Day Wins Science Education Award

Judy Benton Day, assistant director for undergraduate research, received the 2010 Herman and Emma Gatling Award for Outstanding Science Education Leadership in North Carolina. The North Carolina Science Leadership Association presented the award, named for pioneering educators, during its annual meeting earlier this month in Greensboro.

Day has worked on state and national K-12 science teacher training initiatives. She served as program coordinated for both the Burroughs Wellcome Student Science Research Program and the Howard Hughes Science Exploration and Outreach Program.

Day supervised a teacher training program for science teachers in schools in rural North Carolina, providing laboratory equipment and training in its use. She worked with summer undergraduate research programs that bring students from smaller colleges in North Carolina to work in research laboratories at NC State. She led the university’s annual Expanding Your Horizons conference to promote inquiry-based learning for middle school girls.

She has volunteered countless hours as director of the North Carolina Science and Engineering Fair, participant in the Bridges Academic Leadership for Women program and district 3 director and state science fair representative on the board of the North Carolina Science Teacher Association.