A Preuss School science teacher has become one of just 14 throughout the country to win a year-long fellowship from the American Physiology Society.
Shannon Baird said she was “really excited” and honored to have been selected as a recipient of the Frontiers in Science Research Training Fellowship.
The award offers online development opportunities, but also hands-on laboratory training.
Baird will join Dr. Alan Hargens, an orthopedic surgeon and professor at UC San Diego’s School of Medicine , at the UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest to study “how microgravity affects fluid in the body.”
The work is part of Hargens’ research into the cardiovascular and musculoskeletal health of humans and animals in space.
Baird credited Brandon Macias, who is working with Hargens, for helping her win the honor.
“It was fortunate that Dr. Macias reached out to the teachers at Preuss about the program; he was very helpful when developing the proposal,” she said in a news release. “Having a marine science background, I look forward to strengthening my knowledge of physiology in the laboratory and discovering creative ways to integrate biomedical lessons in the classroom.”
Baird also will be able to take part in a Boston biology conference next year.
She has promoted the involvement of Preuss School students with science professionals. Since 2012, she has matched eighth-grade girls with professionals from the Navy’s SPAWAR to expose them to possibilities for careers in science and engineering.
Baird also shares in leading a Hubbs Sea World Research Institute project which gives her the chance to raise sea bass with environmental science students.
The Preuss School is at UCSD. The APS program was founded in 1990 to benefit middle and high school teachers.
