Our Mission
By linking the science research and education communities, ScienceBridge seeks to increase the number and diversity of students pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering and math. It also strives to improve general public awareness and appreciation of science.
Overview of ScienceBridge
ScienceBridge strives to deliver quality experiences for our various audiences that include over 200 science professionals, 20 graduate students, 100 undergraduate students, 200 secondary school teachers, 20,000 secondary students, and some 60,000 members of the general public. The strength of ScienceBridge and its component programs is a direct result of building strong relationships with various UCSD entities, other partner academic institutions, non-profit foundations, multiple school districts, and local/national funding agencies, private and governmental. To this end, ScienceBridge has filled a community relations, outreach and diversity need for many programs at UCSD (Schools of Pharmacy, Medicine, and Engineering, Divisions of Biology and Physical Sciences, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Student Affairs) and across institutions such as San Diego State University, University of San Diego, and numerous local companies, non-profit organizations, and school districts. Our primary philosophy is to find ways of leveraging human capital in the most effective manner to pay it forward to benefit of the community.
Since July 2006, ScienceBridge has been instrumental in raising over $12,500,000 in program funding (NSF, HHMI, Department of Education, local companies) that supported and will continue to support projects over the next three years. Our team considers this to be only the beginning of a far longer term initiative to reinvigorate and expand science education through linking what goes on in our school classrooms with evolving scientific endeavors at the university level as well as in private sector research and development firms. The ScienceBridge staff now includes nine full-time and 30 part-time employees with expertise in scientific research, formal and informal science education, education research, teacher training, student leadership, educational technology and multimedia communications.
We invite you to learn more about our programs
Professional development for teachers through training, curricula and lab kits
Improving scientific literacy and use of technology in classrooms through interdisciplinary teams
San Diego's largest annual celebration of all things science
Training better science communicators, producing better science communication
Creating the next generation of science leaders
Yearlong partnerships with UCSD PhD students and high school science teachers
Providing valuable teaching experience to undergraduate and graduate students
Our Story