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The CDC is the nation's disease prevention
and wellness promotion agency,
protecting the population's health and safety,
providing credible information to enhance health decisions,
and improving health through strong partnerships.
The CDC Science Ambassador Fellowship is
intended for middle- and high-school STEM teachers
and those who hold educational leadership positions.
This is a professional development opportunity
that provides support and training
in (STEM) curriculum design
and teaching strategies using public health examples.
Whether it's Ebola in West Africa or the opioid crisis
affecting communities across the United States
our ability to respond to ongoing and emerging
public health threats
depends on having a highly trained and prepared workforce.
For this reason it's important that we attract middle
and high school students to careers in public health.
By connecting teachers to CDC scientists
and training them to serve as science ambassadors
we hope to inspire middle and high school students
to be the next generation of disease detectives,
laboratory leaders
and other vital public health professionals.
When you come to the Science Ambassador class,
the first thing you realize is people come
from a variety of fields.
Being able to go back to my classroom and have kids realize
that they don't have to be a science expert;
they could be a communications expert;
they could be a statistician and public health provides you
with that opportunity.
I'm really interested in teaching epidemiology
at the high school level what I've seen with my students is
that there is very little understanding
of how everybody connects together with regard
to their personal health and community and internationally.
Selected Fellows begin by participating
in a rigorous 1 week training course
at CDC headquarters over the summer.
After the summer course, fellows collaborate
with CDC remotely for one year.
During this time, fellows are asked to work
with CDC Subject Matter Experts to finalize teaching materials,
pilot public health lesson plans in the classroom, present plans
at local teacher conferences or meetings,
and consult on the development
of public health-based resource materials for middle
and high school teachers nationwide.
I use a lot of the case studies from CDC's website
so having a chance to talk with the subject matter experts
and seeing how they facilitate the case studies has been useful
and I can take that back to my students.
The ambassador program has gone way over my expectations.
I cannot wait for the first day of school
to share what I'm learning here at CDC
with my very lucky 7th graders.
This is a great opportunity to network with scientists
from the CDC and get valuable information
that you can carry back to your schools.
The Science Ambassador program represents a
collaboration between experienced educators
who are passionate about teaching and CDC scientists
who are recognized experts in their fields.
The result is technically accurate,
timely and effective core resources
and competency-based curricula.
I would highly recommend this program
to other teachers.
I wanted to be a part of this program for a long time.
To be with other teachers
from other states opens a door for you to collaborate
with the help of the Science Ambassador program.
Being an ambassador
to the CDC is an excellent opportunity for all educators
and anytime you find something that has substance to it
like this, you want to share that.
CDC's Science Ambassador Fellowship is a
unique opportunity for teachers to partner with CDC
to support the growing demand of STEM education.
Together, we can help to improve science literacy among our youth
and ignite student interest in public health
as a career choice, resulting
in a stronger public health workforce capable
of solving complex 21st century public health challenges.
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