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I just completed my final letter for the 2020-2021 academic year. This wraps up year 6 for me as a scientist working with LPS. In that time I’ve finished my PhD, moved to a new job at NASA, then a new job back at my PhD institution, and am now looking at perhaps my final …
by Jenelle Whitman 
The goal of this blog series is to provide STEM pen pals with inspiration and ideas from real letters written by STEM professionals. We hope this series serves as a resource for pen pals to make letters accessible and engaging for pre-scientists. This letter was written by STEM pen pal Trinity to an 8th grade …
by Jenelle Whitman
This blog post is an extension to the annotated letter series to highlight engaging electronic letters. The goal of this blog series is to provide STEM pen pals with inspiration and ideas from real letters written by STEM professionals. Some STEM professionals have found it difficult to create engaging electronic letters for pre-scientists learning at …
by Jenelle Whitman 
I’m Nicola and I’m a medical research scientist based in the UK and this year is my sixth year involved with the LPS program. A lab colleague suggested it to me during my PhD, as I was already heavily involved in outreach programs, and thought it would be something that would interest me. Most of …
by Jenelle Whitman 
I’m a fan of late night comedy shows, such as The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. When the lock down started in March of 2020, many TV hosts took to their homes to record their shows. The first few weeks were cringe-worthy. These comedians had spent their entire …
by Jenelle Whitman 
The goal of this blog series is to provide STEM pen pals with inspiration and ideas from real letters written by STEM professionals. We asked our 2019-20 LPS teachers to pick a letter that stood out to them and tell us why. We hope this series serves as a resource for pen pals to make …
by Jenelle Whitman 
The theme for this year is roll with the punches. At every turn, instructional models are changing and teachers, students, and families are learning to adapt to new expectations. This year, I am now too familiar with students sitting in rows with desk shields and masks on – a setup that is very different from …
by Jenelle Whitman
The goal of this blog series is to provide STEM pen pals with inspiration and ideas from real letters written by STEM professionals. We asked our 2019-20 LPS teachers to pick a letter that stood out to them and tell us why. We hope this series serves as a resource for pen pals to make …
by Jenelle Whitman 
“When we get back to normal…” “When we finally go back to school…” “We’ll be going back soon.” “When this online learning thing is over…” It’s holiday-vacation season for LPS students & teachers. Spoiler alert: lots of sleeping-in, food, family time, catching-up on books & TV, staying up late… And presents! But I already opened …
by Jenelle Whitman 
I don’t remember how I came across Letters to a Pre-Scientist in 2014; maybe a friend posted it, or maybe a lab colleague suggested it as a cool outreach opportunity. I just remember that I found out too late to participate that year, so all I could do was read the newsletters and wait until …
by Jenelle Whitman
The goal of this blog series is to provide STEM pen pals with inspiration and ideas from real letters written by STEM professionals. We asked our 2019-20 LPS teachers to pick a letter that stood out to them and tell us why. We hope this series serves as a resource for pen pals to make …
by Jenelle Whitman 
Distance learning creates novel issues for teaching and learning while exacerbating existing issues. Non-teachers tend to focus on the remote aspect of the situation. They ask about how we engage students who are at home. They ask about amusing things they’ve heard about distance learning like how students sometimes forget to mute their microphones before …
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