FREEDM Systems Center Pre-college Education Program

The application deadline for the 2013 programs has passed. Please check this page again in early 2014 for dates and other details about the 2014 programs.

Through its proud association with the FREEDM Pre-college Education Program, the Center for Integrating Research and Learning (CIRL) at the MagLab coordinates and co-hosts three science education summer programs targeting middle and high school students and teachers for Florida State University and Florida A&M University.

The pre-college program aims to expand participants’ knowledge of electrical power production, with a focus on renewable energy resources. The goals are to:

• Develop and assess long-term partnerships with middle and high schools, teachers, and students
• Enhance teachers’ engineering content knowledge and pedagogical methods
• Bring engineering concepts into the classroom
• Involve pre-college students in research
• Increase the diversity and enrollment of domestic students in university degree programs

CIRL’s regional partnership includes Florida State University’s Center for Advanced Power Systems (CAPS), the Florida A&M University-Florida State University College of Engineering, Amos P. Godby High School, Leon High School, James S. Rickards High School and Fairview Middle School, all located in Tallahassee, Florida.

CIRL has coordinated FREEDM programs every summer since 2009, including:

Middle-schoolers visit a generating station during the 2011 Renewable Energy Summer Camp.

Renewable Energy Summer Camp

• One-week free camp open to students from Tallahassee’s Fairview Middle School
• Camp accommodates about 18 participants
• Dates for 2013 camp: June 3 – June 7
• Kids participate in electricity, renewable energy, and engineering based activities
• Field trips to local electric power stations

Young Scholars Program

• Five-week paid internship for high school students from partner high schools in Tallahassee (Godby, Leon or Rickards)
• Dates of 2013 program: June 17 – July 19
• Focuses on steering college-bound students toward engineering disciplines
• Organized in close collaboration with CAPS and the Florida A&M University-Florida State University College of Engineering
• Engineering-based field trips and activities

Research Experiences for Teachers (RET)

• About four participants per summer
• Dates for 2013 program: June 17 – July 19
• Teachers work closely with FREEDM mentors
• This program is similar to the MagLab’s RET program, except that it is based at CAPS

The FREEDM Pre-college Education Program is part of the FREEDM Systems Center, an organization established by the National Science Foundation that partners with universities, industry and national laboratories worldwide to develop technology to revolutionize the nation’s power grid and advance the use of renewable electric-energy technologies.

Links

• Class of 2012