ALUMNA WINS NATIONAL GRANT

Debra D. Runyon, an alumna of Old Dominion University, has received a grant of nearly $10,000 from Toyota for excellence and innovation in mathematics education for her project, "Robotics Will Rock Our Future."

The award, one of only 35 awarded in the national competition, was presented to her during the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics' annual meeting in Las Vegas April 21-24.

Runyon, a teacher at Oakbrook Middle School in Ladson, S.C., received her bachelor's degree in health and physical education from Old Dominion in 1981. She has received several other national awards for her teaching programs and in 2000 was a Fulbright Scholar to Japan, where she spent a month examining the Japanese educational system.

"Robotics Will Rock Our Future" is a standards-based, interdisciplinary instructional unit that enhances student learning of math and science. The robotics team is comprised of sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders.