About the Fast Plants® Program

The Wisconsin Fast Plants® Program's vision is to build open education resources and professional learning communities that inspire and support our mission: Working with educators and scientists in support of conceptual understanding through science teaching, learning, and research, using Fast Plants as a model organism.

The Wisconsin Fast Plants Program is a science education program located on the University of Wisconsin – Madison campus in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Our organization is committed to developing and sharing scientifically accurate, tried-and-true educational resources, supporting educators, students, and scientist around the world in the use of Fast Plants as a model organism for research and education purposes. We are dedicated to providing open education resources--free to use and openly licensed--in support of teaching and learning to understand plants and their roles as individuals, populations, in communities and in ecosystems. In addition, the Wisconsin Fast Plants Program develops innovative materials that are produced and distributed in partnership with publishers, companies and other educational organizations to build our capacity to reach teachers and learners and to support development and dissemination of free resources.

The Wisconsin Fast Plants Program originated from Dr. Paul Williams' work in the Department of Plant Pathology. The organization is primarily funded through grants and donations. Fast Plants® is a registered trademark of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

OUR STAFF
Dr. Hedi Baxter Lauffer
Director of the Fast Plants Program

Dr. Paul Williams
Professor Emeritus,
the "Father of Fast Plants"

McKaylee DuQuain
Lab Resource Development Intern

Amy Gauthier
Program Management Intern

Justin Gauthier
POSOH Curriculum Development Intern

Jackson Hetue
RcBC Research Intern

Reynaldo Morales
POSOH Videographer

Manali Sheth
POSOH Curriculum Development Coordinator

Linda Orie
POSOH Curriculum and Professional Developer