Summer Research Symposium Celebrates Alabama Teachers’ Work in Sensing Technologies

On July 24, 16 Alabama middle school teachers celebrated the conclusion of a summer of engineering research at the Summer Research Symposium in Shelby Hall, where each presented a poster on their project to faculty, students, and fellow participants. The symposium marked the end of the 2026 cohort of the NSF-supported Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) site, Engaging and Training Alabama STEM Teachers in Sensing Technologies, led by Dr. Todd Freeborn (Electrical and Computer Engineering) and Dr. Chris Crawford (Computer Science).

This year’s cohort was the largest yet, made possible through a partnership with the Alabama Materials Institute, directed by Dr. Gregory Thompson, and support from the Richard Lounsbery Foundation, which together expanded the number of teachers the program could host. Over seven weeks, the teachers were embedded in College of Engineering research labs, working alongside faculty mentors on projects built around sensing and measurement technologies.

The goal of the program is to give teachers hands-on experience with engineering research that they can carry back into their classrooms, and alongside their research, participants took part in weekly workshops on engineering careers, sensors and programming, and curriculum development to help translate the summer’s work into lessons for their students. The RET site is supported by NSF Award #2302144.