Lynchburg High school students may benefit from Bedford research center

BEDFORD CO. - The Center for Advanced Engineering and Research under construction in Bedford County could serve as an extension of the classroom for high school science students in Lynchburg.

CAER and Lynchburg City Schools have signed an agreement that will let students from E.C. Glass and Heritage high schools visit the center and watch scientific research. Some could get internships and help conduct research, said Bob Bai-ley, CAER executive director.

The partnership should help strengthen the schools’ focus on STEM subjects — science, technology, engineering and math — Bailey said. That would help prepare students for college-level courses and for high-tech jobs.

“One of the challenges with students is engaging their level of interest in math and science. Quite often one of the obstacles is you don’t see any of the applications until you get out of school,” Bailey said. “Your performance is always better once you’re interested in something.”

CAER is trying to feed students’ interest in advanced scientific research, he said.

“We’re hoping that our students can go over to the CAER and expand the programs that they’re learning in high school,” said Ed Dellinger, supervisor of instruction for Lynchburg City Schools’ career and technical education programs. “They can take these kids to a new level of expertise.”

CAER has existed as an organization for several years and it broke ground on a research facility off U.S. 460 last year. The building was scheduled to open this fall, but weather-caused construction delays have pushed the opening to early 2011, Bailey said.

Once open, universities and companies will conduct research there, focusing on solving problems for Lynchburg-area companies in the wireless communications and nuclear energy fields.

Bailey said Lynchburg high school students could come to the facility on class field trips or as part of extracurricular activities. They could shadow re-searchers, and some students could qualify for internships.

“We wanted all along to have an outreach component to what we’re doing, and this is one of our strategies to doing that,” he said.

Any of the city’s high school students could benefit from CAER programs, but the center’s focus would be on serving physics and chemistry students, Bailey said.

Schools would bear the costs of getting students to CAER, which is more than nine miles from either high school. The career technology programs’ field trips use federal money, so the ability to use CAER would not be affected by the budget shortfall the school division faces, Dellinger said.

CAER plans to partner with other school systems in the region later. It partnered with Lynchburg City Schools because of the system’s Partners in Education program, Bailey said.

The Partners in Education program has existed for 20 years now and has established more than 200 partnerships, including about 135 that are still active, said Merle Herndon, director of professional development and school/business partnerships.