Carol Colatrella, associate dean for graduate studies at the Ivan Allen College and professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication, is part of a team that has received the 2013 Educational Partnership Award offered through the Georgia Tech Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL).

Colatrella codirects Girls Excelling in Math and Science (GEMS) Club with Mary Lynn Realff, associate professor in the School of Materials Sciences and Engineering. The Club is a joint initiative sponsored by the Center for the Study of Women, Science, and Technology (WST) and Inman Middle School. Members of the educational partnership include:

• Mehran D'Souza (ISYE), student
• Natalie Payne (BME), student
• Mercedes Shannon (MGT), student
• Lu Ling (BME,) student
• Andrea Del Risco (ISYE), student
• Paula Herrema, Inman Middle School Principal
• Candice Price, 7th grade science teacher

Now in its fifth year of operation, GEMS attracts more than 40 girls in grades six through eight to its sessions. Club members meet after school for one and a half hours each week to engage in hands-on experiments and leadership activities.

The Educational Partnership Award is an annual Georgia Tech award of $7,500 that recognizes genuine and substantial partnerships between the faculty and students of Georgia Tech and the K-12 community. GEMS Club will accept the award at the annual staff and faculty awards luncheon in April.