Minutes of the Meeting of the Advisory Board
Broad Meadow Brook Wildlife Sanctuary, Worcester, MA 01604
6 October 2000

Present:
Deborah Cary Michael Creasey Kathleen Daniel Linda Denault Charles Estus Melissa Griffiths Orville Harrold	Kevin Hickey Guy Jones Mary Kielbasa Sr. Kathleen Livingstone Sandra Mayrand Kathleen Murphy David Raposa

Absent: John Carney, Joseph Coughlin, David Driscoll, Michael Dukakis, Robert Durand, Richard Foley, David Forsberg, Thomas Hoover, John Kania, Thomas Narrigan, Roberta Schaefer, Anthony Schwaller, Beverly Scott, Thomas Slavkovsky, Antoinette Torres

Guests: Robin Kline, University Programs Specialist/DOT; Jim Ady, UTC Web Master; Len Pacek, Worcester East Middle School; Drew Cummings,The Bancroft School

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Donna Williams welcomed the Board to Broad Meadow Brook at 12:40 p.m. on behalf of the Massachusetts Audubon Society. She expressed appreciation to the Board for the UTC grant that will allow the Audubon Society to work on their Vernal Pools Project with 10 middle schools in the region.

Dr. Estus called the meeting to order. The minutes of the 31 March 2000 board meeting were accepted as published. The Board then discussed the pros and cons of publishing the minutes on the web site. Robin stated that the grant does not require that minutes be published. The consensus was that they be published as "draft" minutes on the web before being accepted at the subsequent board meeting.

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The Education Program.

Sr. Kathy gave a summary of the educational program as presented to the UTC visiting team that morning. The goals of the educational initiatives are being met. Word is getting out to area teachers about our programs. Networking throughout the year was beneficial in order that programs already in place would not overlap with ours. A self-designed major in environmental studies is being created under Sr. Kathy's supervision with aid from Professor Hickey.

Initiatives have been taken to extend the impact of the Center's theme throughout the campus in other ways as well. Five students have joined the newly formed Ecology Club on campus and are eager to support ecology, recycling, and use of bicycles on campus. The Club is planning a clean up afternoon in the wetlands on campus. There are environmentally concerned students on campus and we need to expand such initiatives among them.Among other initiatives on campus that we plan to take is the publication of a UTC newsletter.

A Transportation Career day is being planned for middle and high school students to make them aware of the range of jobs available in the transportation industry. A "School on Rails" program is being planned for teachers to learn the various ways that the Blackstone Valley may be used as a teaching resource consistent with our theme. The program will utilize the Providence & Worcester passenger cars on a trip down the river valley as the venue for presentations on educational resources in the corridor. A teacher in-service workshop in the use of field laboratories in the study of water and pollution sources for teachers is also being planned for next June. The workshop will model the use of our theme in teaching science. Members of the natural sciences department are working on the instruments that will be used. Curriculum development stipends have been given to those faculty who are designing the course.

The Tour de Sol will come to Worcester on May 25th, and we have been invited to participate with NESEA. Kevin Hickey noted that three WPI students have linked with Doherty High School students to work with equipment to design solar cars.

Discussion of Sr. Kathy's report followed. Melissa said there will be new environmental educational opportunities in the new legislation that is being considered. Kevin mentioned that one of the requirements in the senior year is an internship. Kathy Daniel stated that the Smithsonian has a program that focuses on middle schools and they do a "hands-on " science program. Perhaps we can use this. Michael Creasey talked about sustainable transportation - the national parks utilize these systems within the national parks, e.g. Yosemite.

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The Technology Transfer Program.

The first UTC sponsored conference was October 1-2, 1999 at which it was determined the Northern Gateway Visitors Center will function as an interpreter of relationships between transportation and communities along the Blackstone River Valley. As part of this interpretive function residents from Quinsigamond Village have been invited to take a trip on the Providence and Worcester railroad October 7th, 2000 courtesy of the railroad.

The next UTC sponsored conference will be in the spring, 2 June 2001. Results from research projects now being conducted will be presented, discussed and subsequently published on our Web site. Melissa Griffiths stated that Biodiversity days (2nd weekend in June) will be celebrated. There is no conflict with that, and we will announce June 2nd as our date.

We are in the process of bringing our Web site into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Michael Creasey mentioned the Environmental Congress and suggested it would be beneficial if UTC could tie in with this. Sandra Mayrand brought the Middle School Science Fair to the attention of the board. It will be held at Sullivan Middle School. These are experimental "research" projects, vs. "show and tell". It will be held the first of May.

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The Research Program.

Three of the recipients of grants presented to the board progress on their research initiatives and accomplishments thus far. Exciting and diverse avenues have been explored opening up even more initiatives. Charles stated that strategy calls for us to support two kinds of research: science research, original research applicable to teaching of science, and curricular research wherein environmentalists and others are encouraged to develop curricular elements and modules to incorporate into their teaching.. Our goal is to develop strategies that can be replicated anywhere and that will fit into existing educational frameworks.

In regards to the up-coming grant application process, Charles announced that over 1,000 persons and organizations will receive our call for proposals throughout the river valley corridor. The call for proposals will also be published on our web site. We will publish guidelines for grant applications and provide information sessions for potential applicants. Kevin suggested we send applications to other colleges as well, to interest other universities up and down the Valley.

After discussion regarding the research theme for 2000-2001, it was decided that the theme would remain the same as the current year, i.e., the Blackstone River Valley Corridor as the UTC's teaching and research laboratory.

Finally, the economics of a division between research and education advisory boards was discussed. Robin noted that we were not bound by the two-board model described in our four year strategic plan. After further discussion, it was agreed that the two boards should be combined into one. We have always met as one board, however, for both programmatic purposes and reporting the guidelines set down by Washington require that we maintain both an educational and a research program..

The next meeting of the board was set for the afternoon of 30 March 2001.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:45 p.m..

Respectfully submitted,

Mona M. Heffernan
Administrative Assistant

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