Anna Zuccarini, Naperville, leads Department of Energy education program for undergraduates

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The Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory selected Anna Zuccarini, a teacher at Crone Middle School in Naperville, to serve as the master teacher in this year’s Pre-Service Teacher program at Fermilab. Designed by the DOE Office of Science, the PST program places undergraduates in paid internships in Science, Math, and Technology at any of several different locations. The participants in the program have decided on a teaching career in one of these disciplines. Students work with scientists or engineers on projects related to the DOE laboratories’ research programs. They also have the mentorship of a master teacher who is currently working in K-12 education as a teacher and is familiar with the research environment of Fermilab.

In addition to being an outstanding midlevel science teacher, Ms. Zuccarini has extensive experience as a leader in teacher professional development. She has enabled PST participants to tap into the pool of world-class scientists working at Fermilab, to complete a research project, write a research paper and create an education module based on their research.

This is Zuccarini’s third year as master teacher for the PST program. In that role, she helps future teachers in all areas of science develop lesson plans that connect their work at Fermilab to their classroom, and she also helps students who are studying ecology in the collection and analysis of their data.

“Anna has been a wonderful addition to the program,” said Spencer Pasero of Fermilab’s Education Office. “Her enthusiasm for the ecology work, as well as the depth of her teaching experience and eagerness to share it with our students, make her an ideal leader for the program. In her two years, two of our students have been selected from a highly competitive group to present their work at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.”

Fermilab is the home of the Tevatron, the world’s highest-energy particle accelerator, and a leader in the development of accelerator technology since the laboratory’s founding in 1967. Fermilab collaborates closely with laboratories around the world on R&D for the proposed International Linear Collider and accelerator facilities proposed for Illinois. Particle beams from Fermilab’s accelerator complex are used to treat cancer patients on site at the Neutron Therapy Facility. Fermilab is managed by the Fermi Research Alliance, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.