UW MRSEC

With teachers and students going back to classrooms very soon, we want to highlight the cohort of dedicated educators that joined our research labs on campus this summer for our Research Experience for Teachers Program and their lab mentor teams! Their collaborative energy was felt across engineering campus! Onward!!! Learn more about our RET program - linked in the comments.

The Wisconsin MRSEC is excited to announce that the application is now open for our immersive summer research program for secondary STEM teachers!
Our Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program is an on-campus, 7-week program where selected participants have the opportunity to engage in hands-on, cutting-edge research in labs on the UW-Madison campus. In addition to learning about the lab’s research, equipment and methodologies, our RET fellows collaborate with their research teams to create a hands-on, interactive classroom activity inspired by their research experience.

The 2026 program is full-time and runs for 7 weeks, June 15th through July 31st. Teachers receive a $7500 stipend and an additional $750 supplies budget to develop their activity and implement it with students in their classroom during the 26-27 school year.

The application is open! The deadline to submit is March 15, 2026.

Please contact the RET program director, Shelly Grandell, with any questions at [email protected]

Important note: While this program is open to ALL US teachers, please know that selected particpants are responsible for arranging their own housing and transportation in Madison during the program.

RET Experience QUICK LINKS Video Lab Manual What’s New? Topics What is the RET program? The Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program puts teachers from around the state into materials research facilities at the University in order to 1) get teachers more comfortable with the tools, language, and processes ...

MRSEC participants devoted a day in September to sharing their research with each other and then exploring ways to take science to others at the annual MRSEC Breakthrough Research and Education Workshop (BREW).

The Wisconsin MRSEC recently welcomed the 2025 cohort of secondary STEM educators to campus for our Research Experience for Teachers program. Spending the first week being immersed in the cutting-edge research and lab culture; beginning their collaborative efforts with lab teams to develop exciting, novel classroom activities that bring materials science to the next generation of STEM explorers. Onward!!

We are living in a material (science) world! MRSEC inspired curiosity with the wonders of materials science during the 2025 Science Expeditions.