Matt Irvin, Ph.D., Director of the USC Institute for Rural Education and Development, along with postdoctoral scholars Devan Jones, Ph.D. and Ross Ramsey, Ph.D., visited the South Carolina Governor's School for Science and Mathematics to learn about their educational and outreach efforts, and discuss how the organizations might join forces to support STEM education opportunities for youth in rural communities.

Irvin and the other researchers toured the new self-contained hydroponic research lab, which is the first of its kind in the state. They also visited the robotics lab and learned about the robot that students built and used to reach the Robotics FIRST Tech Challenge World Championships last year.

The IRED team was impressed to discover the full breadth and scope of the work the Governor’s School does. Matt Irvin expressed excitement about opportunities for future collaboration with the school and future benefits for the state:

“We learned about how well-planned, organized, extensive, and far-reaching GSSM's educational/outreach efforts are as they reach approximately 9,000 SC students in nearly every county across the state each year.” Irvin explained. “We saw a lot of strong potential for partnership in supporting GSSM in reaching underserved rural students in South Carolina and conducting research in partnership with them to understand the impact of and possibly further their educational/outreach efforts.”