SUBJECT: BROWARD'S TEACHER OF THE YEAR SERVING AS EINSTEIN FELLOW IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
Allan Phipps, Broward County Public Schools 2011 Teacher of the Year, is currently participating in an 11-month Albert Einstein Distinguished Teacher Fellowship at the National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C. Phipps, who is a science teacher at South Plantation High School and oversees the school’s award-winning solar car program, is working in the Foundation’s Math and Science Partnerships and Noyce Scholarship offices.
The Noyce Scholarship program provides higher-learning institutions with money to offer scholarships to undergraduate students who are strong in the areas of science, technology, engineering or math (STEM). If, when the students graduate from college, they become teachers, a portion of the funds awarded to them will be forgiven. Should they decide teaching is not their career path of choice, the scholarship becomes a non-interest bearing loan that must be paid-off or pro-rated, if they fulfilled a portion of their teaching obligation.
Phipps is editing requests for proposals to go out in December and will organize and sit on review panels in the spring. He will also organize regional and national conferences, participate in site visits and collect and analyze data on the effectiveness of grant dollars in recruiting students to become teachers.
Phipps is also developing an action plan in conjunction with CollegeBoard to make the educational resources at government agencies more easily accessible to classroom teachers. He also plans to serve as a volunteer at the Department of Energy Solar Decathlon at the end of this month. The competition will bring 20 university teams from around the world to build solar-powered homes on the National Mall. |
