Tina Vo, a CEHS doctoral student in Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education, has been accepted to the 2016-17 CADRE Fellows program of the Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education, a program funded through the National Science Foundation (NSF). The CADRE Fellows program is highly competitive, and this year’s pool of applicants was “large and extremely rich” according to Catherine McCulloch, CADRE’s principal investigator.
The CADRE Fellowship provides a variety of capacity-building experiences for early career researchers and developers participating in NSF activities. Opportunities include webinars, conference calls, in-person meetings, independent work, mentoring and collaboration with other fellows.
“As a lifelong educator and scholar, I believe there is always more to learn and want to continue developing my research skills,” said Vo. “By participating in the CADRE Fellows program I hope to glean tools, experiences, and insight that will help me craft a stronger research agenda to promote science education in elementary contexts.”
Fellows meet throughout the year to learn more about K-12 science education and gain insight into the NSF and what it takes to be successful and effective researchers and developers. Vo was an original member of the research team on the NSF grant MoHSES—Modeling Hydrologic Systems in Elementary Science. It was originally based at the University of Iowa, but moved to Nebraska with principal investigator Cory Forbes, associate professor in the School of Natural Resources.
“It’s a great opportunity for her to learn about the NSF world, but also network with a lot of people who could potentially be her future colleagues and part of our professional community,” said Forbes.
Vo, whose educational studies Ph.D. specialty is in teaching, curriculum and learning, has taken the lead on the teacher aspects of the MoHSES grant. She works with teachers to implement special curriculum designed to help third grade students better understand water systems through scientific modeling. She has also designed and led professional development for teachers and is conducting teacher-focused research
“Her passion is definitely working with teachers,” Forbes said. “The fellowship is a great thing for her, I’m excited. She’s the first student I’ve had that’s been a CADRE Fellow so it’s pretty exciting stuff.”
“It is a great honor to be selected to the CADRE fellowship because it represents an opportunity to engage in a larger research community focused on education,” Vo said. “I am so grateful to my adviser, Dr. Cory Forbes, for his steadfast support when engaging in research, working with elementary teachers and students, and unending encouragement in all the activities that made be a strong candidate for this fellowship.”
Vo has her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Illinois State University and her master’s from the University of Iowa in Science Education with a research focus on technology. She was a middle school teacher for four years in Illinois and Iowa, teaching in both public and private schools.