Research spotlight on...Sarah Haines

By Megan Bradshaw

Jess & Mildred Fisher College of Science and Mathematics biology professor Sarah Haines is in the business of providing resources to Maryland high school students—natural resources, that is. 

Haines has received $110,000 from the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) over the past three years to develop a four-course sequence for students interested in pursuing careers in the natural resource field. The sequence is part of the department’s Career and Technology Education program titled “Environment, Agriculture and Natural Resources (EANR).”

Students completing the sequence will have a notation on their high school transcripts stating that they have completed the EANR program and will be eligible to receive three college credits. The courses being developed are human ecology, natural resource management, environmental technologies, and a capstone internship and research course.

There is also a professional development component to Haines’ work. Each summer, state high school teachers participate in continuing education programs that prepare them to teach the courses the following school year and open the STEM pipeline to a new generation of students.

Seventy-nine percent of science college graduates work in STEM fields, and those jobs have an enormous economic impact on Maryland. Haines' work is helping MSDE keep the workforce pipeline open.