A U.S. Department of Energy laboratory managed by The University of Chicago

Date: 12/7/2011 To Whom It May Concern, This is a letter of support for the professional development, personal traits and character of Dr. Christine Graffis. Chris has been involved in two professional development programs at Argonne National Lab that I coordinated. The first was in 2006, the three-week Nanoscience Summer Institute sponsored by the National Center for Teaching and Learning, a large consortium lead by Northwestern University. By the end of the workshop teachers presented there modules and lessons that they developed. Christine’s module was outstanding! I, along with all of her peers, marveled at the scope, depth, and quality of materials that she had pulled together. She is unsurpassed in the ability to create cutting-edge presentations. The second program, a four-week Academies Creating Teacher Scientists Program, spanned three years from 2007-2009. The last two summers Chris developed a detailed project which centered around water quality in the northern Illinois Chain-of-Lakes region. The third year she added some easy microbial and nutrient testing kits to the sampling and created a well-rounded problem-based learning module as her final deliverable. It was a substantial improvement over the previous year. Once again, it had all the elements of scope, depth, and quality. This year-long program required extra deliverables beyond the module which she covered each year with ease. In addition to a strong work ethic and solid organizational skills, Chris is an honest, very open and accepting person. She cooperated well with everyone, whether it was her peers or our staff. She was always positive, upbeat, and energetic despite life’s crinkles and challenges. She welcomed new challenges and was good at adapting and adjusting her mindset and her lifestyle. Chris was always appreciative of our programs at Argonne and was a pleasure to work with. I whole-heartedly recommend Christine Graffis for an international teaching appointment or similar education-related opportunity in the near future. Sincerely,

Lou Harnisch Program Coordinator Communication, Education, and Public Affairs Argonne National Laboratory 630-252-6925

Educational Programs Argonne National Laboratory 9700 South Cass Avenue, Bldg. 223 Argonne, IL 60439 Lou Harnisch 1-630-252-6925 phone 1-630-252-3193 fax