Jennifer Wozniak
RET Teacher of the Week!
Week Seven:
This summer, Jennifer worked in Prof. Goldberg’s lab with REU Sarai Sherfield on developing a model system of scattering light using nanoparticles and attempting to see thro
ugh rock.
“I am looking forward to using some of newly obtained optics knowledge when teaching my physics students,” Wozniak says. “My students have engineering or lab notebooks, and I have already showed them my notebook from the summer so they know what I am teaching them is real world applicable.”
Jennifer is entering her seventh year of teaching. This year, she will be working with 10th-12th grade science students at Rockland High School in Rockland, MA. She teaches a robotics elective, a college preparation course in physics, an AP physics course and a course from UT Austin called “Engineering Your World”. Through BU-PTN (physics teachers network), Jennifer heard about the RET program and decided to apply. This program seemed to be a great fit for her, as she is neither new to Boston nor the lab setting.
Wozniak received her Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, and her Masters in Biomedical Engineering from Wayne State University in Detroit, MI. While she was working towards her masters, Jennifer was also working for Ford Motor Company as a product engineer.
“I was mainly focusing in vehicle safety… A lot of my work at Ford took place in testing labs to ensure our safety products were working correctly.”
Once back in Massachusetts, Jennifer worked for a couple of years in nuclear engineering before she decided to begin her teaching career. With experience in many facets of engineering, Jennifer possessed the knowledge and expansive background that would prove to be useful when teaching high school students engineering.
“The RET (program) has given me some valuable knowledge about research in the nanotechnology arena. I also have some cool projects to show my students and some recent research activity to discuss,” says Wozniak.
Although well versed in engineering, her passions also include playing the piano and the guitar, as well as playing and watching basketball. But she “refuse(s) to watch professional basketball because it lacks the skill and rules that you see in college basketball.”
She encourages other teachers to put themselves into an unfamiliar situation, such as a research lab, and become knowledgeable about something they can bring back to their students. The goal of the RET program remains to better the teachers, giving them experience in the latest engineering innovations, in order for that knowledge and desire for research to reach the classrooms filled with tomorrow’s engineers.
Watch Jennifer discuss her research: