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Tamara Poles
Director of Programs
Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society
Biography
Tamara Poles is the Director of Programs at Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society. She is responsible for operations of a broad array of programs that support researchers in all disciplines from high school to emeritus. Professional development opportunities include, but are not limited to grants, workshops, trainings, and networking.
Prior to joining Sigma Xi, Tamara held the position of Community Engagement Specialist at the University of North Carolina’s Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, where she conceptualized and implemented IMPACTS—North Carolina’s first statewide adult science communication curriculum and training program. Her work with this four-year project changed the lives of more than 500 diverse scientists across the state, as she trained them in the art of science communication and coordinated a myriad of community events throughout the state. The program resulted in more than 17,000 schoolchildren getting to meet and interact with scientists who looked and sounded like them, from similar neighborhoods, and learning that they too, could be scientists. In total, the IMPACTS scientists engaged over 48,000 North Carolinians in less than 4 years.
Her work with the IMPACTS program resulted in national and international recognition in addition to a $1 million grant from the NC GlaxoSmithKline Foundation to fund FUTURES, a collaboration with community colleges to train scientists how to share their personal STEM stories with the public. You can read her most recent peer-reviewed publication, Beads and ‘Biomes: A Hands-On Classroom Activity for Understanding the Effects of Antibiotics on the Microbiome in the December 2021 volume of The American Biology Teacher.
Tamara received her BS from Roanoke College, Virginia, and her MEd with concentration in Curriculum and Instruction from Averett University, Virginia.
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