over the next several years to reach a national audience. More to come soon on this front.
In early 2015, we will begin raising money to support our curriculum-building phase, which will require hiring teacher-writers, supporting their content with graphics and an interactive structure (both built by coders), and moving over to technology and an office space which will sustain our growth. We at M4S are extremely proud of the work our all-volunteer staff has done to get us this far. And we look forward to bringing the progress that funding will allow us to make to students, teachers, and parents across the country.
