Nicole Haloupek, GENETICS

"In classrooms from Philadelphia to Melbourne, kids huddle around a common interest: live zebrafish. The fish are not class pets—they are part of a hands-on educational experience provided by BioEYES, a program that earned its creators, geneticist Steven Farber and education expert Jamie Shuda, the Genetics Society of America’s 2018 Elizabeth W. Jones Award for Excellence in Education. BioEYES has come a long way since its creation in 2002. 'We’ve been around for 15 years and reached over 120,000 kids,' says Shuda. 'But it literally started with me driving around Philadelphia with fish in my backseat.'"

Carnegie Institution for Science

"The General Motors Corporation is presenting a $5,000.00 award to Carnegie’s BioEYES K-12 educational program on September 11, 2014, to deliver a two-week environmental curriculum, Your Watershed, Your Backyard. The program, established in 2008, is one of several BioEYES programs using live zebrafish in a hands-on approach to learning and focuses on local watersheds, pollution, and the Chesapeake Bay."

Marsha E. Lucas, The Society for Developmental Biology

“The partnership of a scientist and an educator made BioEYES a success. Shuda was able to take Farber’s many great ideas, and then hone in on those that were actually doable for a classroom of 30 students. She studied the educational standards for different age groups and designed the BioEYES program around them. In an interview prior to the SDB meeting she said her focus was ‘how can we take something that’s already suppose to be taught, but do it in a way that’s very student centered, that actually gets them to explore science, and allows the teachers to actually have fun teaching these concepts.’ The program gets students to think like a scientist while at the same time reinforces basic reading, writing, and math skills.”