Program Raises Commuters’ Awareness of Climate Science
04/24/2018
Contact: Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944, Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu or Christine Gillette, 978-934-2209, Christine_Gillette@uml.edu
MEDIA ADVISORY
WHEN: Friday, April 27, 3 p.m.
WHAT: UMass Lowell’s Cool Science program will honor Massachusetts K-12 students who have created artwork conveying concepts associated with the science of climate change.
The best of the students’ submissions are displayed on and inside Lowell Regional Transit Authority buses, where they raise awareness about the issue with thousands of commuters every day.
This year, more than 250 students from 45 communities across the Commonwealth entered the contest. Winners are from Acushnet, Amherst, Brighton, Brockton, Easthampton, Fitchburg, Freetown, Hadley, Lakeville, Nahant, North Andover, Northampton, Rehoboth, Somerville and Winthrop.
Cool Science, now in its sixth year, holds a recognition event for the winners each April. This year’s celebration will showcase the students’ art in a gallery exhibit and on an LRTA bus, which will be emblazoned on its side with the work of top winner Emma Zinni of Freetown, a junior at Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School. She will also be honored as the first recipient of UMass Lowell’s David Lustick Award in recognition of her achievement. The award is named in memory of Lustick, a former Nashua, N.H., resident and UMass Lowell College of Education professor who founded the Cool Science program and was a nationally recognized champion of environmental education.
In conjunction with the student artwork, UMass Lowell faculty researchers are using the initiative to study how well these types of displays educate the public.
WHERE: O’Leary Library Learning Commons, Mezzanine, South Campus, 61 Wilder St., Lowell. Contact UMass Lowell media relations for directions and parking information.