2017 News & Events

Update: This summer, eight high-school students from Denver Public Schools (DPS) intern with CSD, with the support of DPS Counselor Beth Hamilton. Gabriela Adler, David Parrish, Yelena Pichugina, and Jackson Osborn from CSD/CIRES, and Ru-Shan Gao and Debra Dailey-Fisher from CSD serve as their mentors and supervisors:

• Maggie Stewart (Gabi Adler)
• Judah Bolz-Weber (David Parrish)
• Hugh O'Bryan, Spencer Williams (Yelena Pichugina)
• Gregor Owens, Sam Schwartz, Max Van Sickle (Ru-Shan Gao, Jackson Osborn)
• Yoki Ogbai (Debe Dailey-Fisher)

Denver Public Schools' (DPS) CareerConnect Program selected NOAA Boulder as their Government Partner of the Year. The CareerConnect Program offers students hands-on workplace experiences and mentoring, giving them the opportunity to discover possible careers and build practical skills. Over the last few years, NOAA Boulder has run events and provided internships to DPS students, introducing them to the important atmospheric research that NOAA does. This has built interest in STEM for students that are not traditionally well-represented.

During National Labs week in 2016 and 2017, NOAA's labs in Boulder hosted DPS high school students, inviting them to choose among various hands-on activities and demonstrations. These carefully selected and customized sessions taught the students about Space Weather forecasting, lightning safety, life of an Arctic scientist, the impact of fire, and more. Both NOAA senior management and the Executive Office of the White House lauded Boulder for the 2016 National Labs event.

Next month, NOAA Boulder will host DPS CareerSpark 7th and 8th grade students, giving them the opportunity to see a federal lab setting and see atmospheric science come alive.

Last summer, four high-school students from DPS completed internships with ESRL. Gabriela Adler from CSD/CIRES, Paul Johnston from the Physical Sciences Division/CIRES, David Parrish from CSD/CIRES, and Jeff Van Buskirk from the Global Systems Division served as their mentors and supervisors. This year, ESRL plans to host sixteen more summer interns from DPS high schools. Frank Erdesz from CSD/CIRES serves on the EngineeringConnect Leadership Committee. Debra Dailey-Fisher made arrangements with DPS for the program, and placed student interns with each ESRL division.

Recognition from DPS, a local community partner, highlights our research to other partners and public constituents and is a welcomed honor.