Faculty Profile: Dr. Tone Rawlings
Dr. Tone Rawlings, who started at Burke’s in August 2015, is keeping things interesting in the science lab for fifth and sixth graders.
The curriculum centers on the standard topics, like biology and engineering, but how many of us studied the principles of heat transfer by making s’mores in convection ovens constructed out of cardboard? Or learned about earth sciences by building pollution detectors from the circuits up?
Dr. Rawlings brought her innovative methodology to Burke’s after teaching science at the Art Institute of California in San Francisco and the Winsor School in Boston, as well as serving as an instructor with i2 Camp. That organization collaborates with prominent companies and institutions in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields to keep middle-school students occupied over the summer — but engaged and intrigued as well.
She holds a B.A. in Ecology and Systematics with a minor in Studio Art and Art History from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in Marine and Estuarine Ecological Sciences from the University of Maryland, College Park. Dr. Rawlings has an extensive background in research, including a post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford University’s Division of Infectious Diseases
And if you’re a fan of CBS Sunday Morning, you might have seen her in this piece, which aired on December 4, 2016. Dr. Rawlings is an active volunteer with GISHWHES, otherwise known as the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen, which involves a set of tasks that are often artistic or charitable in nature.