March Takes UL Research Institutes’ Education Experts Worldwide
Throughout March, education experts from ULRI’s Office of Research Experiences & Education traveled to Colorado, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Finland to present on the future of standards education, safety science career opportunities, education programs, and educator fellowships.
Standards Education Summit in Colorado
March 3-4, ULRI’s Office of Research Experiences & Education hosted the Standards Education Summit in Golden, Colorado, in partnership with the Colorado School of Mines.
The convening brought together award winners from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Standards Coordination Office Curricula Development Cooperative Agreement Program, as well as representatives from Discover Engineering’s Future City Competition and universities across the country.
The event also included an expert panel on industry and higher education partnerships in safety standards featuring Walter Copan, vice president for research and technology transfer at the Colorado School of Mines; Christopher Cramer, interim president and chief research officer for ULRI; George Borlase, senior vice president of standards development for UL Standards & Engagement; and Denice Young-Durrant, director of data science and standards engineering for ULSE.
This important discussion on standards education will help guide the launch of OREE’s new Standards Academy platform later this year — which will combine the standards expertise of ULSE with OREE’s education expertise.
National Society of Black Engineers Annual Convention in Illinois
The OREE team joined colleagues across ULRI, ULSE, and UL Solutions for NSBE’s 50th annual convention in Chicago, Illinois, March 5-9.
Charlotte Farmer, senior vice president and chief operating officer for ULRI, and Angela Williams, senior vice president and chief information security officer for UL Solutions, had the honor of hosting the opening keynote for this anniversary celebration.
Together, the UL enterprise hosted career fair booths to meet students seeking career opportunities across all three organizations as well as a hospitality suite, and served as the executive sponsor of the opening session.
International Safety Education Seminar in Finland
Members of the OREE team traveled to Finland to present at the International Safety Education Seminar March 12-13, where they highlighted the Xplorlabs Educator Fellowship and the Xplorlabs community education model to an international audience spanning 18 countries.
Kelly Keena, senior director of OREE, and Megan O’Keeffe, fellowship lead, presented the rigor, relationships, and relevance of OREE’s unique yearlong educator fellowship program — sharing the successes and stories of current fellows, as well as the outcomes of previous fellowship cohorts.
K-12 Education Programs Manager Becki Rowan White highlighted the Xplorlabs Community Education Model, where fire service personnel teach alongside educators, as well as OREE’s partnership with the Cobb County Safety Village, which will welcome Xplorlabs’ first physical space later this year.
National Science Teaching Association Conference in Pennsylvania
March 26-29, Xplorlabs education team members joined other education thought leaders at the 2025 National Science Teaching Association Conference in Philadelphia.
There, they hosted the Xplorlabs booth for hundreds of science educators. The OREE education team also hosted three workshops, alongside three presentations by Xplorlabs Educator Fellows and Xplorlabs university partner, Arizona State University.
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