Former Fellow Sarah Lamm Secures Funding from the Kansas Geological Foundation for ‘Rocks and Rockets’

Former Fellow Sarah Lamm (Cohort 6) recently secured funding from the Kansas Geological Foundation for Rocks and Rockets, a project she worked on as an SAi Fellow in the Fall 2021. The main aim is to host a geoscience outreach event in Colby, Kansas (rural northwestern Kansas which has two of the top ten most isolated towns in America) in August of 2023 that will be free and open to the public.  The motivation, Lamm and her collaborators write in their proposal, “lies in that rural students are less likely to attend four-year colleges and less likely to major in a STEM degree than their urban and suburban counterparts [1], in part because rural and underrepresented communities have access to fewer resources that expose them to the sciences and related careers [2]. 

In response to the news, SAi Chief Resident and Program Director Fanuel Muindi, writes that “we at SAi are extremely proud of Sarah and her team for securing such pivotal funding for Rocks and Rockets which will help her continue to grow the initiative and impact many people in Kansas.” SAi Resident and Lamm’s former mentor during her fellowship, Peter Vollbrecht, shared the same sentiment as well: 

“This is exactly what SAi is all about! Sarah had an amazing idea and plan and now has a proven track-record for the success of her events, and in having those events supported. I couldn’t be more proud of what she continues to accomplish!”

Watch Lamm present Rocks and Rockets on SAi’s annual pitch day here in 2021)

References

[1] Saw, G.K. and Agger, C.A. (2021) STEM Pathways of Rural and Small-Town Students: Opportunities
to Learn, Aspirations, Preparation, and College Enrollment. Educational Researcher.
doi:10.3102/0013189X211027528

[2] Ossola, A. (2014) The Challenge of Teaching Science in Rural America. The Atlantic.https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/11/the-challenge-of-being-a-rural-science-
teacher/382309/