Richland One Teachers Garner National Honors

Richland One congratulates its teachers and students who are excelling in the sciences and receiving national acclaim for their achievements.

Dr. Martin Cwiakala, MIT Excite Teacher Award Recipient
Keenan High School teacher Dr. Martin Cwiakala has been named an Excite Teacher Award recipient by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). This national honor stems from an outstanding application Dr. Cwiakala and the Keenan Robo Raiders robotics team submitted to MIT to invent a virtual amusement park ride. They were competing with hundreds of high school teams from across the nation to receive a Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam grant, a national program that encourages high school students to become inventors using knowledge acquired in science, math and engineering. Schools selected as InvenTeams will have the opportunity of a lifetime presented to them: the possibility of creating a prototype of their invention with up to $10,000 in funding from MIT.

The next step for Dr. Cwiakala is to attend the MIT Odyssey event in June. The Odyssey is a four-day event on the MIT campus. At the Odyssey, he will have the opportunity to meet other high school student inventors, see their inventions and pick up some pointers on how to create Keenan’s invention.

After the Odyssey, Dr. Cwiakala, the Robo Raiders and students in Keenan’s engineering and design development class will work together to turn their application into a final design proposal and ultimately a prototype.

Keenan’s Robo Raiders have won numerous state and national robotics awards under the leadership of Dr. Cwiakala, who also was a 2006 finalist for Richland One teacher of the Year.

Maria Rajan, Chosen for Magnetic Field Laboratory Research
The National Science Foundation has selected Eau Claire High School science teacher Maria Rajan to participate in the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory Research Experience for Teachers program. This summer Rajan and teachers from across the country will attend Florida State University where they will get first-hand experience in cutting-edge magnetic field research. Teachers in the program use the knowledge they’ve gained during the summer to inspire and instruct their students when they return to their schools in the fall.

 

 

 

For more information, contact the Richland One Office of Communications at 231-7510 or 231-7504.