St. Mary’s Academy science teacher Kirsten Thiel has been chosen to receive a $15,000 grant in the Partners in Science (PIS) Program of the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust to conduct research jointly over a period of two summers with Dr. Henryk Urbanski of Oregon National Primate Research Center, Oregon Health & Sciences University. She is the fourth teacher from St. Mary’s to receive this notable award for research.
“We in the Science Department are very excited about Kirsten’s PIS experience,” says science teacher Maureen Daschel, a former PIS participant. “She will get the chance to do cutting edge bio-medical research with a top scientist and will bring her enthusiasm for science and research methods back to her students in the classroom and lab.”
Thiel’s award letter said it was ‘clear from her application that she was eager to enhance her ability to teach science with a deeper understanding from the subject’. The title of her research is Molecular Neurobiology of Aging and her research will look at the cognitive and physical changes associated with menopause on a molecular level.
Daschel was the first St. Mary’s teacher to be involved with PIS and began the school’s Science Research Methods (SRM) program from her experience. Approximately 250 students have participated in SRM since it began in 1994 and the class has led many girls to conduct their own remarkable experiments with local scientists.
“The generosity of the Murdock grant has been a wonderful opportunity for our teachers and students to gain more understanding and confidence to answer their own research questions,” says Principal Pat Barr. The award also includes funds to attend two national Partners in Science conferences where Thiel will share the results of each summer’s research.
The grant is awarded through a competitive process in the PIS Program at the Murdock Trust. Applications are accepted from high school teachers and mentors from a five-state region to conduct summer research. The primary goal of the Program is to provide high school science teachers with opportunities to work at the cutting edge of science, and this to revitalize their teaching and help them appreciate the use of inquiry-based methods in the teaching of science. The selection of awardees is based on the qualifications of the partner members, the quality of scientific research proposed, and the potential of its impact on the high school setting.
Founded in 1859 by the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, St. Mary’s Academy of Portland, is Oregon’s oldest continuously operating secondary school and one of 716 all-female schools in the country. The student body represents a diverse background of young women from over 30 urban, suburban, and rural communities in Oregon and Southwest Washington. St. Mary’s Academy is distinguished by its development of the whole person, and is the only school in the state to receive three U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon Schools awards.
