Each summer, about 20 area educators learn from Mines’ and NREL faculty on cutting-edge technology, skills and classroom activities related to energy transition and utilization, in the Summer Workshop on Energy Education for Teachers (SWEET), a workshop dedicated to local STEM-focused high school teachers.

Even during the pandemic, when all instruction was remote, the faculty found ways to provide hands-on sessions.

The Mines/NREL Nexus will run the workshop again this year, on June 6-7, 2023, on the campus of Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado.

Topic areas include Hydrogen energy, carbon capture, greenhouse gas emissions, water nanofiltration, a STEAM lecture and discussion, with activities, demos and site tours.

Contact Nexus at nexus@mines.edu for more information and to register.  The project lead, Dr. Carolyn Koh; can be reached at (303) 273-3237, ckoh@mines.edu, or visit her faculty page.  

Through conducting SWEET, the impact of the workshop is estimated to help hundreds of high school students each year, with its direct training of educators on the most current energy topics.

The workshop is “highly successful and impactful, especially being held and adapted to the COVID situation,” said Prof. Koh, “SWEET is strongly interactive with valuable exchange of information between instructors and teachers and vice versa. The number of students positively impacted is significant.”