Pamela Harman

Originally trained in civil engineering, Pamela Harman is now helping build better opportunities for the next generation. Education and Public Outreach (EPO) is an “emerging profession,” according to Pamela, in which researchers and educators pool their expertise to provide professional development to science and math teachers.

As example, Pamela leads the Astrobiology Summer Science Experience for Teachers (ASSET), a program in which roughly twenty teachers and other EPO professionals come to the SETI Institute for a graduate level course. They hear from Institute scientists and practice classroom activities that stimulate learning through inquiry. There are also such interesting field trips as an expedition to Chrissy Field in San Francisco, where participants can observe, infer, and learn about the uplifted geography visible on both sides of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Pamela spends a lot of time doing such things as making classroom visits, talking to Girl Scout groups to encourage more young women to enter science and engineering, and giving professional development workshops at science teacher conferences. Always up for a new challenge, she also supports the Institute’s EPO effort for NASA’s SOFIA airborne observatory and the Kepler mission.