The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Science Education Program is hosting the U. S. Department of Energy Academies Creating Teacher Scientists (DOE ACTS) teacher professional development program. This program is offered to middle and high school science teachers, beginning in June 2009.

Registration for 2009 opens March 24, 2009.

The DOE ACTS program is offered by the DOE Office of Science to create a cadre of outstanding science and math teachers with the content knowledge and scientific research experience to serve as leaders and agents of positive change in their local and regional teaching communities. This three-year program will use the unmatched wealth of mentoring talent at LLNL and other DOE National Laboratories to guide and enrich the teachers' understanding of the scientific and technological world. Through this program, teachers will establish long-term relationships with their mentor scientists and teaching colleagues who will continue to support the educational efforts of the teachers when they have returned to their classrooms.

Teachers selected to attend DOE ACTS at LLNL will choose to participate in one of the following content areas:

• Biotechnology - The Biotechnology Research program is designed to give teachers experience in promoting and conducting research in biotechnology with their students. Teachers will develop knowledge, methods, and skills to be used in standards-based instruction when they return to their own classrooms.
   
• Fusion-Astrophysics - The Fusion and Astrophysics program is designed to give teachers experience in promoting and conducting research using spectroscopy with their students. Spectroscopy is important in a wide variety of fields such as fusion research, astrophysics, and atomic physics. Teachers will develop knowledge, methods, and skills to be used in standards-based instruction when they return to their own classrooms.
   
• Energy Technologies & Environment - The Energy Technologies & Environment program is designed to give teachers experience in promoting and conducting research using scientific tools including some recently developed by researchers at LLNL to better understand the complexities and interdependencies of the US and world energy systems.

Where: The instruction is conducted at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in Livermore, California. LLNL is approximately 60 miles east of San Francisco.

Who: Middle and high school science teachers.

When: Instruction for your first summer begins on June 15, 2009.

Compensation: Each of the three years you can receive: $800 per week of study (duration can vary from 5 to 8 weeks per year), and mini-grants of $2000 for professional development and $2000 for equipment purchases.