March 23, 2009

Two science professors receive M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust grants

Tufte and Kennedy each received a Partners in Science Program grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust.

Stephen Tufte, associate professor of science and Peter Kennedy, associate professor of biology:

Tufte and Kennedy each received a Partners in Science Program grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust. The goal of this program is to provide high school teachers with opportunities to work with college faculty members at the cutting edge of science and revitalize their teaching.

Tufte will work with Jo Ann Wadkins, a science teacher at Lincoln High School, for the next two summers in the Department of Physics. Their research, titled “Observational Investigations of Short-Period Eclipsing Binary Stars,” will be shared at two national Partners in Science conferences at the end of each summer.

Kennedy will partner with Eileen Oppelt, a science teacher at West Linn High School. Their research, “Examining Biogeographic Patterns in the Frankia-Alnus rubra Symbiosis,” will be conducted in the Department of Biology. Oppelt will also share the results of the joint research at Partners in Science conferences.

The Murdock Trust provides grants in five states of the Pacific Northwest to organizations that aim to strengthen the region’s educational base in sustainable ways.