This month, we recognize Meredith Hill Bembenic, a postdoctoral researcher with the Earth and Space Science Partnership project at The Pennsylvania State University in State College.  Meredith began working with middle and high school teachers in Pennsylvania, Michigan and North Carolina as a graduate student fellow with the NSF-funded Transforming Earth System Science Education (TESSE) program for two years. With the ESSP project, Meredith has continued to develop and implement new curricular materials in several areas including energy and Earth sciences.  One example where Meredith has made a valuable contribution to classroom curricular materials is by serving as a collaborator on a six-day unit on coal and energy, which can be viewed on the PAESTA website (http://www.paesta.psu.edu/book/coal-and-energy-unit).  Meredith is the lead author on a peer-reviewed publication about this unit, titled “Adaptable inquiry-based activities about national patterns of coal and energy use,” appearing in Science Scope.

Congratulations, Meredith - you are clearly a PAESTAR!