Glenbard East science teacher earns Distinguished Service Award from state association
Congratulations to Glenbard East High School science teacher Tom Martinez on earning a Distinguished Service Award from the Illinois chapter of the National School Public Relations Association (INSPRA). Martinez's partnerships and networking have led him to innovative learning experiences that he shares with his students. He also has encouraged students who weren't confident in their abilities to pursue higher education. He is truly changing lives.
INSPRA's Distinguished Service Awards program honors school employees and community members who spread the good word about schools or enhance the image of education and reputation of a school district through their actions.
Martinez is an innovative teacher and uses his network to tap into outside resources to further expose and challenge students to high level science topics. He has partnered with professors from MIT, Stanford & Northwestern University to enrich learning opportunities for our students.
He created a Biotechnology class and Biobuilder Synthetic Biology Club for Glenbard East students to stay abreast of current topics in scientific research. The club is sponsored by the Biobuilder foundation, MIT and various pharmaceutical companies. There are fewer than 20 schools in the world that are part of this fledgling club, and Glenbard East has several students who are participating, thanks to Martinez. Through his work and partnership with MIT, Glenbard East students had an opportunity to travel to Boston to present a poster session to other schools and MIT faculty.
Through the Biobuilder Synthetic Biology Club, Glenbard East students - teen-agers - developed a plan to engineer a strain of E.coli to produce human leptin, which is an appetite supresser. Students felt that this technology could help promote the production of leptin in large quantities or apply the process to probiotics on an industrial scale. In a presentation to Glenbard District 87's Board of Education, students outlined their roles as engineers during the planning and wet lab portion of their project.
Martinez spends his free time exploring opportunities to study biotechnology at the Biotechnology Technical Center Institute in Fitchburg, WI and Northwestern University, writing synthetic biology curriculum at CalTech and has worked on DNA barcoding for publishing at NCBI. He then uses his knowledge to create new labs for his students with current technologies to encourage inquiry and good science practice.
His partnerships have resulted in guest speakers that include a shark tracker from Stanford and a cancer specialist from Northwestern University, as well as numerous curriculum writing experiences.
Martinez deserves recognition for his service to the Glenbard community and the impact that he has had on Glenbard East students.