MyScience.ie

Killina Secondary School, 10 miles from Tullamore, Co.Offaly is to soon have direct, high definition video link to researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. (Via globalatlanta.com )

This will allow the Irish students to look through Georgia Tech’s million-dollar electron microscope and take classes from top scientists.

“For our students to be able to interact directly with researchers in Georgia, remotely controlled technology such as telescopes and powerful microscopes will be hugely exciting and motivational for our students and teachers,” Joe Varley, a science teacher at Killina Secondary School, told GlobalAtlanta in an e-mail interview.

Georgia Tech is offering this service through a programme called Direct to Discovery. Killina Secondary School will be the first oversees schools to take part in such a programme and was selected in part because Georgia Tech has a research facility in Athlone, which is near the Secondary School.

The video images will be so detailed that students will be able to use the electron microscope as if they were on the Tech campus, said Jessica Pater, research associate at the Georgia Tech Research Institute.

This resource will be so valuable for the secondary schools students as it will allow them to benefit from expert knowledge and take part in a cutting edge programme that breaks down geographical barriers and allows those, even in remote rural areas to benefit from the pioneering technology.

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Watch the video below to hear Jeff Evans, Deputy Director and principal research engineer, Georgia Institute of technology talk about his decision to bring the Direct to Discovery programme to Ireland.