SWAG��Ƶ

The and the on Jan. 12, 2011 covered a visit by Biddeford High School students to SWAG��Ƶ to get a global perspective on environmental issues from Fullbright Scholar-in-Residence Helida Oyieke, Ph.D., a Kenyan environmental studies and marine biology scholar. Dr. Oyieke is director of research and scientific affairs at the National Museums of Kenya and an instructor at the University of Nairobi. 

In the Press Herald story Dr. Oyieke noted that most of the visiting Biddeford High students were girls. In Kenya, only about one-third of all girls go to high school because parents must pay for it, she said. Dr. Oyieke said she plans to use her experience in the United States to improve education in Kenya and increase the number of girls that graduate from high school and go on to college.

Dr. Oyieke's interactions this spring with students from Biddeford, Bonny Eagle and other local high schools is made possible through SWAG��Ƶ's five-year National Science Foundation SPARTACUS GK12 project, which engages Maine K-12 students and teachers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-related disciplines. 

The SPARTACUS project places SWAG��Ƶ graduate students in marine sciences and biology into six school districts in southern Maine as science resources for teachers.

Jay Williams, a SWAG��Ƶ graduate fellow participating in the program, told the Journal Tribune that  before speaking to high school students she was nervous speaking in public. In addition to becoming more comfortable speaking to large audiences, she said she has also learned how to better communicate technical, scientific subjects. Also, said Williams, “It’s really cool to talk to these students and say ‘you can do it’ to them.”

Also quoted in the story were Henrietta List, manager of the SPARTACUS program, and Edward Bilsky, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology, SWAG��ƵCOM, and director of SWAG��Ƶ's Center for Excellence in the Neurosciences. More information on Dr. Oyieke.