Thank you for your interest in Penn State’s CarbonEARTH (Carbon Educators and Researchers Together for Humanity) Fellowship Program. This program is part of a 5-year National Science Foundation (NSF) grant designed to team Penn State Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) graduate students with elementary and middle school science teachers from Pennsylvania’s Philipsburg and Harrisburg school districts. The CarbonEARTH program will use the interdisciplinary theme of carbon, broadly construed, as a unifying platform for student investigation, discovery, training and education.

As Program participants, graduate fellows and elementary/middle school teachers collaborate to enhance current science curricula and to develop innovative open-inquiry science curriculum elements related to energy, matter and materials, earth processes and ecosystems. This work fosters collaboration and communication skills of STEM graduate fellows while facilitating interactions with other carbon-related researchers in different fields of study. Science educators from Penn State's Center for Science and the Schools (CSATS), faculty mentors, and partner teachers guide CarbonEARTH graduate fellows to integrate aspects of their graduate carbon-related research into the classroom. Graduate fellows will work with teachers to strengthen students' understanding of science and to broaden teachers' application of science content.

One-year $4,000 teacher fellowships are available starting fall semester 2010, with the strong possibility of a single one-year renewal based upon performance. Teachers will be expected to devote approximately 15 hours per week to the CarbonEARTH program in activities that include (but are not limited to) developing curricular materials for classroom use, mentoring fellows at the participating schools, program administration, and attending professional development meetings.

To be considered for a CarbonEARTH fellowship, please complete and submit the following documents:
1. Our application form;
2. Two letters of reference (please have the referee send them to address below);
3. List with brief descriptions of science-specific professional development opportunities you have already attended.

Please send all application materials to the address below. Electronic submissions (Microsoft .doc, .docx, Adobe .pdf) are strongly encouraged, but paper copies are acceptable as necessary.

Our office must receive all application components by June 22, 2011.

CarbonEARTH Fellowship Application
c/o Chanda Turner
104 Davey Lab, Box C166
University Park, PA 16802-6300
Email: crt138@psu.edu
Phone: 814-867-0170