Link To:
Materials for Educators
Masson Lab Outreach Program Participation:
The Masson lab promotes the Wisconsin Idea: the idea that the borders of the university are the borders of the state. We are actively involved in education and outreach programs at the undergraduate and high school levels. 
The Masson lab promotes the involvement of undergraduate students in science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in several ways. Many undergraduates have pursued guided independent research projects in the Masson lab and gone on to obtain graduate degrees. They have received numerous Hilldale Fellowships and Arabidopsis Training Grant Undergraduate Research Fellowships. Two biology majors, Sara Wilke and Judith Harris, are currently investigating the role of calcium in gravitropism under the guidance of Allison Strohm. Additionally, Laura Vaughn and Carolyn Neal have been mentors to two undergraduate students participating in the Integrated Biological Sciences Summer Research Program. Laura Vaughn also currently assists an introductory biology class by providing plant materials and resources to students. These students use gravitropic mutants to investigate signal transduction and growth behavior in plants.
Members of the Masson lab have also mentored high school students though the Summer Science Institute for the past two years. In the summer of 2009, Allison Strohm worked with students from Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin, James and Margaret. They studied how the arl2-3 gravitropic mutant responds to water gradients in the environment. In the summer of 2008, Kate Baldwin mentored two students from Ashland and Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin, Kellie and Richard. They studied auxin distribution in the sec62 mutant after gravistimulation.
Above: Kellie, Kate, and Richard.
Above: Laura, Derrick, and Patrick.
We also use our knowledge and resources to assist with high school curriculum development across the state. In the summers of 2008 and 2009, Kate Baldwin worked with Becky Nutt, a teacher at the Oneida Nation High School who came to the Masson lab through the Wisconsin Teacher Enhancement Program. During her time in the lab, Becky developed K-12 instructional materials to use in her science classes.
