Talcott Mountain Science Center for Student Involvement ("TMSC") is a not-for-profit 501c(3) corporation in

Avon, Connecticut Avon ( ) is a town in the Farmington Valley region of Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town had a population of 18,932. History Avon was settled in 1645 and was originally a part of neighboring Farmington. ...

. It is dedicated to the improvement of science education and does so by working directly with students, teachers, and the general public.

History

TMSC was established in 1967 under a program of the

U.S. Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...

. Its founders were part of the Avon Public School district and included Superintendent Francis Driscoll and science teachers Donald P. La Salle and George C. Atamian. Its campus atop Talcott Mountain is a former

Project Nike Project Nike (Greek: Νίκη, "Victory") was a U.S. Army project, proposed in May 1945 by Bell Laboratories, to develop a line-of-sight anti-aircraft missile system. The project delivered the United States' first operational anti-aircraft mi ...

missile radar site ("HA-85") that formed part of the U.S. defenses during the Cold War. Initially three small buildings and a guard shack, the Center today houses four main campus buildings with classrooms and laboratories, as well as a weather research station, two observatories, the largest teaching planetarium in Connecticut and - within the surrounding 15 miles - a large visible model of the solar system.

Activities

The Center provides direct science education in schools in central Connecticut, online resources via the internet, teacher training in science methods, as well as public programs by appointment for students and adults on weekends and evenings, vacations and summers. Courses include general science for younger students, and enrichment and student-based research in astronomy, chronobiology, computers, ecology, geology, green energy, magic & science, meteorology, music technology, robotics, and video production. The Center produces curriculum for its own use as well as on a contracted basis for schools and projects. It has originated a number of nationwide educational projects under the

and the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...

. It has been an international consultant to overseas schools in Northern Africa, Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean region. The Center houses the Talcott Mountain Academy for Science, Mathematics and Technology, a private independent co-educational day school centered on science and providing all academic subjects in grades K-8.

Notable alumni

Eric Fossum Eric R. Fossum (born October 17, 1957) is an American physicist and engineer, which with the help of other JPL scientists, co-developed some features of the CMOS image sensor. He is currently a professor at Thayer School of Engineering in Dartmou ...

* Steve Perlman

References

External links

Talcott Mountain Science Center

Talcott Mountain Academy

{{Coord, 41.8161, -72.7994, display=title Avon, Connecticut Schools in Hartford County, Connecticut Planetaria in the United States Private middle schools in Connecticut Private elementary schools in Connecticut 1967 establishments in Connecticut