Fiona Goodchild, former education director of the Materials Research Laboratory (MRL), received a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring at a ceremony held in March 2003 in Washington, D.C. She was one of 10 individuals named by the White House to be selected for the honor, which was also conferred on six organizations.

The mentoring award, including a $10,000 grant and a Presidential commemorative certificate, recognizes achievement of "remarkable results in increasing the participation of minorities, women, and disabled students in science, mathematics, and engineering." Administered by the National Science Foundation, the award was created in conjunction with the No Child Left Behind Act, which seeks to increase access to quality education for underrepresented and disadvantaged students.

Goodchild, who received her Doctor of Education degree in cognitive psychology from the University of Toronto in 1989, was education director of the MRL from 1993 to 2003. She also served the Center for Quantized Electronic Structures in a like capacity from 1990 to 2000, and is currently Education Director at the California NanoSystems Institute. She designed and directed a partnership for science teachers in Santa Barbara County to develop the capacity of local schools to create instructionally sound, innovative science programs. Collaboration among science teachers, teacher educators, school administrators, and research scientists was the program's foundation.

The partnership Goodchild initiated between Santa Barbara City College and the MRL has brought students and science faculty to the campus every summer since 1993. Students, who are matched with MRL research groups, take part in the group's experiments for eight weeks and learn about career paths in science, as well as research ethics and oral and written communication skills. According to Goodchild, over 80 percent of the student interns have transferred into four-year colleges, and 15 percent have matriculated to graduate programs in science and engineering. Her publications include "The Promise of K-12 University Links Through NSF Science and Technology Centers" (1993) and with C. Johnson "Scientists as Mentors to Science Teachers" (2001).

–Article by Jacquelyn Savani originally featured in UCSB newsletter "93106"