MD Anderson Environmental Health Sciences Summer Institute July 19-22, 2010

To say this summer has been somewhat hectic would be an understatement! I've traveled to Austin and San Antonio TX twice so far this summer. There was also a week-long trip to Denver, Colorado to attend ISTE 2010. Still, we have make a trip way down into the valley of  Brownsville, TX next week to attend a family wedding.

Wow!  As I look at my calendar I just realized that in just 24 days, teachers report back to school for the new school year!  Where has the summer gone?

One of the things I have really been looking forward to this summer was traveling to The University of Texas and attending the MD Anderson K12 Environmental Health Sciences Summer Institute.  This institute is open to all Texas teachers who have an interest in science. 

One of the neat things is that the institute itself is FREE to the  teachers that are attending. I filled out a short application during the spring and was notified be email that I was accepted!  There are also some small travel grants to help defray the cost of traveling to Austin, TX and to help pay for the cost of your hotel room.  Pretty neat if you're on a budget or if  funds for professional development are sparse in your school district! 

I'm listing the sessions that I attended during the week.  While I was talking to the Institute's Director, I was told that they have different sessions each year and that the most popular ones, based on the teacher's evaluations are repeated in succeeding  years.  So, one could attend one year and then come back in another year and have completly different sessions!

• My Conference Schedule
• Day 1 - SCREAM: Cancer & The Environment
• Day 2 - The Brain Understanding Neurobiology Through The Study of Addiction
• Day 3 - Water Exploration A web-based curriculum on Texas water resources and water conservation Workshop Detail
• Day 4 - Fire In The Hen House: Muse of Fire and Murder Most Fowl

Dr. Robin Fuchs-Young, Ph.D. is the Director of The Community Outreach and Education Program, with MD Anderson, which sponsors this institute.  Robin also taught the Day 1 Session, SCREAM: Cancer And The Environment along with Dr. David Mitchell, that I attended and enjoyed very much.  Dr. Fuchs-Young did a rather nice job of presenting the material and was very interesting and passionate about her field of study, especially in the area of Breast Cancer Research.

The Summer Science Institute is funded by various grants and is available to any Texas Teacher at this time.  I did hear that they are working on securing additional funding to allow Louisiana Teachers to attend in the future.

If you are a teacher in the state of Texas and would like to attend a really worthwhile conference that is well run, has some interesting topics and presenters, you should consider applying to attend the next Environmental Health Sciences Summer Institute. By the way,  they have great food at the Thompson Center Cafe called Under The Oaks, breakfast and lunch are included!

I think that I am going to try to come again, if they will have me!

Resources:
K 12 Environmental Health Sciences Summer Institute
What Did You Do With Your Summer Vacation? - My Blog Post for 7 Days To A Better Edublog Mini-Course