Educator Associate
Intro
The section initially met Allan Miller when he was the first in 20/21 to apply for one of our section’s $250 Educator Associate grants. He was the Digital Learning Leader/Innovation Coach, at the Central School in Charlotte VT. We helped him purchase a set of 20 Edison Robots, https://meetedison.com/.
This year he switched to the Williston, VT, school system as the Lead Maker at the Central School Creation Studio. Allan teaches his 700 3rd-8th grade students in six weeks segments, promising them that he will have them make something every time they come to class. The photo shows Williston 3rd grade students using the same kind of Edison Robots to make autonomous drawings.
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Drone flying with pilot blindfolded and copilot guiding, Williston, VT
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In 21/22, he was the second to apply for a grant. “My goal for the AIAA is to run a small pilot project testing an innovative Tello drone curriculum from Australia that teaches drone coding basics by simulating an emergency drone medicine delivery in a remote Himalayan village, and the development of an urban package delivery system. If the pilot is successful my hope is to use next year's school budget money and expand the program to our 7th and 8th grade classrooms. “
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Drone flying with pilot blindfolded and copilot guiding, Williston, VT
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Allan shows his chops: https://youtu.be/FfoSkhpEnp8
Personal history
Allan’s personal history is quite remarkable.
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December 2005 tri p to Antarctica
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After graduating from Dartmouth, Allan moved to Yakutat, Alaska, in 1985 where he was the entire science department in an 80 Tlingit native school. He taught throughout Alaska for 22 years, marrying his wife Joan in 1996 and raising three kids. He flew search and rescue with the Alaska Wing of Civil Air Patrol and was their Cadet Aerospace Educator. During that time he was a candidate to be a NASA Educator Astronaut in 2003 and 2007. Both times was selected as a finalist, but in the final medical review he was disqualified because of an eye pressure issue. In December 2005, he visited Antarctica as the NSF Education Leader on a joint US / Sweden Icebreaker expedition.
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2005 Helicopter Ride to ?????
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As his three kids were growing, the family moved to Vermont in 2010 to be near their grandparents, and Allan was hired as the Middle School Principal at Shelburne Community School. As a “Recovering School Principal”, he returned to directly teaching kids four years ago. He currently is “Lead Maker” at Williston Central School in Vermont. To see what happens in his class you can check out twitter at @stem4l or Instagram /Facebook at @stem4learning.
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Registan 15th Century in Samarqand, Uzbekistan,
Feb 2020
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With an Iman in Samarqand,
Feb 2020
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As part of a Fulbright Teacher Fellowship, he recently trained teachers on STEM education strategies in Samarqand, Uzbekistan. Samarqand was an integral part of the Silk Road from the West to China up until the mid-15th century. He returned to the US in March 2020. One of his highlights from that experience was running past 2000 years of history on his daily runs. He reports that teachers there make as little as $300 monthly and often have no running water in their homes.
Family
Allan and his wife Joan have three children, one earning a nursing degree, another at the Air Force Academy and the youngest in high school. His wife is a biathlon Olympian, competing in France in 1992 and in Lillehammer in 1994. They met through the sport, and Allan was an assistant coach for the US team in Nagano, Japan in 1998.
Future
The goal statement of Allan’s resumes reads “to continue to develop a legacy of significant contributions to communities around the world by applying my passions and skills in education, youth advocacy, volunteerism and related endeavors.” That definitely seems to be happening every day working with students in the Williston Makerspace and can hopefully continue for many more years. The pandemic put a hold on working face to face with international teachers, but he also is hopeful that soon he will be able to return to Uzbekistan and other countries to support teachers hoping to develop the next generations of scientists, engineers and inventors. He also greatly misses flying and would love to get back into the pilot’s seat of Cessna if he can carve the time for some retraining.
Benefits of being an EA
AIAA’s free Educator Associate membership for STEM teachers and administrators is a perfect fit for Allan’s interests and strengths. He receives our monthly magazine, Aerospace America online, has access to our section activities and AIAA forums, and gets STEM K-12 outreach support such as Aerospace Micro-Lessons and publications about careers in aerospace for students. Besides the section’s multiple and quick $250 grants, each school year, the AIAA Foundation awards grants of up to $500 to worthy projects that significantly influence student learning.
This membership and those for high school students are free.
https://www.aiaa.org/membership/types-of-membership/educator-membership