Thanks to EPB’s gigabit speeds, students in public schools across the Chattanooga area are able to access microscopy technology normally reserved for researchers at the CDC; leveraging the power of our community’s municipal fiber network, students can not only manipulate this microscope in real-time, they’re able to view everything in incredible detail through streaming 4K technology.

Originally an NSF-funded partnership between the Public Education Foundation in Chattanooga, TN and the USC Annenberg Lab, students at a local magnet school were able to send - and monitor - samples 1800 miles away, working closely with experts in Southern California. Since that project began in 2014, however, the Enterprise Center has, thanks to partners like US Ignite and the Mozilla Foundation, been able to purchase and develop a microscope for local use, expanding capacity to serve more schools.

In collaboration with Hamilton County Schools, this project continues to demonstrate the power of the Gig to impact educational experiences; broadband’s ability to more equitably distribute opportunity; and, perhaps most importantly, what happens when these technologies are co-developed with teachers and students. In addition to classrooms in Tennessee, the project has partnered across boarders, with cities like Flint, Michigan.

You can learn more about the project, hear from brilliant educators like Shannon Seigle and students like Amal Abazid, as well as access classroom resources, on this site. Use the ‘contact us’ link if you’re interested in getting involved!