Biography
Jennifer is eager to contribute to creating an accessible and diverse engineering workforce infrastructure that starts in the early years of K-12 education and supports post-secondary opportunities and success in ASPIRE-related careers. The Pre-College space highlights ASPIRE-themed content and centers on scalable impacts for K-12 students and educators via standards-aligned, real-world curriculum development, responsive teacher professional development, and informal and community-based learning activities. The ASPIRE Pre-College team is committed to developing and implementing innovative and interactive engineering education opportunities to develop skills and spark interest in the next generation of engineers. Presently, Jennifer is an Assistant Director with the Integrated Teaching and Learning (ITL) Program of the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Colorado (CU) Boulder. At CU, she directs the ITL Pre-College Engineering Education Program whose mission aims to broaden participation and build interest in engineering through hands-on learning experiences for K-12 students, especially underrepresented and underserved youth. Jennifer works with K-12 educators to increase teacher capacity in classroom engineering education and through professional development focused on integrating the engineering design process and design thinking into STEM curricula. She is also an Engineering Plus instructor and teaches Engineering Projects (GEEN 1400) at CU. Prior to pursuing a career in higher education, Jennifer built her expertise in K-12 education through 15 years of teaching middle school science. She received professional recognition, including a Teacher of the Year community award, and guided her students to numerous national and state sustainability awards, such as the Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge. After transitioning from the classroom, Jennifer joined the Cooperative Institute for Environmental Sciences (CIRES) Education & Outreach team at CU as a Curriculum Development and Program Manager where she was a leader on several NASA- and NOAA-funded K-12 climate science and environmental education programs and managed the Research Experience for Community College Students (RECCS) NSF REU Program. While at CIRES, Jennifer was part of a team that received a CO-LABS Governor’s Award for High Impact Research in Atmospheric Science. She has a BSc in Biological Sciences from the University of Illinois-Chicago and an MSc in Environmental Biology from the University of Liverpool. In her downtime, Jennifer enjoys trail running in the Rocky Mountains and the challenge of running ultra-marathons.