Dr. Martha Cyr
Director of K-12 Outreach, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Dr. Martha Cyr is Director of K-12 Outreach and an adjunct assistant professor with the Mechanical Engineering Department at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Worcester Massachusetts. She serves on the State of Massachusetts Science and Mathematics Advisory Council, and played an active role in the newly accepted engineering curriculum frameworks for the state.
As Director, she works with programs that emphasize the use of engineering principles through hands-on projects, to excite and motivate students and teachers in the learning of mathematics and science in grades K-16. Her involvement in outreach projects includes being the Massachusetts Affiliate Director for Project Lead The Way, as PI on a state math and science partnership grant for middle school mathematics, a collaborator on the TeachEngineering resource website, and she is part of the team providing statewide professional development in engineering design for K-12 teachers. Previous work of hers includes the development of workshops to facilitate science education for teachers with LEGOŇ blocks and computers, being a faculty advisor for the NSF model project for women and girls in which middle schools girls designed and built museum quality, hands-on exhibits, and Dr. Cyr coordinated the partnership with Prentice Hall for the revision of their Middle School Science Textbooks.
Dr. Cyr received her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of New Hampshire in 1982, and her M.S. and Ph. D. in Mechanical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1987 and 1997.