Advancing STEM Researching Teaching (ASRT)
Testimonials from 2023
ASRT is an all-inclusive toolkit and curriculum for guiding your students through self-led STEM projects.
Emma Carey - Maine
ASRT program is an immersive professional development program that allows beginner, intermediate or advanced/veteran teachers of STEM research projects to gain valuable skills, curriculum, activities, and best practices in guiding students through STEM research.
Jennifer Nilvo – New Mexico
This program is everything you need to start, restructure, or enhance your high school research unit/club/program. I am leaving the program with numerous resources that I can use the next day as well as for years to come.
Lauren Taylor – Texas
ASRT has been the best and most useful professional development I've ever attended. The instruction and ready-to-use resources provided by Michael Blueglass are tried and true.
Paul C. Timm – Nebraska
The ASRT program is one of the best workshops that I have ever attended. As a new teacher this workshop was invaluable to getting a Science Research Program started! It provided all the necessary pieces.
Kristen Bonner – Utah
Have you ever wished for standards to base your research curriculum on? Do you constantly feel like you wish there was a textbook or worksheets from “Teachers Pay Teachers” that you can use for your science research class? I went into the ASRT professional development workshop thinking "I can't believe this is an entire week" and left wishing there was a second week. Please apply. You will thank me later.
Kathleen McAuley-Dias - New York
It would have taken me years of sweat and tears to come up with these ideas on my own. Michael was an incredibly motivating and knowledgeable speaker. ASRT has given me both a pathway and a support network to improve the science research program in my high school.
Lauren Kidd – Colorado
ASRT is an all-inclusive toolkit and curriculum for guiding your students through self-led STEM projects.
Emma Carey - Maine
ASRT program is an immersive professional development program that allows beginner, intermediate or advanced/veteran teachers of STEM research projects to gain valuable skills, curriculum, activities, and best practices in guiding students through STEM research.
Jennifer Nilvo – New Mexico
This program is everything you need to start, restructure, or enhance your high school research unit/club/program. I am leaving the program with numerous resources that I can use the next day as well as for years to come.
Lauren Taylor – Texas
ASRT has been the best and most useful professional development I've ever attended. The instruction and ready-to-use resources provided by Michael Blueglass are tried and true.
Paul C. Timm – Nebraska
The ASRT program is one of the best workshops that I have ever attended. As a new teacher this workshop was invaluable to getting a Science Research Program started! It provided all the necessary pieces.
Kristen Bonner – Utah
Have you ever wished for standards to base your research curriculum on? Do you constantly feel like you wish there was a textbook or worksheets from “Teachers Pay Teachers” that you can use for your science research class? I went into the ASRT professional development workshop thinking "I can't believe this is an entire week" and left wishing there was a second week. Please apply. You will thank me later.
Kathleen McAuley-Dias - New York
It would have taken me years of sweat and tears to come up with these ideas on my own. Michael was an incredibly motivating and knowledgeable speaker. ASRT has given me both a pathway and a support network to improve the science research program in my high school.
Lauren Kidd – Colorado
Testimonials from 2022
Denver, Colorado Regional High Schools
The ASRT program provided me with an abundance of resources to help my students develop science research skills. It would have taken me years of sweat and tears to come up with these ideas on my own. This program also opened my eyes to the impressive scale of research that is possible at the high-school level and how I can support my students in aspiring to reach that level both in and outside of the classroom. Michael was an incredibly motivating and knowledgeable speaker. ASRT has given me both a pathway and a support network to improve the science research program in my high school.
Lauren Kidd - Denver, CO ASRT group
The ASRT Program provided me with resources, ideas, inspiration, and energy to expand science research opportunities for my high school students. I found the workshop extremely worthwhile (one of the best PD opportunities of my teaching career). Michael is a wonderful, energetic educator who believes deeply in the life-changing power of high school science research programs.
Nathaniel Lohmann - Denver, CO ASRT group
Greybull High School, Wyoming
I've been involved with student research for nearly 40 years, but found student involvement and enthusiasm in the program decreasing - along with my own excitement.
The ASRT program truly reenergized my interest in student research and opened up options I had not thought about before. We are now seeing increasing numbers in the research program and an expansion into other areas of the school such as agriculture and freshman science courses.
I was very pleased with what ASRT brought to our program and can assure you that even "experienced" teachers and mentors can benefit from some new approaches and ideas. I would highly recommend the ASRT program to anyone who is truly interested in improving their existing student research program or starting one.
Joel Kuper - Greybull High School, Wyoming
Albuquerque, New Mexico
ASRT program is an immersive STEM research program that allows for beginner, intermediate or advanced/veteran teachers of STEM research to gain valuable skills, curriculum, activities, and best practices in teaching STEM research, engaging and enticing students to perform in-depth STEM research, preparing for STEM research competitions, and branding and building your STEM research program to becoming a well-sought program in your local community that builds valuable career skills while preparing students for a possible STEM higher education.
Jennifer Nilvo- Albuquerque, NM ASRT group
Learn how to improve your school's STEM reputation and build diverse and in-depth STEM research opportunities for your students through Advancing STEM Research Teaching workshop (ASRT).You will be trained in how to lead students who can compete at the highest levels and, more importantly, learn lifelong skills that will help them get into and succeed in the colleges and carriers of their choice.
Thomas Franich - Albuquerque, NM ASRT group
Ames, Iowa
This program is not just for new teacher in science research but it is also for seasoned teachers who need a boost to their own program or refresher for themselves to get pumped for the new season. This allows you to step back, think about the things you do right or the things you need improvement on including how have students reach out to local and/or national STEM professionals to guide them so that you do not to have to be the "mentor" for every student. It also allows you to self evaluate your program and self evaluate yourself. Loved it!!
Gail Kunch - Ames, Iowa ASRT group
ASRT was a great experience for me to be able to learn more about how to be a more effective STEM research program teacher in the future.
Jen Westphal - Ames, Iowa ASRT group
Kansas City, Missouri
Are you overwhelmed by the thought of managing 20 (or more) student research projects? Would you like to make connections with other teachers who are passionate about student research? Do you want to get your students connected with STEM professionals and have students take ownership of their research project? This workshop will help with all of that and SO much more. I have never attended a conference that was more worth my time!
Amy Clement - Kansas City, Missouri ASRT group
ASRT will allow you to provide science opportunities for your students unlike any they can get in a regular classroom. You will gain the tools to recruit and develop those students, giving them tools not only to be successful in STEM competitions, but in life in general, as they move on into college and careers. Best of all, it is free!
Jennifer Hess- Kansas City, Missouri ASRT group
Every moment was filled with golden information that will elevate the ability of my students to demonstrate their understanding and hard work in a beneficial manner for the public and in the competitive realm of science.
Rebecca Groebe- Kansas City, Missouri ASRT group
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
ASRT is a dynamic training session to help teachers to cultivate and build a program in their school that enables students to pursue authentic research at a secondary level and build the skills that allow them to be successful in college, graduate school and beyond.
Marissa Schwartz - Lancaster, Pennsylvania ASRT group
The ASRT is all about opening doors to the possibility of student-conducted STEM research at the high-school (and middle-school) level.
Charlene Wyrick - Lancaster, Pennsylvania ASRT group
Nashville, Tennessee
This program gives teachers the opportunity to learn a step-by -step process/curriculum to teach students critical thinking, project planning, technology skills and networking skills through the lens of a chosen topic of their area of interest. In addition, it helps with strategies for building community and place for students to have competition and a group to belong, as well as lifelong skills for future college and career opportunities.
Shannon Youngman -
Nashville Metro Public Schools ASRT group
The ASRT program presents the information necessary for establishing a quality research program and creating quality research projects in a series of organized, easy-to-follow steps. The resources included (explanations, processes, rubrics, and exemplars) are invaluable!
Jesi Seifert - Nashville Metro Public Schools ASRT group
Testimonials from 2019 - 2021
Roanoke County,
Virginia Public High Schools
Michael was an amazing presenter. My teachers started the week feeling a bit overwhelmed and they ended the week ready to make huge changes in the way their schools do science fair projects.
I've never seen teachers come out of training so motivated and excited about implementing change. At least 2 of my school groups have already had a sit down meeting with their principals to discuss their plan for science projects this year. Several schools already have timelines laid out for the year. I cannot express enough how much this training changed attitudes about science fair for the better.
Erin Barnett, Science Supervisor
The ASRT workshop was beyond helpful. It has helped me to rethink my approach to incorporating research in my science classes, and it has inspired me to work with other teachers to start a science research club. Mr. Blueglass provided us with many resources that we will use all the time. I am so thankful that we had this workshop. One of the most important parts was the inspiration given to me by Mr. Blueglass. I learned the value of implementing a science research project and giving students a "home" at school.
Ryan Adams - William Byrd High School
There is a TON of material to cover, but Mr. Blueglass would stop and re-evaluate and ask us for input, and cover in any amount of detail what we needed. He is highly personable, knowledgeable and easy to talk with.
Barbara McGrath - William Byrd High School
The most useful thing were the class activities that were explicitly laid out in order. It is an enormous relief to not have to come up with these from scratch.
Sarah Ulrich - Cave Spring High School
Mt. Holly, North Carolina
Michael is great and really helped me to visualize what research can look like at my school. I really appreciated having the printed materials as well as the digital files that I can manipulate as needed.
Brian Johnson - East Gaston High School
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Boston, Massachusetts Regional High Schools
I feel confident that I have access to everything that I need to start, organize, and maintain a STEM research program at my school.
Valerie Finnerty - Littleton High School
My focus before this workshop was to focus students efforts on in-school research but I now clearly see the benefits on creating a program for students to work under the supervision of a researcher who specializes in a field.
Brian Dempsey - Acton-Boxborough Regional High School
I am amazed at the quality and usefulness of the materials. I like that I can flip through hard copies but then go and personalize digital copies.
Stephanie Copice - Millis High School
Having the materials that Michael has created over the years in such an organized format in multiple formats is amazingly helpful. I can now spend my time applying these tools instead of creating them.
Robin Varghese, Arlington High School
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Duluth, Georgia
Michael is like a ball of energy! He is very passionate about passing on his knowledge to help others! Any problems we brought to his attention that were unique to our school he helped us troubleshoot through!
We had time to work through all of the resources and begin to scaffold out the activities for our entire science dept. to use through this year!
Everything that a teacher could possibly need to get a science research program started has been provided!
There’s a clear and definitive timeline, a year by year plan, and tons of marketing ideas for programs to expand upon!
Morgan (Paige) Cook - Duluth High School
The most helpful part was all the resources provided as well as the introduction to the program and helping us create the program.
Ashley Brady - Duluth High School
Contra Costa & Alameda Counties, California
Michael's energy and enthusiasm were infectious! I am so motivated to provide this opportunity to my students. I cannot wait to start the next school building this program at our school and getting my students involved in advanced science research projects.
Alefiya Shipchandler - Ygnacio Valley High School
The ASRT workshop was one of the best workshops that gave me the perfect tools for a head start in teaching scientific research in my classroom. I can tweak the resources to fit my goals for my students in my classroom.
Minu Basu - Dougherty Valley High School
The ready-to-go activities are lifesavers. The amount of time and commitment to developing how to teach critical thinking is highly appreciated. I will surely use the activities and suggested pacing to help students develop better scientific experimental design and presentation.
Katy Kuei - Mission San Jose High School
I am lost for words to express my gratitude to Mr. Blueglass, Zeiss and Regeneron for giving me an opportunity to experience this program. I have been teaching for 24 years now and it came to a point where I questioned my practice in the classroom and leave the profession. I came across this program through a random email and I decided to try it and see what I can do to contribute to our academy's science and engineering research program as the present science fair coordinator.
I am honestly blown away by how COMPLETE and ORGANIZED this was presented to us. Mr. Blueglass unselfishly shared his 35 years of expertise in science research without holding anything back. This program really blew me away and helped me see new possibilities for our program and for my personal practice as well.
One of my takeaways from this program is Mr. Blueglass' philosophy of winning by design by intentionally teaching the strategies of research to his students. His strategies really do emphasize the fact that research is a process that starts with ensuring that the students have a strong foundation in science literacy and research.
The ASRT program helps the students, parents and teachers scaffold the research process from choosing the topic for research, analyzing scientific journals, statistical data analysis, to visual and oral presentation of the research to a panel of experts.
The ASRT program helps develop the 21st-century skills or core competencies needed by our students such as communication, critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, information literacy, media literacy, leadership and problem solving.
Doloumar Bergen - Eastvale STEM Academy
Big Sky, Montana
Michael was extremely knowledgeable, encouraging and flexible. I had to ask to change our schedule a couple of times during the week since it was also the in service time for all staff and I had some meetings show up I had to attend.
I wish I had more time in person though I am glad there will be lots of follow up time and sessions.
Kate Eisele - Lone Peak High School
Norcross, Georgia
We were provided with everything we need--sample lessons, a timeline, rubrics, etc.
The timeline was the most helpful for me.
We plan to implement some level of research for all 1200 of our students this year.
This program helped with all of that. Michael also helped me figure out how to integrate our AP Capstone program into the timeline.
Tiffany Bookal - Paul Duke STEM High School
Union City, New Jersey
The entire workshop was an amazing experience for our program. While we already had started our program all the information and ancillaries that Michael shared with that we can use to help build, mold and expand our program are exactly what we needed. He helped us to see what we needed to do to take our program to the level we wanted to be for our students.
As a new STEM school in a low income area with a highly under-served population, we are very motivated to be a highly successful and model program for Hispanic and Latino students around the country. Michael worked with us and his encouragement has been such a source of inspiration and information to make this happen.
Two Years Later...
I wanted to let you know that one of our students just won a spot to present at the JSHS Nationals. In addition, we won 6 out of the 10 gold medals at the STEM showcase.
Jennifer Donnelly - Jose Marti STEM Academy
Dear Regeneron Committee,
I am writing to express my thanks and gratitude for selecting Jose Marti STEM Academy in Union City, New Jersey for ASRT.
Words cannot describe how grateful I am for this wonderful opportunity. We are a title-1 school which means our students get breakfast and lunch free. Our population is 95% Hispanic. We started our STEM Academy because Hispanics are underrepresented in the STEM fields. We have a lot of talented and very bright students and our goal is to get them interested in the STEM fields so they can contribute to their community in particular and the world in general.
Our aim is to help our students to become the leaders in the STEM fields and your choosing us for the ASRT Program will help us to achieve our goal.
We just completed the first round of training and I want to let you know that Michael Blueglass is an excellent teacher.
All of us who are participating in this very interesting and valuable training program are very excited. I can definitely say that each and everyone of us has bonded with Michael as if we knew him for years.
He is energetic, enthusiastic, focused, down to earth and very passionate about his teachings.
You could not have selected a better person for the job. We are all very happy to learn from him.
I know that our students and our school will shine and you will be glad to know that our group is ready to tackle the task ahead of us. The United States and the world will reap the benefits of the seeds you are planting today. Your investment will impact several generations of young students. Our Superintendent, Principal, Board of Education President, colleagues, parents and students join me in thanking you and Regeneron for your generosity and your vision.
You are playing an important role in opening doors of opportunities for young, ambitious and very smart students who will become the future professionals. It is people like you who make our country the greatest nation in the world.
Again, many thanks and I will keep you posted of our successes.
Nadia Makar - STEM Supervisor, Union City, NJ Public Schools
Waldoboro, Maine
I think the most helpful part was being able to have the 1 on 1 time to discuss all aspects of a research program and get exactly what I needed out of it since it was customized to fit my school and program. The most helpful (specific) part was when we talked about specific projects from students who did research last year and brainstormed possible mentors and ways to improve and help those projects grow.
Jennifer Hatch, Medomak Valley High School
One Year Later....
Hey Michael! I just wanted to let you know we had our state science fair today and I had one girl place first in her category
and another place second in a different category! Both were survey based projects.
Thank you so much for your help and training on how to help support students with this!
Both of these students are sophomores. I have 9 underclassmen currently deciding what they will do for a project over the summer/fall for next years fair and feel really confident that several will have a chance at having competitive projects but also earning scholarships offered!
Jennifer Hatch, Medomak Valley High School
Oviedo, Florida
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The most helpful part was coming up with the idea to have a Science Research Program recruitment meeting with students and their parents one night during the ASRT week. That meeting alone single-handedly tripled the enrollment and matched my career total enrollment. Michael's willingness and ability to be flexible and take on ideas/different paths as they arose over the week was also helpful. I have a very solid foundation and set of expectations for my program, but not nearly as much experience as Michael.
The insights that Michael was able to provide accelerated me decades ahead in as little as a week. He was able to share potential hurdles and refined resources that would have taken me years to develop. I also appreciated getting to see the nuances and day-to-day running of his program. His program is similar to mine in many aspects, but distinctly different in the approach with his first year students. At first, I was highly reluctant to take on such an approach; however, seeing what the students do and the volume of meaningful learning experiences they get before conducting their own research project, I realized that there are tremendous merits to his approach.
Will Furiosi - Oviedo High School
Two Years Later...
I am writing to share the results from the Seminole County Regional Science & Engineering Fair. As you may remember, Oviedo High School was chosen as one of three pilot schools in 2019, for the Advancing Science Research Teaching program thanks to your generosity.
Even despite enrollment challenges with COVID, we were able to field 19 projects in the regional competition and 89% of those projects earned awards
The results speak for themselves - they are absolutely amazing given the fact that Seminole County Public Schools is the 57th largest school district in the country (64K+ students) with a wealth of talent to compete against.
I want to thank you again funding the ASRT program and providing us with Mr. Blueglass' guidance. He has certainly helped put us on a track of continued growth, while also maintaining the level of excellence we were having with a much smaller group of students.
Will Furiosi - Oviedo High School
New Lisbon, Wisconsin
The most helpful part of the ASRT workshop was the layout of progression over the three years of instruction.
I was very appreciative of Michael's willingness to share his 30 years of experience to improve rigor and implement a research based program into our school. Prior to this training, I would Google activities and modify them to fit a competitive in-class group setting that met specific parameters. It was all project based and didn't require the students to justify their reasoning.
I love the rubrics that Michael supplied for the articles, videos, journal entries because it makes the students really know their research area of interest. I also really liked how he set up a vocabulary list in Google sheets/Excel to use as a study tool.
I am very thankful to Regeneron for selecting me as a candidate and am excited to transform my class and grow this program.
Jennifer Pedersen, New Lisbon High School
Kuna, Idaho
The most helpful aspect was being able to work together in person to design a program that fit my school specifically, which included meeting with potential mentors and parents. I was able to take my program from a mediocre research program to a phenomenal research program in one week.
This training saved me years of trial and error and provided an amazing opportunity for my students.
I live in a very under-funded district, so these students would never have the opportunity to do research even close to the level that they will now.
I am extremely excited to see their growth, even in this short time, and I know that they are going to make a difference in the world because of the start they are getting from this program.
Brittany Sanchez, Kuna High School
Flasher, North Dakota
The whole ASRT workshop was incredible!
When Michael first came in, it took a day for him to truly gauge what our program looked like. He offered suggestions and I repeatedly came back to him saying it wasn't possible given our limitations as a small, very rural school. Within the first two hours we started to shift the focus of the entire week to what my program truly needed!
By Thursday, we were meeting with my students to discuss in detail their projects, road blocks, the need to make our research program "a thing", and suggesting to my rising senior to apply for the Regeneron Science Talent Search.
We went over national based behavioral surveys, poster boards, the need to do more background research.Michael was so great at tailoring the workshop to fit my needs, I don't think there is any way it could have been improved! He offered his help over the course of the next year to assist myself and my students. So any questions I still have, I feel will be covered in the future if I have them.
I cannot thank Michael and Regeneron enough for this incredible opportunity. It was a game changer for my kids!
Tana Schafer - Flasher High School
Two Years Later:
Next year’s senior class has requested that I add science fair to their class curriculum as they ALL want to participate in science fair next year.
We are incredibly rural, which means my students have to conduct their project within my classroom and cannot complete it at a university setting. Michael opened my eyes to a vast number of project ideas and directions we could go that would allow my students the opportunity to compete at a higher level without leaving my classroom. Using the files and documents he shared with me, I am able to show to my students to give a better idea of what their projects and presentation boards should look like.
These changes completely blew away the judges at the regional level this year as well as the state level. I had a judge seek out one of my students after judging was over to further discuss her project with her. I also have a student who has been asked to present at the state first responders convention this summer as her project was on mental health in 911 dispatchers.
My students are now choosing to change their career paths to STEM related careers due to their incredibly positive experiences with science and the people they meet along the way. They have spent hours upon hours reaching out to STEM professionals to further discuss their projects and gain a better insight into the results and data they have received. They are ALL already making plans for the projects they plan to present for next year.
Tana Schafer - Flasher High School
Toms River, New Jersey
The most helpful part of the workshop was the structural outline of the ASRT course. It has given me the confidence to proceed with my students to give them the best possible experience in reaching their research goals. Also, Mr. Blueglass was an outstanding facilitator; his expertise, and enthusiasm has motivated me to make the most of the program at my school. This has been the best workshop I have ever attended in my 15 years of teaching!
Marybeth Kretz PhD, Toms River East High School
The face to face guidance to address my program's needs to move us to the next level was very valuable. Michael was very energetic and it was evident he had a true passion for his job.
Christine Girtain, Toms River South & North High School
Two Years Later:
Michael, I am so excited!
For the first time in Toms River Regional Schools District history, we have not 1 but 2 students going on to ISEF from the Delaware Valley Science Fair. No student from our district has ever moved on before. We have had 1st place category winners but never metal winners!!
In addition, last year one of my students won a spot at the JSHS National competition.
When we first spoke 2 years ago & you asked me to list the goals of the ASRT one of my goals was to move my students through the research process faster so they could compete earlier than senior year & to up the level of our research so students could move on to ISEF. I am proud to say we have accomplished both due to your guidance and feedback. ASRT is a fabulous program that promotes STEM!
Christine Girtain, Toms River South & North High School
Westchester and Putnam Counties,
New York
Working with Michael was a joy. Our face-to-face workshop meetings were absolutely critical in creating my science research curriculum.
Michael carefully attended my unique needs and situation by tailoring our meetings to what would be of the greatest importance and help. Throughout the experience, Michael was flexible, focused, and did it all with a great sense of humor.
My program is as successful as it is today because Michael helped me to create a strong foundation upon which the successes of my students can stand.
Jeff Wuebber - New Rochelle High School
I completely recommend Michael Blueglass as a science research consultant. Our school recently started our science research program as my high school, and I had asked Blueglass if he would help advise me on how to best set up my program to be successful. We met numerous times, each time focusing on different aspects of the whole program. It was great to have Michael look at different projects I had designed and help me to improve upon them with his years of experience in every aspect of science research. Normally I would spend many years trying new projects/lesson plans but then have to learn from my mistakes. With Michael’s guidance I was able to troubleshoot many mis-steps and helped propel my program faster than I would have thought possible.
I had a very successful year and my superintendent and principal both wrote me letters of commendation after coming to my science research symposium. I immediately wrote Michael to say that this letter partially belongs to him as well because of all his work he has done with me throughout the year.
Michael was always very helpful and let me lead which topics to address. One of the major concerns I had was properly scaffolding the daily activities to help best propel the program forward. Blueglass was paramount in helping my help my program grow and become more successful and prominent in my school district. My program is more successful in gaining mentors, increasing in numbers, and students are winning more competitions. This would not have been possible without Michael’s guidance. I hope that more programs will take Michael on as a consultant so that all our programs can continue to excel and bring our students up to their full potential.
Jerry Zupan - Putnam Valley High School
Boca Raton, Florida
I can't say enough good things about Michael Blueglass and the ASRT program.
I have been struggling with getting an independent student research program going at my high school and his helpful lessons, suggestions, and motivation has inspired me to be better at teaching it.
The most helpful tools at this point for me are definitely the lessons that I can incorporate in my established classroom setting. I'd like to implement the full program approach Michael shared, but it's too late to make any changes in the master schedule for this year. Therefore, I want to include many of the tips, tricks, and lesson plans provided in this workshop to gather data and evidence of my own, which I can then present to my school's administration. I already have support at our district level, so I'm hopeful that with a well thought out plan like the ASRT program and evidence of success will lead to a similar program at Boca High.
Rachel Wellman, PhD - Boca Raton High School