Sustainable Energy Education through Demonstration (SEED)

SEED was developed as an after school program for high school students at Geneseo Central Schools, the local K-12 district. It runs for about 40 minutes, this is split into 20 minutes of lecture about the sustainable energy topic of the week, followed by 20 minutes of interactive demonstrations. These are designed to help develop understanding of the science behind the topic. Topics covered include solar power, wind power, fertilizer runoff and algae blooms, climate change, and many more.

SEED logo: Lightbulb with a plant inside it, next to text reading SEED

SEED was developed with funding from the Frank Vafier ’74 Ambassadorship in Leadership through SUNY Geneseo's student ambassadorship program. The course was developed by three students in the Edgar Fellow Honors College with advisement from Dr. Padalino of the Physics department and Dr. Showers from Education.

The inaugural program was in the fall of 2018 and work is being done to establish an organization responsible for the continuance of the program after the responsible students have graduated. The lectures for the program as well as additional educational materials are being made available online for the use of teachers interested in running similar programs.