'Partners in Science': Professors team up with local teachers
Members of the University community collaborated with the community at large last summer in the Partners in Science program, through which chemistry professors and graduate students worked with area high school science teachers in a research laboratory setting.Partners in Science ? co-directed by University chemistry professor Andrew Bocarsly and Jay Dubner of Columbia University ? is a joint program implemented by Princeton, Columbia, New York University, Rutgers University at Camden, Seton Hall University and Stevens Institute of Technology.The program's goal is to promote interaction between the research and educational communities of the science world.For eight weeks during the summer, Louis Gatto of Hunterdon Central Regional High School in Flemington, James Looney of West Windsor-Plainsboro High School and Paul Lucuski of McCorristin Catholic High School in Hamilton worked alongside Princeton professors and graduate students in Bocarsly's laboratory.Each teacher was paired with a professor and given a long-term research assignment that will span two summers, Bocarsly said.The assignments related to research on fuel cells ? which are a possible substitute for gasoline power in the future.The program, according to Bocarsly, was designed to emphasize the dynamic aspect of scientific discovery."We want [the teachers] to get excited," he said.