Our Team
Dr. Deborah Hanuscin | Principal Investigator
Dr. Hanuscin is a former elementary teacher and museum science educator. She received her PhD in 2004 from Indiana University, and began her career at University of Missouri before accepting a position at Western in 2017 with Science, Math, and Technology Education (SMATE). Her work focuses on elementary science teacher education and professional development. Her specializations include physical sciences and the use of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to make science accessible for all students.
Dr. Josie Melton | Co-Principal Investigator
A former middle school science teacher, Dr. Melton has worked with elementary and middle level preservice science teachers for the past ten years in the Science, Math, and Technology Education program (SMATE) at WWU. She currently works on a variety of grant-funded projects around science education from the elementary to the undergraduate level. Dr. Melton's personal research interests include elementary science curriculum implementation and incorporating a sense of wonder in elementary classrooms.
Mira Lutz Castle | Professional Learning Coordinator
Mira Lutz Castle studies and teaches about estuarine ecology in the Salish Sea of Washington and British Columbia and learns from First Peoples about how to better care for these waters. Prior to earning a Master's of Marine and Estuarine Science, she taught K-12 sciences for 14 years, developing curriculum and supporting the transition to the Next Generation Science Standards for elementary science in Anacortes School District. After her masters, Mira joined the visionary scientists and storytellers at SeaDoc Society (UC Davis), where she authored and led professional development workshops on the Explore the Salish Sea Science Curriculum, the platform for the CREST research.
Dr. Kristine Chadwick | Project Evaluator
Dr. Chadwick has been evaluating and serving as a critical friend to education programs for more than 30 years. Prior to the CREST project, she served as program evaluator for 12 NSF-funded science education programs, including prior projects led by Dr. Hanuscin. She brings particular expertise in program theory and evaluation designs that include multiple perspectives, allow for emergent elements as programs adapt, and provide timely, relevant information for improvement. She holds a PhD in psychology from the University of Rhode Island
Meet our professional learning staff:
Lourdes Flores
Lourdes is a biologist from the National University of Mexico, who specialized in marine mammal research and education. The humpback whales took her to the Pacific coast of Mexico and the killer whales all the way up to the San Juan Islands, where she volunteered for Orca Survey for several summers while teaching marine mammal biology and conservation for a field school in Baja California Sur. Her Masters’ thesis for the Marine Affairs Program at UW tested an educational model to integrate local coastal communities in local marine conservation projects. At Pacific Education Institute, Lourdes continues to use her own model to engage multicultural communities in learning, and she is thrilled to be part of the CREST team to teach again about her beloved orcas and the ecosystems that sustain them in the Salish Sea.
Amy Keiper
Amy Keiper is the Northwest Regional FieldSTEM Coordinator for Pacific Education Institute. She develops and facilitates FieldSTEM workshops and provides professional development services to educators. She supports teachers in providing integrated, career-connected, place-based, standards aligned education so that all students will develop the academic skills to be capable stewards of their environment. She holds an M.Ed Environmental Education, BA Elementary Education, and has completed eleven years as an educator.
Jesus Perez-Linares
Dr. Pérez is a Marine Biologist and former researcher with experience in biotechnology, environmental toxicology, and analytical chemistry. He is a K-12 certified teacher from WWU and currently working as a 5th grade teacher in a Dual Language program in the Burlington-Edison School District.
His goal is to inspire new generations in science topics and believes that science provides students important life-long skills such as critical and computational, thinking, problem-solving, and creativity.
He works and supports elementary, middle, and high school students in providing STEM opportunities for minority and underrepresented groups in science.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant No. DRL 2300558 .Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.