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A recent experiment at East Side Community High School on the chemical properties of water was made possible thanks to NationalLabDay.org. President Barack Obama launched the site last fall, and more and more educators and scientists are signing on, particularly in New York.

"NationalLabDay.org works by teachers going online and posting a project and registering and then the website works to match them in sort of an e-Harmony. Matching teachers with what they need and scientists with what expertise and volunteer they can offer," said Camsie Matis of the National Science Foundation.

"I started by posting my water treatment project to the website. And just really wanted to up the level of the project. I was hoping that I could find a chemistry or engineering professor that could bring in some resources that I don't have here at the school and that's exactly what happened. He was able to contact a company that allowed us to use flocculation rather than filtration," said science teacher Joe Vincente.

The website is national but it may work best in places like New York where there are so many scientists, engineers and mathematicians to volunteer.

Almost 300 local teachers and more than 200 local scientists have already signed up. City schools have posted 150 requests for volunteers, like a biologist to mentor students researching autoimmunity and celiac disease, a structural engineer to help a school build a rooftop garden, a physicist for researching high temperature superconductivity, and an ecologist to work with sixth graders studying water quality in the Gowanus Canal.

"Bringing these techies, engineers, mathematicians, scientists. And not just from universities but also working scientists in companies. So they might be working at Pfizer, they might be working at Motorola, they might be working at Siemens, and they come down to the classroom and work with kids. It's super exciting for kids because they get to see what people are doing in the real world, not just in a textbook," said National Lab Day Chairman Jack Hidary.

To find out more about this and other programs that feature science, technology, engineering and math, visit connectamillionminds.com.