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"I would not trade this experience for anything; to experience the environment of an urban Los Angeles high school is invaluable.  I now have a much greater perspective on the status of education in this country and on the day to day struggles (of teachers and students) that go on in urban schools."   Kelly Thomas, Science fellow (2004-2005).

 

2005-2006 Fellows

Science:     Meredith Oltmann    Jane Lee_    Diana Tran    Adam_Braunschweig    Michael Page_    Catherine_Skibo_    Stephanie Gould

Mathematics:    Flynn_Heiss    Madeline_Jetter    Luke_Cherveny

Meredith Oltmann, (Science fellow 2004-2006).  Meredith Oltmann was born in Texas where she attended public schools in Austin. Following high school, she moved to southern California to attend Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA. She graduated from Pepperdine with a B.S. in Biology and is currently working on her Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry at UCLA under the direction of Dr. Gerry Weinmaster. Meredith is in her 4th year of graduate studies and is investigating the role of Notch signaling during embryonic development. Upon completion of her doctorate, she hopes to teach biology at the university level. She has been awarded a second year of fellowship in the GK-12 Program.  

“I have noticed that the classes I visit each week realize they will likely be doing a “fun” science experiment whenever I’m there. While they may just enjoy ‘getting their hands dirty,’ at least I see enthusiasm about doing science from these students.”

“Above all, the GK-12 project has opened my eyes to the amount of time and work that goes into teaching science, especially lab activities. This lesson is going to help me immensely whenever I begin teaching my own classes. I have also learned the beauty of inquiry-based teaching, and how this method challenges students, but results in a concrete understanding of the concept in focus.” Meredith Oltmann, Science fellow, 2004-2006, Dept. of Biological Chemistry, UCLA.  . 

Jane Lee (Science fellow 2005-2006).  Jane Lee is a third year graduate student in the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UCLA. She is studying the biology and ecology of giant siphonophores (colonial jellyfish) under Dr. William Hamner and Dr. Rebecca Shipe. She also works closely with Dr. Bruce Robison of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and his midwater research group.

Jane was born and raised in Southern California and got a B.A. in Integrative Biology and English from UC Berkeley. While at UC Berkeley she participated in a paleontology dig in eastern Montana, studied hummingbirds in the UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens, monitored the mice and vole population at the UC Richmond Field Station and spent a semester at the UC Berkeley Richard B. Gump Field Station in Mo’orea, French Polynesia studying the ecology of nudibranchs (sea slugs).

As a graduate student at UCLA Jane has had the pleasure of being a Teaching Assistant for many courses including basic biology, marine biology and tropical marine biology. She hopes to combine her love of marine biology and the challenge of teaching in her future career, wherever it may lead her. Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, UCLA.

Diana Tran (Science fellow 2005-2006).  Diana was raised by her Vietnamese family and community in California. In college, her first love was math; this love carried over in its application to science yielding two degrees from UCLA—applied mathematics  and physiological science.  In grad school, Diana studies Calcium and heart fibrillations in Dr. Alan Garfinkel’s lab.  She is currently enrolled in a MS program but will apply for Ph.D. programs in the fall.  Being a product of public inner city schools, her aspirations are to better science education, first in the inner city, then at the lucky college that offers her a teaching position. Department of Physiological Sciences, UCLA.

Adam Braunschweig (Science fellow 2005-2006).  Adam Braunschweig is a graduate student in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCLA.  His research focus is the design, construction and application of molecular machines.  In 2001 he received his B.A. from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. with a major in chemistry.   At Cornell he carried out research on the synthesis of amphiphilic block copolymers. Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, UCLA.

Michael Page (Science fellow 2005-2006). Born and raised a native to Columbus, Ohio, Michael completed his undergraduate studies at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is a Ph.D. student at the University of California, Los Angeles in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. A current research focus is the inhibition of thrombin, a protein that plays a central role in the blood coagulation cascade. In 2003, Michael obtained his Masters of Science in chemistry while completing research in the Department of Medical and Molecular Pharmacology at UCLA. Throughout his academic career Michael has held several teaching appointments and views the education of young minds in the areas of science and mathematics as being vital. It is his goal to obtain an academic position in which he can focus on addressing health concerns using chemistry, while encouraging students to consider a career in the sciences. Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, UCLA.

Catherine Skibo (Science fellow 2005-2006). Cathy Skibo was born and raised in Montclair, NJ.  After attending public school in Montclair, she received a B.A. in chemistry in 2000 from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.  From Cornell, she came to the west coast to pursue graduate studies in physical chemistry in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCLA.  The focus of Cathy’s research is the study of surfaces and single molecules at room temperature using ultra high vacuum scanning tunneling microscopy. Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, UCLA.

Stephanie Gould, Ph.D.  (National Science Foundation Discovery Corps Postdoctoral Fellow 2005-2007).  Stephanie completed her undergraduate studies at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana in 2000.  She came to UCLA as a post-doc after completing her Ph.D. studies at Arizona State University in December 2004.  At ASU she studied artificial photosynthesis, specifically working towards alternative forms of energy production.  Early in 2005, Stephanie came to UCLA to continue her education as a post doctoral fellow.  As an NSF fellow, she will spend half of her time working in the laboratories of Professor Miguel Garcia-Garibay and half of her time working as a GK-12 Fellow.  Stephanie hopes to use her experiences to obtain an academic position in which she can focus her career on undergraduate education and educational outreach programs. Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, UCLA.

Madeline Jetter (Math fellow 2005-2006). Madeleine Jetter was born in San Francisco, California. She received her BA in Mathematics from Columbia University and an MA in Mathematics from UCLA in 2001. She is interested in algebraic and convex geometry, and looks forward to a career teaching undergraduates. Department of Mathematics, UCLA.

Luke Cherveny (Math fellow 2005-2006).  Luke Cherveny was born in Gaithersburg, Maryland.  He did his undergraduate work at North Carolina State University where he studied mathematics, physics, and history.  Now in his third year of Ph.D. work at UCLA, Luke is pursuing research interests in geometry, topology, and their connection to modern physics.  This is his first year as a GK-12 Fellow. Department of Mathematics, UCLA.

Flynn Heiss (Math fellow 2003-2006) was born in Albany, NY.  He received a B.A. in Mathematics from SUNY at Geneseo in 2000, a M.A. in Mathematics from UCLA in 2002, where he is still studying and working toward a Ph.D. in Mathematics.  His research interests are in set theory and mathematical logic.  He has spent two years as a teaching assistant at UCLA, seven years as a tutor in high school and college mathematics, and two years with the GK-12 Program.  He enjoys teaching all levels of students, young and old. He has been awarded a third year of fellowship in the GK-12 Program.  Department of Mathematics, UCLA.

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2003-2005 Fellows

Science:     Natalia_K._Wideman   Kelly_Thomas    Sadaf_Sehati    Mui_Sam_    Ben_Wang    Jeannie_He   

Peter_Dong    Chrystie_Cooper    Jacob_Edwards    David_Tomerlin    Jenifer_Wang    Dean_Won

Mathematics:     Brian_Carty    Stephanie_Anne_Molnar    Christopher_Yakes    Joshua_Helston    Regis_Smith

Natalia K. Wideman (Science fellow 2003-2005) is a third year graduate student at UCLA in Dr. Blaire Van Valkenburgh’s lab.  She is studying the biomechanics of spinal flexibility in dogs, and the skeletal morphology of the necks of cats and dogs and its relationship to their differing prey capture strategies.  Natalia received her B.A. in legal studies from UC Berkeley, and after working in a law firm for a semester, decided to change her focus to science and paleontology.  She volunteered at the University of California Museum of Paleontology and took classes at local community colleges in the San Francisco Bay Area to fulfill her prerequisites for a biology master’s program. After being offered a position as an assistant curator at the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology in Claremont, Natalia moved to southern California and continued her education at local community colleges, and then at California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB). Under the mentorship of Dr. Stuart Sumida, Natalia studied the skeleton of the Pennsylvanian tetrapod, Limnoscelis, and revised its family’s taxonomy. She received her master’s degree from CSUSB in 2002. Natalia’s interest in science education has been reinforced by her participation in the GK-12 program and she plans to combine her love of science education and paleontology in her career.  

“Now I walk into class and it’s, ‘Hello Ms. Wideman, I have a scientific question for you.”

“Participating in the GK-12 project has changed my life. Before starting the project, I thought that I wanted to go into research or academia, but was not sure of my decision. Working in the GK-12 program, I have realized that I really want to be involved in science education. Ideally, I would be involved in science education using my own research in middle to high school context. GK-12 has allowed me to find the direction of my career and has allowed me to participate in the lives of young urban students, which has been great!” Natalia Wideman, Science fellow, 2003-2005. UCLA  Dept. of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology.

Kelly Thomas (Science fellow 2004-2005) was born and raised in Colorado where she attended Denver public schools. She graduated from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington with a B.S. in Biology and a minor in French. She is currently working on her Ph.D. under the direction of Martin L. Cody. Kelly is examining the effect of habitat fragmentation on the small mammals of the Mojave Desert. During her graduate career, she has been a teaching assistant for a diverse range of classes and has also been involved in curriculum development for Life Science 1. She plans on graduating in June 2005 and hopes to gain a teaching position at a comprehensive university.  

“I would not trade this experience for anything; to experience the environment of an urban Los Angeles high school is invaluable.  I now have a much greater perspective on the status of education in this country and on the day to day struggles (of teachers and students) that go on in urban schools.  I have also learned more about cultures different from my own.” Kelly Thomas, Science fellows, 2004-2005. UCLA  Dept. of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology.

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Sadaf Sehati (Science fellow 2004-2005) is a fifth year biochemistry student at UCLA in Dr. Joan Valentine’s lab.  She is currently studying oxygen consumption and its connection to energy utilization in baker’s yeast lacking the antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase. Sadaf completed her M.S. as well as her B.S. at UCLA in Biochemistry.  Before that she attended William Howard Taft High School, a school in the Los Angeles Unified School District, located in Woodland Hills.   While in high school, Sadaf became involved with The West Valley Boys and Girls Club, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping young people, especially those from disadvantaged circumstances, become productive and responsible citizens.  Her experience as the Education Coordinator of The Boys and Girls Club and her chosen field of Biochemistry inspired her to pursue a career in science education.   Sadaf’s recent participation in the GK-12 program as well as her experience as a Teaching Assistant at UCLA have made her realize how interested she is in teaching and she hopes to follow the path to becoming a teacher once she finishes her Ph.D.      

"I am more certain now that I want to pursue a career in teaching. GK-12 program has tremendously changed my teaching Philosophy and my style of teaching." Sadaf Sehati, Science fellow, 2004-2005. UCLA Dept. of  Chemistry & Biochemistry.

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Mui Sam (Science fellow 2004-2005) was born in Vietnam and immigrated to the United States at the age of ten.  She has been living in Southern California ever since, attended middle and high school in the LAUSD, received her B.S. in biochemistry at Occidental College, and  her Ph.D. in chemistry at UCLA (June 2005).  Here at UCLA, Mui worked under the guidance of Dr. Mahdi Abu-Omar and Dr. Guillaume Chanfreau on the investigation of kinetic mechanisms of chemical and biological nucleases.  Currently Mui is a postdoctoral fellow with  Dr. Jack W. Szostak, of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Department of Molecular Biology in Massachusetts General Hospital. Mui  participates in the study of  in vitro selection and directed evolution to explore sequence space for functional RNA, DNA and protein sequences.
 

"I am much more aware of the importance of education in urban setting and at all levels of learning. I will defiantly incorporate inquiry-based lessons in my teaching. Mui Sam, Science fellow, 2004-2005. UCLA Dept. of  Chemistry & Biochemistry.

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Ben Wang. (Science fellow 2003-2005) I attended public high school in upstate New York, and did my undergraduate work at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, studying biology with a concentration in neuroscience.  When I graduated, I had many adventures, including working on fishing boats in Alaska for the National Marine Fisheries Service, bartending on an island in the Caribbean, hitchhiking up and down the West Coast, traveling in Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, and leading a backpacker trip through China.  I’ve always been interested in teaching natural science, and have over seven years of experience teaching in various capacities in both public and private high schools in Massachusetts and California.  Before coming to Los Angeles to finish my Ph.D., I lived for seven years in the San Francisco Bay Area, where I taught science for the Cross-Cultural Leadership Program at San Rafael High School and worked for the California Academy of Sciences, teaching middle school and high school classes how to collect, analyze and present ecological data from city parks.  During that time, I also spent over 18 months in the rainforest in Cameroon, West Africa, collecting data on hornbills (large fruit-eating birds) and monkeys in order to better understand what fruits they eat, where they drop the seeds, and how that affects rainforest regeneration, especially in areas where monkeys and other large animals are hunted I came UCLA to continue working on that seed dispersal research.  I am a doctoral student in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and a Research Associate of the Center for Tropical Research, of which my advisor, Dr. Thomas B. Smith, is Executive Director.  For my Ph.D. research, I am using molecular genetic techniques to measure gene flow of African rainforest trees through pollen and seed movement in order to assess the impact of the loss of monkeys and other large mammalian dispersers.

“I’ve heard many, many students exclaim, ‘This is tight,’ ‘this is cool,’ and other such expressions. Also, students have been proud to show me, ‘See, I’m doing my work now!’ …I think that through the GK-12 lessons, some of the students are having limited success in school for the first time.” Ben Wang, Science Fellow, 2003-2005. UCLA  Dept. of  Ecology & Evolutionary Biology.                                                                                                                                                                                         

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Brian Carty (Math fellow 2004-2005) was born and raised in Havertown, PA, a suburb of Philadelphia.  He graduated from Amherst College with a B.A. in Mathematics in 2002.  That fall he began work towards his Ph.D. at UCLA, where he is currently in his third year.  His research interests involve set theory, model theory, and mathematical logic.
Prior to this, his first year in the GK12 Program, he was a teaching assistant at UCLA for one year , a tutor, and a Help Session Teaching Assistant at Amherst for 3 years. He has always enjoyed teaching, and is grateful for the experience he is gaining at Manual Arts High School in Downtown Los Angeles.  He hopes to continue his involvement in math education throughout his career.   

“[One of my math students] is always excited to see me at school, even when I pass him in the hallways. He is excited to show me his class-work and homework to show off the knowledge he’s acquired.” Brian Carty, Math Fellow.

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Stephanie Anne Molnar (Math fellow 2004-2005) is a sixth-year graduate student in the mathematics department at UCLA, graduating with a Ph.D. in June 2005. She works in the harmonic analysis research group under Christoph Thiele. In particular, she is interested in sharp growth estimates for T(b) theorems of David, Journe, and Semmes. She is currently applying for academic jobs and would like to teach at a small liberal arts college. She got a B.A. in mathematics at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and a M.A. in mathematics at Boston College. She has had many interesting teaching jobs. She taught Applied Math for Food Service at a culinary institute, various math courses at UCLA and Boston College, and has run teacher-training courses in number theory and geometry. She is passionate about teaching well and with compassion and patience. Stephanie is currently working at the Orthopaedic Hospital Medical Magnet High School. The school is in its first year of operation and has approximately 400 students from Los Angeles and neighboring communities. This job has been one of the hardest Stephanie has experienced so far, but she loves working with the students and teachers, and has found the experience to be very rewarding. In her free time, Stephanie loves cooking and baking, reading, and listening to live jazz and folk music. She is an avid cyclist and runner, and completed the Honolulu and Los Angeles Marathons during her third year at UCLA.  

I have interacted with one student in general who was disinterested in mathematics from day one, and slept through most of the 2-hour block class. I woke him up each day that I was there. Finally I spoke to him and asked what was going on and what he wanted to do. He said he was interested in art, and not math. I asked him to make me a Cartesian plane, well-labeled and decorated, and he did. And beyond that, and possibly more importantly, he understands graphing much better than he would have had we stuck to teaching him in a more traditional fashion…since we worked on the Cartesian plane, he has been doing his homework and has decided to be an active learner.”

“I have reevaluated my long-term goals and decided to include in them attempts to help educate those who come from poor backgrounds.” Stephanie Molnar, Math Fellow.

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Christopher Yakes (Math fellow 2003-2005) was born and raised in Point Pleasant, NJ.  He graduated from Rider University, located in Lawrenceville, NJ, with a B.A. in Mathematics in 1999, and proceeded to enter the Ph.D. program in Mathematics at UCLA.  His current research is in the area of algebras of analytic functions under the advising of Professor Theodore Gamelin. After a four year Teaching Assistantship in the UCLA Department of Mathematics, Chris was a recipient of the NSF GK12 Graduate Fellowship for 2003-2004.  During the year-long appointment Chris worked with new teachers at Locke High School, located in Watts in South Central Los Angeles.  Chris’ experiences there have led to an interest in Social Justice in teaching, and an interest in continuing to improve education at the local and state levels. Chris plans to continue to learn more about the education process and the California education scene as a grateful recipient of the NSF GK12 Graduate Fellowship for 2004-2005.  He also plans to finish writing his thesis this year.    

“The experience has helped me solidify my career goals through these final quarters of my graduate career.  It has shown me that there is a need and a place for people with extensive math backgrounds who are interested in math education. I’m sure the Fellowship has helped me tremendously in the job application process.  I have applied to several math departments that have positions for people who are interested in both mathematics and mathematics education.” Christopher Yakes, Math fellow.

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Peter Dong (Science fellow 2003-2004) was born in Chicago, IL and moved to Monterey Park, CA at the age of eight.  He attended Washington Elementary School, Eastmont Intermediate School, and Schurr High School, all minority-heavy schools in a low-income neighborhood.  A series of excellent teachers convinced him that it was the quality of the teachers that made a good school, not the income of its students, and made him resolve to become a teacher, an aspiration he still presently holds.  He was valedictorian of his class and went on to study physics and music at Harvard University, where he graduated magna cum laude and moved on to graduate school at UCLA.   Starting in July 2004, Peter performed research at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, IL.  The particle accelerator there, the Tevatron, is the most powerful in the world and the only machine capable of producing the ultra-heavy top quark.  Peter worked with the Collider Detector at Fermilab to study a rare event called charged-current single-top production, in which a top quark is produced without a top antiquark.  Measurements of this event can lead to a measurement of the last element of the CKM mixing matrix (postulated to be 0.998) and confirm that there are only three families of fermions.  His adviser is Rainer Wallny, and the research website is http://www-collider.physics.ucla.edu/cdf/.  

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Jeannie He.  (Science fellow 2003-2004) At age 12, Jeannie He left her hometown in southern China and immigrated to the United States with her parents.  During high school in San Francisco, through a series of science projects, Jeannie became very interested in biology and decided to pursue her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at the University of California, Davis. Jeannie did her graduate research under the guidance of Dr. Genhong Cheng in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics.  For her thesis project, she investigated the function of a gene called tumor necrosis factor receptor associated factor-3 (TRAF3) in immune response.   TRAF3 is a signaling molecule that binds to numerous tumor necrosis factor receptors such as the CD40 and BAFF receptor, both of which play an important role in many aspects of B cell biology including B cell survival, development and proliferation.  Using B cells from the TRAF3 deficient mice, we have been studying the role of TRAF3 in regulating the type II NF-kB pathway, which is essential in generating an immune response to both T cell-dependent and –independent antigens, such as those found on bacteria and viruses. Because Jeannie is very interested in teaching molecular biology and immunology, she participated in the GK-12 program where she could apply her knowledge and skills in basic science research to design and implement hand-on and inquiry-based science activities to high school students.  Currently, Jeannie is a postdoctoral researcher.  

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Chrystie Cooper  (Science fellow 2003-2004) finished up her undergraduate career at UCLA in June 2004. She is in the Teacher’s Education Program (TEP)   at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.   

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Jacob Edwards, (Science fellow 2003-2004) Biology major, Graduate from UCLA in June 2004. He is in the Teacher’s Education Program (TEP)   at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.  Currently, Jacob is Science Resident in the newly opened Santee Dairy High School, and is participating as a teacher in the GK-12 program.

David Tomerlin, (Science fellow 2003-2004) master student, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology.

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Jenifer Wang (Science fellow 2003-2004) finished up her undergraduate career at UCLA in June 2004. She graduated with a B.S. in General Chemistry. She is in the Teacher’s Education Program (TEP)  at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. Currently, Jenifer  participates in the UCLA GK-12 program as a teacher.

Dean Won, (Science fellow 2003-2004) of Stockton, CA, began his academic career in 1991 at San Joaquin Delta College where he obtained an A.A. degree.  He transferred to UC Davis in 1993 and majored in Exercise Science.  After graduation in 1996, his first job out of college was researching cancer at the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, CA.  He spent one year there when he realized he wanted to go into teaching the biological sciences.  Dean's enriching experiences in anatomy and physiology as an undergraduate pushed him in this direction.  In the 1997-1998 academic year, Dean obtained a master in education as well as a teaching credential at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA.  After completing that program, he realized that he still had the drive to learn more about science.  So instead of going straight into teaching at the high school level, he continued his studies at UCLA in the fall quarter of 1998 when he was accepted into the Physiological Science doctorate program. Dean completed the Ph.D. program as of June 2004, he is now an assistance professor in the American River Collage, Sacramento, California. His experiences as a fellow have "sparked a desire to teach at the community college level, educating diverse student populations." Dean says "he grateful to have been a part of the GK12 program in its endeavor to push science education forward."

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Joshua Helston (Math fellow 2003-2004) completed his undergraduate studies at Gustavus Adolphus College in St, Peter, Minnesota with a B.A. in Honors Mathematics and Honors Philosophy. He then went to UCLA where he completed his M.A. in Mathematics studying Mathematical Logic and Set Theory. Through the GK-12 Program, he has cultivated an interest in secondary mathematics education and wishes to pursue an advanced degree in Mathematics Education. Currently, Joshua is an adjunct Mathematics lecturer in Mt. St. Mary's College in Los Angeles, California. Outside of academics, Joshua also enjoys reading, writing, watching movies and playing video games.

Regis Smith, (Math Fellow 2003-2004) Graduate student at the UCLA Mathematics Department.

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Teachers

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