Gevirtz School alumna Katelyn Standerfer has been selected as a 2016 Science Communication Fellow and member of the Corps of Exploration. The fellowship includes a special opportunity to sail aboard Exploration Vessel (E/V) Nautilus during its 2016 expedition to explore the Channel Islands and California coast. Standerfer graduated from the Teacher Education Program in 2013 with a M.Ed. and a single subject certification in Biology, and was also a 2012 Noyce Scholar during her time at UC Santa Barbara. She is currently a science teacher at San Marcos High School in Santa Barbara.
Standerfer was selected by the Ocean Exploration Trust (OET) to participate in the 2016 Nautilus Exploration Program with 22 students and 17 educators selected from the US and Australia. The goal of the program aboard the E/V Nautilus is to provide a unique, immersive opportunity for students and educators to combine ocean-related research with education and technology. Standerfer’s role on the Nautilus will be to teach and inspire students on board to become the next generation of scientists and ocean explorers.
“I am incredibly excited to be working about the E/V Nautilus this summer with such a talented and driven team,” Standerfer said in a Santa Barbara Unified School District release. “I feel lucky to have been chosen for this amazing opportunity and I cannot wait to see what summer brings.”
Standerfer completed her degree and credential at UCSB as a Noyce Scholar. The Noyce Scholars are one component of CalTeach at Santa Barbara (CTSB), part of a statewide UC effort to reinvigorate science and mathematics teaching in order to prepare California students for the ever-more demanding 21st century workforce and marketplace. CTSB has three objectives: 1) to use the rapidly expanding undergraduate program at the Gevirtz School – which includes a new Minor in Science and Mathematics Education – to recruit students, particularly underrepresented ethnic minority students, into science and mathematics teaching; 2) to increase the overall number of science and mathematics credential candidates in UCSB’s Teacher Education Program; and 3) to build cohorts of students through shared activities so as to prepare and retain student-centered, reform-minded science and mathematics teachers. These objectives are all the more crucial given the increasing need for qualified science and mathematics teachers and the lack of support at the state level due to California’s budget crisis. The Noyce Scholarships are a direct way to address that teacher shortage.
Keep up with Standerfer and the rest of the Nautilus group through live audio commentary and question-and-answer sessions through the Nautilus Live website (www.NautilusLive.org).