BioEYES NewsletterDecember, 2012

Did You Know?

BioEYES is GuideStar approved! Tosee our listing, go to our GuideStarprofile and look under the “Programsand Help” tab.

What's New?

Baltimore(Valerie Butler, Chandra Harvey, andRob Vary)BioEYES Baltimore is proud to sharethat our parent institution, TheCarnegie Institution for Science, hasjust been given Charity Navigator'shighest rating - four stars - for soundfiscal management and commitmentto accountability and transparency forthe twelfth year in a row. Carnegie isone of only five organizations out of5,500 evaluated by Charity Navigatorto earn the four-star rating for thislong, and the only one in Washington,D.C. to do so. Read more about ithere, and see the Charity Navigatordetail here!

South Bend, IN(Anita Beebe and Jill Voreis)Here at Notre Dame, BioEYES hasmuch to celebrate. The program hasreceived some supplemental fundingfor this spring semester, and itappears that we may have more forthe following school year -- yeah!!! Itis such a wonderful program, and wehave heard lots of "thanks" from theteachers that will (again) bepartnering with us. We are excited toadd Dr. Jill Voreis to the BioEYESteam! Many of our teachers had theopportunity to work with Jill back in2007 and 2008 when she and JamesWhitcome helped begin the program

Hello BioEYES Supporter,

We hope you've been enjoying the holidays! The first half of our school year has been goingwonderfully so far, and we've just received some excellent news for the upcoming year. Ifyou remember from our September newsletter, we shared some bad news regarding ourBaltimore County, MD, and South Bend, IN, branches. Well, things have turned around forboth!

Karena Curtis, our Baltimore County educator, had to take a medical leave of absence forthe fall semester, leaving their school system without our program all season. Karena,though, has just received a clean bill of health and will be returning to teach BioEYES as ofthe first of the year! Congratulations, Karena, and welcome back!

A fifth-grade students examines his fish to note if there have been changes sincethe previous day.

Our friends at Notre Dame University in Indiana had much more surprising news for us.Despite losing funding and having to close up shop for the fall, they didn't give up. Thanks tothe tireless grant-application efforts of Tom Loughran, they have managed to secure thefunding necessary to bring them back for the spring semester! They have a new BioEYESeducator in charge: Jill Voreis, who recently graduated from Notre Dame University with adoctorate in biochemistry. Welcome aboard, Jill! We all look forward to working with you.

While Baltimore County and South Bend students and teachers have been anxiouslyawaiting the return of BioEYES, our Baltimore City and Philadelphia schools were luckyenough to have their programs going strong. Here's what some of the participating teachershave had to say about the Philly program:

"One parent was amazed at the depth of knowledge their child was able to gain.Today we went on a field trip and one of my students was accurately talking aboutgenotype and phenotype. I found all of my students were fascinated with the speed ofgrowth of development. They were in awe of seeing the fully developed larve and theblood flowing through it's body!" -Charlene Jablow, middle school teacher"I have done the BioEYES project with my 7th graders for the past several years.There are always two moments in the week that bring super excitement. When theembryos are about 2 days old the students are able to see the beating heart of the

Whitcome helped begin the programhere at Notre Dame. Jill has sincereceived her doctoral degree inbiochemistry from Notre Dame, andwill be a fantastic addition to theprogram. Jill is currently employed attwo local universities teachingIntroductory Organic andBiochemistry as well as instructing abiology lab. She is looking forward toonce again working with the BioEYESprogram.

Philadelphia(Jamie Shuda and Tracy Nelson)Bioeyes Philadelphia just moved to abeautiful new, modern building. Wemoved from the Biomedical ResearchBuilding to the Smilow TranslationalResearch Center across from CHOP(the Children's Hospital ofPhiladelphia). In this new space wewill have our own lab benchdesignated for high schoolers to usewhile they intern or as they preparefor their science fair projects in thespring. In January we are planning tohave a well attended new teacherorientation. Seventeen educators areon our invite list!

Melbourne, Australia(Michael Spiegel)Having the largest zebrafish facility inthe Southern Hemisphere comes witha lot of responsibility and we havehad a busy and fun year at BioEYESAustralia. We are based at theAustralian Regenerative MedicineInstitute which is part of MonashUniversity, Australia's largestuniversity. Since our start at the endof 2010, we have reached about2,000 primary and secondarystudents what in the US is calledgrade school and high schoolrespectively. Since we don't have adedicated outreach educator this hasbeen quite an effort and the brunt ofthat work has been done by Dr.Sharon Flecknoe who works atMonash University. Without Sharonwe would have been dead in thewater. Not only has she been out inthe classrooms, but she has startedtraining volunteer students, who arestudying for their PhDs, to deliverBioEYES in the classroom. Our firsttrainee has been Sivan Elishav fromthe medical faculty and Sivan isalready running BioEYES lectures inthe schools.

We have received $9,204 fromAccess Monash which supports us toreach low socio-economic schools inMonash' catchment zone, places withnames like Dandenong andKeysborough which are areas around

embryos are about 2 days old the students are able to see the beating heart of thedeveloping baby zebrafish. I love it when they cry out 'Oh my God - I can see theheart beating!' The other moment is on last day of the week when the baby fish arehatching right in front of their eyes. The students jump out of their seats and shout 'Ican see them hatching!' There is no other experience in middle school science thatcompares with this." -Connie Goochee, middle school teacher"My children came into school every day after your first visit asking about thezebrafish. They loved the experience and wanted to take them home. Your lessonswere both informative and interesting. It was certainly an experience they willremember for a long time. Thanks again." -Marci Silverman, 4th grade teacher

And while South Bend was unable to deliver BioEYES this fall, the teachers didn't forgetabout us. Here's what some of them shared:

"I had BioEYES, and I had students tell me that they want to go into various fields ofbiology after that week. One student who was otherwise apathetic and withdrawn wasexcited and kept calling me over to show and tell me what she had under themicroscope. She was actually smiling! We need more programs like this that get kidsexcited about real science. We have a good science program, but this was acrescendo!" -Tim Braunsdorf, 8th grade teacher"Bioeyes [sic] was one of the most exciting and exploratory experience my studentshave ever had. I have been in education for 30 years and this activity was one inwhich children honestly got to experience REAL science. It truly electrified thechildren as well as the parents." -Anne Toth, 4th grade teacher"BioEYES was always the BEST thing we did all year! Hands-on is the best handsdown!" -Jeff Meinhard, 6th grade teacher

While we are all thrilled to have such good news for the upcoming spring semester, it isimportant to realize just how close a call our Baltimore County, MD, and South Bend, IN,programs had. Our program, which primarily delivers science education to underservedurban students, is largely funded by gifts and grants, and in times like these granters findthemselves with less money to go around but more worthy causes that need it.

Baltimore City educator Chandra Harvey helps a student clean the Petri dishholding his zebrafish embryos.

You can help, though. Clicking on the "Donate" button to the left or following this link willbring you to the donation page on our website, where you can make a tax-deductibledonation to BioEYES through PayPal, or learn where you can mail a check. If you orsomeone you know has received BioEYES in the classroom, or if you simply would like tosupport bringing exciting, hands-on STEM programs to underprivileged students, pleaseconsider making a donation today. Every little bit helps.

Thank you for your support of BioEYES. Sincerely,

Dr. Steven Farber Dr. Jamie Shuda

Keysborough which are areas aroundMelbourne. The Australian federalgovernment (The Department ofIndustry, Innovation, Science,Research and Tertiary Education) hascontributed another $22,000, for atotal of $31,204. We had matchingfunding available from the SchoolsConnect Foundation, which takes theyearly total to $62,408. This wasabout half of our short-term goal, butwe are continuing efforts throughoutnext year.

Our medium term target is toultimately fundraise approximately$320,000 which would allow us torecruit the appropriate staff andexpand the program to reach 200-240new classes and about 10,000-12,000 new students.

We wish you all a safe and healthyholiday and new year from a verywarm Melbourne Australia, wheresanta wears boardies and a singletand drives a Ute pulled by kangaroos.

Dr. Steven FarberBioEYES co-founder and staff scientistCarnegie Institution for Science

Dr. Jamie ShudaBioEYES co-founder andDirector of Life Science OutreachUniversity of Pennsylvania

BioEYES currently operates out of the Carnegie Institution for Science and the JohnsHopkins School of Education in Baltimore, MD; the University of Pennsylvania inPhiladelphia, PA; and Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. We have been able todeliver our programs to tens of thousands of children at no cost to their schools because ofthe generosity of individuals, foundations and corporations. For more information or to makea donation, please visit www.bioeyes.org. We thank you for your support!

Click to view this email in a browser

If you no longer wish to receive these emails, please reply to this message with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line or simply click on the following link: Unsubscribe

BioEYES @ Carnegie Institution for Science3520 San Martin DriveBaltimore, Maryland 21218US

Read the VerticalResponse marketing policy.