Two dozen high school students from Chapel Hill and Carrboro are taking part this week in “Climate LEAP,” a climate change and energy workshop on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus.
Two dozen high school students from Chapel Hill and Carrboro are taking part this week in “Climate LEAP,” a climate change and energy workshop on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus.
During the week-long workshop, designed by the UNC Institute for the Environment’s Environmental Resource Program, students will take part in hands-on activities such as experiments, computer data modeling and games.
Students will also take field trips to power plants, green buildings, businesses and research labs, including visits to the laboratories of scientists involved in the UNC-based Energy Frontier Research Center. The interdisciplinary center was recently established under a $17.5 million, five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Energy and President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to develop solar fuels from next-generation photovoltaic technology.
Students will learn about climate change, alternative energy options and the sustainability of products and services from researchers, science educators with the Institute for the Environment and the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, and UNC graduate students.
Funded by a grant from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, participation is free and students are paid a $500 stipend for attending the workshop and two follow up sessions during the upcoming school year. The participants will also earn service learning credits for their high schools by conducting an outreach project during the workshop.
Note: Media interested in attending can obtain a schedule of activities, which will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Friday (June 19), by contacting Danielle Del Sol.
Institute for the Environment contact: Danielle Del Sol, delsol@email.unc.edu; (919) 962-0965