Penn State Center for Science and the Schools

08/21/2026

In just 5 weeks, our have officially reached over 12,000 followers on LinkedIn—and many thousands more across other social media platforms!

To put that into perspective, that’s more people than a full-capacity crowd at Las Vegas Michelob Ultra Arena, home of the WNBA's Aces! 🏟️✨ In one week, the grew by 1,500 followers!

🚀 K–5 STEM education is the launchpad of our country’s future prosperity, workforce readiness, and national security. Every day, these dedicated educators are empowering students to navigate a complex world with optimism, grit, and critical problem-solving skills.

💡 Want to see the incredible impact being made in K-5 classrooms across the Mid-Atlantic?

👉 Follow " " on LinkedIn or your favorite social media platform to stay inspired by their stories, insights, and the groundbreaking work shaping tomorrow’s leaders!

Follow them directly as well. 👇

🔷 New Jersey

Meredith Harrison, Holly Romahn, P. Daniel Beck, Regina Cherill, Iesha Griggs, M.Ed., M.S., M.A., Julianne Romanella, Melissa Cooke, Lynn Prosen, Shinese Harvey

🔷 Pennsylvania

Evan Basham, Nikki Birkbeck, Emily Book, Jeremiah Friday, Ed.D., Jen Gossert, Kristen Landers, Jen Mooney, Sara Rossman, Bob Walters

🔷 West Virginia

Rachel Kellar, Mystee Ansari, Tracey Lea, Nikki (Faith) Harper, Heather Puglisi, Tiffany Pace, Jennifer Scott, Nellie Cottle, Cynthia Brown

https://lnkd.in/p/e4pfcWNS

08/16/2026

👀 📬 Have you seen our latest PSU CSATS newsletter yet? It's full of updates, opportunities, and resources that can help you stay informed and connected. Knowledge is power and enhances growth through unique opportunities.
✅ Updates on plus features on 3 of our 27 STEM Pioneers.
✅ Biosensing & other amazing tech to K12 stories
✅ Opportunities to keep you, your students, and your research on the cutting edge.
✅ The impact of grants.
🔗 https://conta.cc/464wlgo
Don't skate to the puck; skate to where the puck is going... in STEM!

08/15/2026

In just one month, our have officially reached over 10,000 followers on LinkedIn—and many thousands more on other social media platforms!

To put that into perspective, that’s more people than a full-capacity crowd at Chicago’s Wintrust Arena! 🏟️✨

🚀 K–5 STEM education is the launchpad of our country’s future prosperity, workforce readiness, and national security. Every day, these dedicated educators are empowering students to navigate a complex world with optimism, grit, and critical problem-solving skills.

💡 Want to see the incredible impact being made in K-5 classrooms across the Mid-Atlantic?

👉 Follow " " on LinkedIn or your favorite social media platform to stay inspired by their stories, insights, and the groundbreaking work shaping tomorrow’s leaders!

Follow them directly as well. 👇

🔷 New Jersey
Meredith Harrison, Holly Romahn, P. Daniel Beck, Regina Cherill, Iesha Griggs, M.Ed., M.S., M.A., Julianne Romanella, Melissa Cooke, Lynn Prosen, Shinese Harvey

🔷 Pennsylvania
Evan Basham, Nikki Birkbeck, Emily Book, Jeremiah Friday, Ed.D., Jen Gossert, Kristen Landers, Jen Mooney, Sara Rossman, Bob Walters

🔷 West Virginia
Rachel Kellar, Mystee Ansari, Tracey Lea, Nikki (Faith) Harper, Heather Puglisi, Tiffany Pace, Jennifer Scott, Nellie Cottle, Cynthia Brown

https://lnkd.in/p/e4pfcWNS

08/13/2026

🌱 Calling Pennsylvania K-12 educators!

Applications are now open for the K-12 Sustainability Summit, taking place October 14-16, 2026 at Penn State University Park and Shaver's Creek Environmental Center.

Join educators from across the Commonwealth to explore innovative approaches to sustainability education, connect with experts and peers, and gain practical resources aligned with PA STEELS Standards. Participants will have the opportunity to:

✅ Access classroom-ready sustainability resources

✅ Exchange ideas and successful practices with fellow educators

✅ Build partnerships with Penn State faculty, researchers, and Extension professionals

✅ Learn about funding opportunities for sustainability initiatives

✅ Participate in interactive Grow & Go sessions

✅ Experience exclusive sustainability-focused campus tours

There is no cost to attend, and participants receive two nights of lodging at Graduate by Hilton State College. Space is limited, and an application is required.

📅 Apply by September 18, 2026

🔗 outreach.psu.edu/k12summit



(Posted on behalf of Penn State Sustainability and Outreach)

08/04/2026

💡 : Bridging Cutting-Edge Research and K-12 Classrooms! 🔬

That’s a wrap on Day 2 of our 2-day workshop! Building on yesterday’s foundational exploration of electrochemistry and blood-based biosensing with Dr. Aida Ebrahimi at Penn State, secondary chemistry and physical science educators leveled up today—moving from concept to full hardware and data ex*****on. ⚡(Day1> https://www.facebook.com/PennStateCSATS/posts/pfbid05wciEqj5Lgr4ojfP1WvC8t1913JrxTJ3rwsNgCcjWSL9V8ATQ1msztDXqU6McpmNl )

🛠️ Day 2 Deep Dive: Assembly, Hardware & Data Interpretation

Today, teachers got hands-on with the core engineering behind modern electrochemistry:

✅ Assembled & Tested Potentiostats: Built and evaluated the precise electronic hardware required to control three-electrode cells and drive electroanalytical experiments.

✅ Dived into Voltammetry Data: Learned how experimental dimensions shift across measurements while testing dopamine and other molecules.

✅ Decoded Graphical Outputs: Differentiated between biochemical signals and translated raw data into actionable scientific insights.

✅ Went full circle to the Driving Question

🍎 Elevating the Classroom Impact

By pairing yesterday’s biomedical context (like early Parkinson's screening and psychiatric diagnostics) with today’s hardware and data analysis, teachers are returning to their classrooms ready to:

✅ Bring Data & Hardware to Life: Transition students from passive consumers of textbook charts to active interpreters of real-world multi-dimensional data plots.

✅ Integrate Transdisciplinary Engineering: Show how electronics, physics, and redox chemistry converge in modern medical diagnostics.

✅ Empower the Next-Gen STEM Workforce: Demystify electroanalytical instrumentation and inspire students toward careers in bioengineering, health tech, and advanced scientific research.

We are grateful to the many who made these two days of impact possible, including Dr. Ebrahimi's team of Hossein Chenani, Elvis Sangmen, Vinay K., and Sumit Chugh, and the PSU CSATS team of Dr. Kathy Hill, Amber Cesare, and Neherun Nesa.

At PSU CSATS, we are proud to empower Pennsylvania educators with university-level tools and context, driving innovation across the Technology and Life Sciences sectors outlined in PA's 10-year economic development plan. 🚀

grateful to support our educators and help ! 🧪📊

Explore more:
👉 https://sites.psu.edu/ebrahimilab/
👉 https://www.csats.psu.edu/for-k-12-educators

08/03/2026

💡 : Bridging Cutting-Edge Research and K-12 Classrooms! 🔬

Secondary chemistry & physical science educators are on day 1 of a 2-day workshop focused on the future of biosensing technology, featuring the groundbreaking work of Dr. Aida Ebrahimi at Penn State.
⚡ https://sites.psu.edu/ebrahimilab/

Teachers dove in with the fundamentals of electrochemistry, exploring materials selection, sensor sensitivity, and data analysis—culminating in testing their very own electrochemical sensors designed to detect critical small molecules like dopamine! 🧪

🩺 Why Blood-Based Dopamine Biosensing Matters

✅ Monitoring peripheral dopamine in the blood—rather than relying solely on invasive brain sampling or costly imaging—opens up powerful, accessible diagnostic avenues:

✅ Early Neurodegenerative Screening: Serves as an early biomarker for Parkinson’s disease before major motor symptoms appear.

✅ Psychiatric Care: Provides clinicians with objective biological data to help differentiate between conditions like schizophrenia, major depression, bipolar disorder, and ADHD.

✅ Oncology & Critical Care: Aids in diagnosing neuroendocrine tumors and monitoring real-time cardiovascular/renal dynamics in conditions like septic shock.

🍎 The Classroom Impact

When teachers engage directly with university-level research, their students win. By taking electrochemistry out of textbook diagrams and grounding it in real-world biomedical applications, these educators are equipped to:

✅Inspire Next-Gen STEM Leaders: Show students how high school chemistry and physics directly solve pressing medical challenges.

✅Deliver Hands-On Learning: Translate complex concepts like redox reactions and sensor specificity into interactive classroom experiences.

✅Demystify Modern Science: Bridge the gap between K-12 curricula and emerging workforce opportunities in bioengineering and health tech.

At PSU CSATS, we are preparing PA's future workforce, hitting the Technology and Life Sciences sectors within the 5 STEM-based key economic sectors of PA's 10-year economic development plan. grateful to help

👉 is

👉 The states with a homegrown, sustainable workforce will win the future.

08/02/2026

Through “Shaping AI in Education: A Pennsylvania Listening and Learning Tour,” Penn State faculty, researchers, outreach staff, evaluators and graduate students have convened with K-12 educators and administrators across the commonwealth to share expert insights and spark meaningful conversation...

08/02/2026

08/02/2026

What an incredible conclusion to the Penn State Center for Science and the Schools (CSATS) 2026 Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program! We officially marked the end of this year's journey with our virtual Summer RET Symposium.

🏛️ During the event, our dedicated cohort of middle and high school STEM educators took the virtual stage alongside their university researcher mentors. Together, they presented the research findings and scientific insights they uncovered over the course of this rigorous seven-week program.

💙 profoundly grateful to the educators who fully committed to this experience, the science and engineering researcher mentors who hosted them across Penn State Research, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences, Penn State Harrisburg, Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, , and everyone who supported this effort behind the scenes.

💪 Programs like the RET are vital for shaping the future. By spending about 40 hours a week in cutting-edge research labs and participating in PA STEELS/NGSS-focused professional development, these teachers didn't just learn about science research—they did authentic science research.

The primary goal of this immersion is to bridge the gap between advanced research and K-12 classrooms. Over the next year, these teachers will implement custom classroom research projects designed to bring authentic, hands-on STEM and critical workforce development skills directly to the next generation of problem solvers.

Thank you to everyone who helped us move the needle at the ground level this summer! 🌐🔬🎒

Consider participating in an RET during the summer of 2027.



https://www.csats.psu.edu/overview-of-csats-programs/csats-summer-research-experience-for-stem-teachers-information-application-portal