Jonathan Mulcock teaches science to eighth grade students at Thomas Russell Middle School.
This summer, he is doing a fellowship at New United Motors Manufacturing Inc., where Mulcock says he "develops training material for creating awareness about hazardous material."
When school reopens in August, he hopes to take this knowledge to the classroom.
At Solectron, Ladan Amin is a second year returning fellow.
She is part of the Corporate Communications team, where she is involved in key areas such as public relations, employee communications and marketing.
"The emphasis is on projects relating to the Web, both internal and external," Amin said.
Her understanding of the Web-oriented approach to communication in today's global world is something that she will incorporate in the curriculum back at school.
Amin is a computer science and graphic design teacher at Los Lomas High School in Walnut Creek.
This is her fifth fellowship in what's called the Industry Initiatives for Science and Math Education fellowship.
Prior to Solectron, she did fellowships at Dow Chemical, SBC and Intel.
Mulcock and Amin are just two of the 195 Bay Area schoolteachers chosen for summer fellowships by the Industry Initiatives for Science and Math Education, or IISME.
This is a non-profit organization that offers teachers the opportunity to collaborate with local companies and universities in the goal to strengthen math and science education in local schools.
Since the annual IISME summer fellowship program began in 1985, there have been nearly 2,200 fellowship opportunities for local teachers at more than 150 Bay Area companies and universities.
The Silicon Valley Leadership Group, or SVLG, represents nearly 200 of the Silicon Valley's most respected employers, who collectively provide 250,000 local jobs, or one of every four private sector jobs in the Silicon Valley.
SVLG's advocacy of the IISME fellowships has meant more fellowships by more companies. This summer, leadership group member companies are sponsoring 85 percent of the IISME fellows.
Carl Guardino, president and chief executive officer of SVLG, maintained that the close tie between SVLG and IISME reflects both organizations' common goal of excellence in education.
"Our region's competitiveness and success depend upon the quality of our workforce," he said. "Our member organizations participate in IISME's Summer Fellowship Program not only to benefit from highly skilled teachers with fresh perspectives, but more importantly to have a direct and positive impact on local math and science education."
This is Mulcock's third summer at NUMMI.
Earlier, he did a fellowship with Lockheed Martin, one of IISME's founding sponsors, where he was a research assistant to a space physicist, analyzing satellite data.
This year, at NUMMI, he is creating interactive presentations that he hopes to apply in the classroom.
"I am learning to use PowerPoint better, at a whole different level now than before," Mulcock said.
Presently, he is working on a 10-minute self-running slide show that is an interactive quiz
"It's designed to train employees working with hazardous wastes so that they don't accidentally ship it along with other products," he said.
Hazardous wastes include oil, gasoline, paints, sealers and solvents.
Next summer, Mulcock hopes to return to NUMMI. "Ideally working in a science-related position that I can bring back to the classroom," he said.
Stuart Rupp, a NUMMI manager, is Mulcock's mentor.
Rupp has been with NUMMI for 16 years. His job is to make sure that NUMMI complies with all environmental laws and regulations and works diligently toward decreasing pollution.
NUMMI builds Toyota and Pontiac cars and manufactures nearly 440,000 vehicles a year.
Rupp is excited to be part of IISME.
"I look forward to training teachers and giving them hands-on experience in modern industry and the latest technological trends," he said.
Rupp has been a mentor for the last five years.
"Our goal is to prepare children for the workplace of tomorrow. So, we ensure that IISME fellows get as much appropriate experience they can, which will be passed on to their students," he said.
Joe Samagond, a Solectron spokesperson and Amin's mentor, said the company is committed to being involved in the community.
Solectron generates $10 billion in revenues annually.
"Being headquartered in the Silicon Valley, we are very much connected to the local economy," Samagond said.
He stresses the need to improve the education infrastructure in the Bay Area.
Rupp draws attention to another important dimension of the IISME fellowship program: it introduces teachers to the corporate world.
He suggested this experience enables teachers to become familiar with the ethos of the private sector, as opposed to the purely academic setting of a school.
"I'm very pleased with all the fellows these past five years, including Jonathan this year, for their positive contribution to the program," Rupp said.
For Amin, this fellowship equips her with the real-world experience that is vital at the workplace an experience that she can pass on to her students.
"I am a student again, and Joe is a very good mentor," she said. | 
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