THOUSAND OAKS, Calif., June 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Amgen is pleased to announce the nine science teachers in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico who are this year's recipients of the Amgen Award for Science Teaching Excellence (AASTE). Now in its 20th year, the award recognizes extraordinary teachers at the kindergarten through 12th grade level who have an outstanding ability to inspire students and produce results in science education.

With a longstanding commitment to science education, Amgen established the teacher awards program to promote and encourage science teaching excellence in public and private schools. Since the program's inception in 1992, Amgen has awarded more than $3 million to educators in communities where Amgen operates who have made exceptional science-teaching contributions.

"Even after twenty years of presenting the AASTE awards, we never cease to be impressed and inspired by the teachers who are elevating science literacy through creativity in their classrooms," said Joseph P. Miletich, M.D., Ph.D., senior vice president of Research and Development at Amgen. "These teachers are making a meaningful difference in the lives of their students, but are also making a meaningful contribution to the promise of science and biotechnology."

In 2012, the AASTE winners were honored at surprise presentations at their schools. The 2012 award recipients are:

• Mark Buchli, Liberty High School, Renton, Wash.
• Deborah Dogancay, Newbury Park High School, Newbury Park, Calif.
• Jody Hartigan, St. Patrick Catholic School, Louisville, Ky.
• Diane Henault, Stony Lane Elementary School, North Kingstown, R.I.
• Minerva Marcano Melendez, Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos, Toa Baja, Puerto Rico
• Victor Pereira, Excel High School, South Boston, Mass.
• Aaron Tate, Bromley East Charter School, Brighton, Colo.
• April Tucker, Tamalpais High School, Mill Valley, Calif.
• Laura Verhoeven, Metchosin Technical Centre: Pacific Secondary School, Victoria, B.C., Canada

The nine selected winners receive the following benefits:

• An unrestricted cash award of $5,000 USD or $5,000 CAD; and
• A restricted $5,000 USD or $5,000 CAD cash grant to the recipient's school for the expansion or enhancement of a school science program, science resources, or the professional development of the school's science teachers.

Amgen partnered with Education Development Center (EDC) to select the 2012 AASTE recipients. EDC is a global nonprofit organization that designs, delivers and evaluates innovative programs to address some of the world's most urgent challenges in education, health and economic opportunity.

Winners are selected based on a variety of criteria including, among others, a teacher's ability to effectively engage students while deepening their scientific understanding, the plan for the use of grant money to improve science education resources in their schools and a letter of recommendation.

The AASTE awards provided to teachers in the United States were funded by the Amgen Foundation and the award in Canada was funded by Amgen.

For more information about this year's winners and the program, please visit http://www.amgen.com/citizenship/aaste.html.

About the Amgen Foundation

The Amgen Foundation (www.amgen.com/citizenship/overview.html) seeks to advance science education; improve patient access to quality care; and strengthen the communities where Amgen staff members live and work. Since 1991, the Foundation has made nearly $180 million in grants to nonprofit organizations throughout the United States, Puerto Rico and Europe that impact society in inspiring and innovative ways, and those that provide disaster relief efforts both domestically and internationally. The Amgen Foundation can be followed on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AmgenFoundation.

About Amgen

Amgen discovers, develops, manufactures and delivers innovative human therapeutics. A biotechnology pioneer since 1980, Amgen was one of the first companies to realize the new science's promise by bringing safe and effective medicines from lab, to manufacturing plant, to patient. Amgen therapeutics have changed the practice of medicine, helping millions of people around the world in the fight against cancer, kidney disease, rheumatoid arthritis, bone disease and other serious illnesses. With a deep and broad pipeline of potential new medicines, Amgen remains committed to advancing science to dramatically improve people's lives. To learn more about our pioneering science and our vital medicines, visit http://www.amgen.com/. Follow us on http://twitter.com/#!/amgen.

CONTACT: Amgen, Thousand Oaks
Lisa Slater, 805-447-6437 (media)

(Logo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081015/AMGENLOGO)

SOURCE Amgen