Science Made Thrilling by Educator Michael Stephen Lampert

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Science is a thrilling experience in the classroom of educator Michael Stephen Lampert, a teacher at West Salem High School in Salem, Oregon. This dedicated educator opens his classroom at least one afternoon each week for students to work on their science projects, which he mentors. He also coaches the school’s robotics team and academic teams, including Science Bowl, Ocean Bowl, and High Five. Twice Michael’s students have won the Toshiba ExploraVision competition for their work developing a prosthetic arm that can sense touch and using bio-sensing technology to treat attention deficit disorder. Also, his students advanced to the finals in the Lemelson-MIT Inventeam contest for their work on a device that evaluates the ripeness of watermelons.

This remarkable educator has quite a professional resume outside of the classroom as well. For example, he has launched weather balloons in Antarctica to study ozone depletion, and he has helped install an infrasound listening station in Africa that can be used to detect a nuclear explosion. When he is away from the classroom working on projects such as these, he shares his experiences with his students through online journals, demonstrations, and community presentations. In addition to his hands-on projects, Michael has helped write curriculum and design the web site for the new PBS show Wired Science. He has written numerous grants to fund innovative projects that explore topics such as airbag physics and sports physics. He has earned more than $250,000 in grants for his students. And he has conducted extensive outreach programs to elementary schools in his home town.

Michael has earned plenty of recognition for his efforts. He was one of forty-five winners of the 2005 Disney Teacher Award. In 2009, he was selected Oregon Teacher of the Year, and the same year he was named the winner of the Science Education Prize for High School Teachers by the American Association for the Advancement of Science Leadership. In 2010, he was one of ten winners of the PBS Teachers Innovation Awards. Additionally, the Society for Science and the Public has listed him as one of ten SSP Fellows.

Michael Lampert graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in physics, and then started work on his doctorate in atomic physics at Oregon State University before deciding to pursue a career in teaching. How greatly is the profession enriched by the contributions of this amazing chalkboard champion!