Gleason named Eberly’s director of science outreach

Tim Gleason has been named the director of the Eberly College of Science’s Office of Science Outreach. Gleason takes over the position from Jessica Kim-Schmid, who stepped down from the position on April 23. Gleason was named interim director in April and assumes the position of director immediately.

As interim director, Gleason led the Office of Science Outreach’s well-known Science-U camps through the COVID-19 transition from in-person and residential camps to online virtual camps with subjects including CAD and 3D printing, genealogy, and robotics and coding.

“As interim director, Tim shepherded the popular science outreach activities that the office produces remarkably well,” said Teresa Diehl, associate dean of administration in the Eberly College of Science. “This was no simple feat, given the complexity of the science activities offered in camps and other activities as well as the number of participants that these offerings typically attract. We are very happy to have Tim at the helm of the Office of Science Outreach.”

As large public events are currently restricted, the Office of Science Outreach has replaced the popular Exploration-U community science nights and the annual Haunted-U on-campus event with a Virtual STEM Fair scheduled for the end of October. Similar planning is also underway for Science-U 2021.

Before becoming its director, Gleason volunteered with the Office of Science Outreach throughout his undergraduate career and has worked with them for the past two years as an education program assistant, developing outreach activities for community science events at the University Park campus and in the surrounding community. He has also worked with Eberly College of Science faculty to develop grant-related Broader Impacts activities. Gleason previously taught science in the Keystone Central School District and was a student teacher in the Altoona Area School District.

Gleason holds a master of education degree in curriculum and instruction, with a science education focus, and a bachelor of science degree in planetary science and astronomy, both from Penn State.