Facilitation Team & Resources

Dr. Philip Bell is Professor of Learning Sciences & Human Development in the University of Washington College of Education where he holds the Shauna C. Larson Endowed Chair in Learning Sciences. His research focuses on understanding and resourcing equity improvements in PK-12 science education using cognitive, cultural, and sociopolitical perspectives on learning—with a focus on promoting climate and environmental justice. He helps direct two state-level networks focused on teaching about climate change: ClimeTime and the Climate Teacher Education Collaborative. He edits an NSF-funded educator resource collection called STEM Teaching Tools (http://STEMteachingtools.org) and has a background in human cognition and development, science education, computer science, and electrical engineering.

Johanna Brown is the Associate Director of Secondary Science for the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. In this role, she collaboratively leads the ClimeTime proviso with the goal of having deeply inclusive classrooms that empower our students to act for a hopeful future that addresses our climate crisis. Johanna previously taught Chemistry, AP Chemistry, and AP Computer Science A in Pullman, WA where she implemented ungrading, introduced students to green chemistry, and worked to make her classroom holistic and accessible . Johanna was awarded the 2022 Yager Award for Exemplary Science Teaching from NSTA, GeekWire’s 2022 STEM Educator of the Year, and was a  2021 Finalist for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching.

Kat Davis is the Advisor for Climate Justice at Portland Public Schools where she oversees the district-wide implementation of the Climate Crisis Response, Climate Justice and Sustainable Practices Policy. Before coming to PPS, Kat was the Director of Sustainability at Boise State University for five years, and has experience in the public sector with a background in designing systems of solutions in nonprofits and local governance. Kat centers student voice in her work and is eager to engage with the Portland community in moving PPS forward in our commitment to climate justice together.  

Kelsie Fowler has a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Washington, where she currently works as a research scientist helping run two state-wide climate justice education networks---ClimeTime and the Climate Teacher Education Collaborative. In addition to this work, she also teaches the secondary science methods series in the UW Seattle Teacher Ed Program and Language and Literacy for STEM teachers. Kelsie also taught the elementary science methods course series for four years. In this work she takes a critical stance to support educators in teaching science from Anti-racist, Anti-colonial, and youth-informed lenses with critical and community knowledges centered alongside NGSS. Before pursuing her PhD, Kelsie was a classroom science teacher for over 10 years. During this time, she taught every grade from 1st-12th in some capacity but identifies most closely as a middle and high school science teacher. In 2020 Kelsie also helped start, and now leads, a youth and community marine pollution lab in Bahía de los Ángeles that tackles issues like climate change and plastic pollution through an intergenerational, hands-on approach. Through her experiences working closely with youth in and out of formal learning environments, Kelsie has come to know the power of youth voices and leadership in realizing social and environmental solutions. Her personal work aims to center environmental and multispecies justice, ecological hope, and youth brilliance to author change this world needs. 

Trisha Herminghaus is the Retiring President of the National Science Educators Leadership Association. As a resident of Alaska she has seen first hand the effects of climate change on the subsistence lifestyle of Alaskans, the dire implications of warming permafrost, as well as the impacts of changing Arctic ecosystems. Her work in science education is focused in the areas of the Framework for Science Education, curriculum analysis and implementation, professional learning, curriculum integration, the use of science notebooks, and assessment. Trisha has a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education, and a Master’s Degree in Science Education. She spent 20 years as a teacher in Grades 1 – 6, and worked for 16 years overseeing the K-6 Science Curriculum for the Anchorage School District. Since 1987 Trisha has focused her career on science education. She is currently a science education consultant working in a variety of school districts across the United States, and volunteering with NSELA. 

Karen Lionberger is the Associate Director for Making Sense of SCIENCE and a Science Implementation Specialist in WestEd’s Science and Engineering content area. Lionberger’s areas of expertise include instructional design (including adult learners) and formative assessments that infuse more authentic data modeling in the classroom. More recently she has engaged in research on designing curriculum and assessments that engage and support multi-language learners.

Lionberger has been leading the Curriculum and Assessment team for a new equity-focused 6-11 curriculum program that scaled to over 1400 schools in 45 states and over 40 countries. This work has led her to form numerous state-level and district-level partnerships and establish a robust network of high school and college faculty educators and researchers.

President elect of NSELA. 

Elizabeth Schmitz is the Environmental and Sustainability Education Program Manager in Science, Environment, and Sustainability/Learning and Teaching at the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. In this role, she supports administration of Washington’s $10 million climate science professional development Proviso, ClimeTime. She also oversees implementation of the Washington Green Ribbon Schools program, Washington state’s Environmental and Sustainability K-12 Learning Standards, and the state’s Environmental and Sustainability Literacy Plan. Elizabeth is thrilled to offer her support to teachers, schools, and school districts as they implement environmental and sustainability education efforts! 

Previously, Elizabeth taught at outdoor schools, worked as a statewide environmental education specialist and policy analyst for the Kentucky Division for Air Quality, and served as the executive director for the Kentucky Environmental Education Council. Most recently, she reconnected with elementary school kiddos as a Reading/LAP para-educator at Olympic View Elementary School. Elizabeth is thrilled to offer her support to teachers, schools, and school districts as they implement environmental and sustainability education efforts!

Sarah Sterling-Laldee is Senior Advisor on Climate Change Education for the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE). In her role, she oversees NJDOE’s Climate Change Education Unit, which supports the administration of $4.5M in annual grants to schools, green and blue career and workforce development, interagency partnerships, and advocacy strategy to support climate change education in K-12 for all of New Jersey’s 1.4 million students. Before joining NJDOE, Sarah had over twenty years of experience as an urban public-school teacher and central office administrator with a STEAM and sustainability focus. In this capacity, she developed out-of-school time programs that received national and international acclaim for their place-based approach to addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals and their support of STEM career pathways for urban youth. Most recently, she led the high school restructuring efforts for Paterson, NJ's Public Schools, and supported the opening of Paterson’s STEAM High School, which includes the city’s first sustainability career pathway.

Sarah also served as an Education Program Manager for Global Cities, Inc., where she managed the Global Scholars digital exchange program, co-authored interdisciplinary curricula with a global competency and sustainability focus, developed and provided professional development for teachers in 35 countries, and offered targeted support to country leads, including Ministry of Education representatives and school leaders for a portfolio of global cities including Singapore, Taiwan, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, London, and Kazakhstan. Sarah is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Grenada, West Indies, ’99-’01), a graduate of Rutgers University, and NYU Steinhardt’s Environmental Conservation Education MA program.

Mark is a professor of Science Teaching and Learning at the University of Washington. His research interests deal with the early career development of science teachers—in particular, their trajectories toward ambitious and equitable pedagogy. He is the lead author of Ambitious Science Teaching (Harvard Ed Press), along with Jessica Thompson and Melissa Braaten and has been PI on multiple Noyce Teaching Scholars and Research grants and have supported teachers in that program in their transitions to urban schools. Mark administrated the Annenberg Fellowship program, known as the Rhodes Scholarships of Teaching— for teacher candidates at the UW; was a recipient of the AERA Presidential Award for Best Review of Research, the co-author of the chapter on Science Teaching in the new AERA Handbook of Research on Teaching, and a member of the National  Research Council Committee on Strengthening and Sustaining Teachers. He most recently authored Teaching Climate Change.