A Day In The Life...

I received a request, and it is "what do are you doing?", or something along those lines. I am happy to oblige such requests and will attempt to give you a picture of my day.

First, I don't have a typical day. My days vary greatly depending upon what's going on, which aspect of my DC experience is being highlighted any given day. Being here in DC as an Einstein Fellow means many things. I am here not only to offer my opinion and use my expertise as a STEM educator (sci, tech, eng & math) but to learn about what's going on at a national level with STEM education. I have a job to which I report, but I am also an Einstein Fellow and we have responsibilities as Fellows. Some days I sit in my cube at my computer and work all day and there are days when I don't see my cube much at all as I'm busy in various meetings all day. Okay, let me try to break it down a bit. 1) I have a job in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. I work with two wonderful women who are in different programs in EERE but really spend their time working together across all 10 programs in EERE to do workforce development. I have been brought on to be their STEM expert in creating a K-12, really K-14 educational strategic plan which will ultimately lead students into the EERE workforce. I am evaluating what programs are already operating within EERE on the k-12 front, what areas are covered, which are quality and effective and which aren't. From there I am trying to do a gap analysis and will make recommendations as to directions EERE should move in filling those gaps. As part of that gap analysis I am looking to see what's done in other offices and at other agencies. If there already exists an effective program I am steering them towards partnering with that program to meet their needs rather than reinventing the wheel. This is the largest aspect of what I'm doing at EERE. I am also looking at the lessons on the website and evaluating them for effectiveness and validity. Again, the best way to get the EERE message out to educators to reach the K-12 audience.
What else do I do? I go to meetings within my office and within DOE wherein I am along to 'see what's going on' there (helps with finding out who's doing what and how we can work together), my advice may be sought in these meetings or it may deal with some aspects of workforce development but maybe at a higher level. I also attend meetings at other agencies to try to form partnerships, or at least lay groundwork for these possibilities. Another thing I am working on is trying to get a project going with the Dept of Ed to marry our strengths and expertise. I will be vague on details here as I don't know what one can actually mention out here on the web.
Another group of meetings I attend is professional development for Einstein Fellows. Okay, not necessarily for Einstein Fellows in particular, but meetings to which we are invited as they touch on STEM education at some level. Example: I went up to the Rayburn building a week ago or so (one of the House buildings) to attend a luncheon about K-12 engineering efforts. A gentleman from the National Academy of Engineering was presenting findings and a gentleman from NY who is a practicing engineer and creates engineering curriculum for schools gave an overview of what he does. It was all about promoting engineering in the K-12 curriculum. On a slight aside, we do a good job with the S&M, but too often leave out the T&E: a gap that is being addressed. So I go to luncheon presentations, I went to a panel discussion about the Drop Out Factories (as defined by a Johns Hopkins report) that was attended by several hundred folks including speakers from senate and house committees and agencies around town influencing policy. All of this is professional development that gives a broader perspective on the state of national STEM education, or education in general.
I attend meetings as an Einstein Fellow where we, as a group, are being assembled for our opinion. We went to the Wilson Center a few weeks ago. They are a major policy advisory group here in DC. They have an education agenda as part of what they do. They invited us for lunch, layed out their agenda and asked for our opinion. Two and a half hours later they had a broad perspective from two dozen experienced science and math teachers from varied backgrounds as to the best programs, the best ways to proceed and the gaps that need to be filled. They wanted to hear our opinoin(s). We were brought to the National Academies to see what they do, what reports they produce and what resources are available to educators. And they asked our opinions on some issues too. We've been invited to have lunch with various Councils or such professional groups representing physics or engineering. If I attended every invite we get I'd NEVER be at my desk working.
Another part of my work is helping out another office. I sort of got into my position in EERE via the Office of Science and my actual sponsor is out of that office. I am down there occasionally for administrative things or to see the other two Fellows at DOE and I get asked to help out there too. I am putting together a presenation for a someone else because it ties into green jobs and some EERE workforce elements. I have been asked to give a talk this Friday about careers in science to a group of 75 high school students at a national Hispanic education conference here in DC. Glad to help out. Another Fellow teaches a class at a local university and asked other Fellows to help out by talking to his students (elementary teachers working towards certification) about how to use science in their classrooms, focusing on our area of specialty. Many of these students have no background in science and are sort of scared to teach it. We are stepping in to give them lessons and ideas to implement in their classes. I had a great time doing that.
My days vary greatly. Right now I am at a conference at a nice hotel here in the District for all of the Education Directors at DOE's national labs, their annual meeting to talk about the education programs they promote and are run out of the Office of Science. I was invited to come and I'm learning a bit...and multitasking a blog in too. I have had the opportunity this morning to meet (face to face) a couple of folks from NREL (National Renewable Energy Lab - EERE's research lab out in Golden, CO) with whom I have traded emails and phone calls. Connections made, meeting planned for later this week, ideas about how to work together bandied about... and it all hopefully moves a bit further down the road towards promoting K-12 STEM education and workforce development. I will be going out to NREL to meet with several folks about several programs, perhaps next month, and look forward to a tour of the lab in general. This sort of thing will come out of my travel budget as part of the Fellowship because while it's work related it's probably more professional development than directly doing my job. Grey area there.
I hope this helps give you a picture of what it is that I'm doing here. Never a dull moment and an interesting break from teaching. And I keep making notes on things to check out once I get back to the classroom too.

All the best from a rainy autumn morning in northwest DC.