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It is with deep sadness that we report the passing of Caroline Schooley on April 15, 2018 at the age of 86. Caroline was a graduate of UC Berkeley with a Masters Degree in Microbiology, but began her career in electron microscopy in the early 1950s as an undergraduate, starting as a photography technician in the Electron Microscopy Laboratory and working her way up to becoming director of the EML. In the course of her career she taught countless students the art and science of electron microscopy as both instrumentation and techniques of specimen preparation advanced. She was a strong advocate of collaboration and strongly advised people, especially women, to join the Microscopy Society of America, pointing out it was one of few societies that was degree- and gender-blind.

In addition to being a member of MSA since 1970 and on the Council from 1985-1988, she was an Honorary Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a member of the American Society of Cell Biology, the Northern California Society of Electron Microscopy (Secretary 1974-1977), and the Royal Microscopy Society.

Caroline worked on negotiating a microscopy teaching exchange with China for several years. With the help of friends of Mei Lie Wong, it finally happened in May 12 - June 7, 1986. China set up 3 places in various locations in China for 1 week exchanges (Beijing, Xian, and Nanjing). Interested Chinese could sign up, and sign up they did. They came from all over China. Caroline Schooley, Mei Lie Wong and Judy Murphy went on the first exchange. We were thankful to RMC for providing the flights. We were told that the labs were likely not equipped as well as in the US so we should come prepared. We solicited donations from the various microscopy vendors and put together sample prep equipment boxes for each location. We arrived in China with something like 45 boxes, suitcases, etc. 

When we arrived in Beijing, there were perhaps 8 people that met us at the airport. After the first location, word spread, and we were met by 20 or 30 people at the following locations to help carry all the materials. After each week's workshop, we raffled all the sample equipment off to the participants. Everyone got something. The Chinese never heard of a raffle before, and they loved it - especially free! It was a unique experience, culturally, and for microscopy. We were all thankful for the warm hospitality and helpfulness of our newly found Chinese friends. We remained in contact with many of those we met, even to this day. All three, Caroline, Judy and Mei Lei said it was absolutely their favorite travel trip. The China exchange continued for many years with Judy Murphy as Director of the China Exchange with two exchanges per year, one biological and one materials oriented. Thank you Caroline for all your efforts in making the exchange happen.

Personal insight

In microscopy, we all know how important networking is and that, it is not just what you know, that is important, BUT who you know that knows what you don't know. Caroline was the queen of networking. If someone needed to know how to do something, or someone to do something, one only needed to lift the phone and call Caroline. She knew EVERYONE, and someone who knew what she didn't know. This went far beyond microscopy, as Caroline had such a creative mind, was an avid reader, and did so many crafty things. She was an artist in her own right. One always saved her Christmas cards, as she personally drew, usually some gorgeous sea creature on the card. She did a lot of tide pooling and had a major exhibit at the light house near Fort Bragg of all the tiny creatures living just under the rocks. She was also a docent for the light house and loved telling folks about its history and of course all the little creatures under the rocks. Before digital photography, she always carried her 110 camera with all the accessories and extra lenses. It is a tiny little camera, with a small film format, but she got some great photos.

In her retirement Caroline helped form Project MICRO, an educational outreach program of MSA, and served as coordinator of the program for many years. The focus of this program is developing interest in science and microscopy among pre-college students. Caroline in particular hoped to inspire young girls into the sciences.

Caroline was part of Project MICRO ( Microscopy In Curriculum - Research Outreach) from its beginning in 1995. Its goal is to support education about microscopy and the microworld in our schools (principally at the middle school level) nationwide. Caroline was rightly very proud of her involvement with the production of Microscopic Explorations (1998). This was one of over 70 guides in the GEMS (Great Explorations in Math and Science) series from the Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS), University of California, Berkeley, CA. There was a revised fourth printing in 2007. MSA sponsored the publication of this book, and Caroline was actively involved in its writing. The GEMS program is well known by teachers throughout the country, and has published a series of teachers' guides on activities and similar festivals in different aspects of science. A Spanish translation of the copyable student worksheets is available online (four PDFs) at http://lhsgems.org/GEMmicro.html Grades 4-8.

She was adamant that Project MICRO should target middle schools. As it turns out, that is exactly where students start to lose interest in the sciences. Microscopy is a beautiful way to bring sciences into the classroom within the comfort zone of the art-based middle school teachers.

She was tireless at the MSA Outreach Booth during M&M conferences, talking to delegates with ideas on how to put ProjectMICRO into effect in their areas. She maintained the junior library often being presented with books by the authors. A lot of her Project MICRO time for the rest of the year was answering emails and helping many with their outreach programs. To give a view of how a program might work, a hands-on workshop was included in the M&M Meeting. In 2005, 34 teachers attended a Project MICRO Microscopic Explorations workshop.

When it became difficult to travel, she encouraged the participation as a co-chair of Elaine Humphrey (2010). Elaine will always be grateful to have Caroline as a co-chair, to guide and ensure deadlines were met and that she didn't have to reinvent the wheel but could call on Caroline's experience at any time. This partnership lasted to date. Caroline was very active in the program up until this year. She kept an eye on the website, updated the book list, developed a brochure for ProjectMICRO, and often sent relevant articles to Elaine.

She wrote several articles for Microscopy Today, for example Microscopy For Children (2007), What is ProjectMICRO (2010). In September, 2016, there was a sudden increase in parent and teacher Emails to MICRO asking for further information. She was delighted to find MICRO in the coveted #1 spot when someone did a Google search for "school microscopes."

She was awarded the Morton D. Maser Award in 1992 and became a Fellow of the Microscopy Society of America 2009, cited as "an outstanding microscopist and educator who has made exceptional contributions to microscopy education from K-12 through post-graduate levels."