Project Team
Eco-manufacturing Project Team
Dr. Meg Blanchard
Dr. Margaret Blanchard is a Professor of Science Education and University Faculty Scholar in the Department of STEM Education at NC State. She is Co-Principal Investigator of two USDA projects (2017-2024), STEM Career Clubs (Burroughs, 2018-2022) and Eco manufacturing (NSF, 2022-2026). She has served as PI on two previously funded NSF grants and evaluator on numerous NSF projects. She also serves as Associate Department Head and Director of Graduate Programs for the Department of STEM Education. She may be reached at Meg_Blanchard@ncsu.edu.
Sera Herold
Sera Harold, MEM, is a PhD student in STEM education. Her focus is on environmental and non-formal education. Before enrolling at NC State, Sera managed the North American Bushcraft School where she taught herbalism, natural navigation, food fermentation, Leave No Trace, Wilderness First Aid and fire-making. She lives in Chapel Hill with her many cats.
Tyler Harper-Gampp
Tyler Harper-Gampp is a PhD student in STEM education. He is a Research Assistant on two projects: Eco-manufacturing of Recyclable Soft Electronics (2023) and Virtual Reality to Improve Students’ Understanding of the Extremes of Scale in STEM (2021-2023). His research explores the use of virtual reality to support science education in K-12 classrooms. Prior to starting his doctoral program, Tyler was a high school science teacher in Wilmington, NC, and Austin, TX.
Toluwalase Salako
Toluwalase Salako is a PhD student in STEM Education at NC State. She has a Masters degree in Science Education from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and has taught Biology at the Secondary level. She is a Graduate Assistant for the College of Education.
Abbi Roof
Abbi Roof is currently an undergrad student at NC State. She is studying Secondary Science Education with a concentration in Biology, as well as Biological Sciences. She is a Goodnight Scholar as well as an NC Teaching Fellow.
STEM Career Club Project Team (2018-2023)
Dr. Kristie Gutierrez
Dr. Kristie Gutierrez is an Assistant Professor of Science Education at Old Dominion University. She has a Ph.D. in Science Education from NC State University and worked as a graduate research assistant and postdoctoral fellow on the STEM Career Clubs project from 2014-2017. Dr. Gutierrez currently serves as the STEM Career Clubs evaluator for the current Burroughs Wellcome Fund grant.
Karen Collier
Karen Collier is currently working toward her Ph.D. in Science Education at NC State. She is a Graduate Research Assistant for the Sustainable Bioproducts & Bioenergy Program and has been working with the STEM Career Clubs since the summer of 2021.
Caetlyn Elder
Caetlyn Elder is an undergraduate working toward her B.S. in English and a former member of the 2020-2022 Chancellor’s Leadership Development Program cohort. She updated the website and provided new career resources for the project. She has been working on the STEM Career Clubs project since the spring of 2022.
Former STEM Career Club Project Team Members
Allison Seton-Harris (2019-2022)
Allison Seton-Harris is a teacher at Sanderson High School in Raleigh, North Carolina. She worked with the STEM Career Clubs project from 2020 to 2022. Aside from working on the project, she is a part of the North Carolina Teaching Fellows and a member of the S.A.Y. (Students Advocating for Youth) Village on campus.
Dr. Katie McCance (2018-2021)
Dr. Katie McCance is a Postdoc for the Sustainable Bioproducts & Bioenergy Program (SBBP). She received her Ph.D. and M.Ed. in Science Education from NC State University in 2021 and 2019, respectively. She was a Graduate Research Assistant for SBBP and helped coordinate the STEM Career Clubs from 2018-2021.
Dr. Kylie Swanson (2015-2017)
Dr. Kylie Swanson is an Assistant Professor of Inclusive Elementary Science Education at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. She has a Ph.D. in Science Education from NC State University and has taught middle school science. She worked as a research assistant on the STEM Career Clubs project beginning in Fall of 2015.
Lauren Harper (2013-2019)
Lauren Harper graduated from NC State with a B.S. in Science Education and an M.Ed. in STEM Education. She taught high school science for several years before transitioning to a Science Education Research position at Horizon Research Inc. in Chapel Hill, NC. Lauren worked on the project from Fall 2013-2019.
Dr. Jennifer Albert (2010-2013)
Dr. Jennifer Albert graduated from NC State with a B.S. in Chemistry. She then went on to pursue her M.A. in Education from Austin Peay State University and then her Doctoral degree from NC State University. Dr. Albert, taught high school chemistry in Tennessee and has worked on several grants through NC State’s College of Education and the Friday Institute to help integrate technology in science and mathematics classrooms in rural northeast NC. She worked on the project from Fall 2010-Spring 2013.
Dr. Meredith Kier (2011-2013)
Dr. Meredith Kier is an Associate Professor of Science Education at William & Mary. Her research focuses on developing and sustaining equitable research-practice-community partnerships between middle school teachers and minority engineering undergraduates. She is interested in how professional stakeholders and teachers learn from each other to integrate STEM career practices in urban middle school classrooms. She earned her Ph.D. from North Carolina State University in 2013 and served as a graduate research assistant under the direction of Dr. Meg Blanchard on the STEM Career Awareness Grant from 2011-2013.
Jackson Kinton (2011-2012)
Jackson Kinton earned his M.Ed. Science Education at NC State in 2013 and is now teaching high school science in Raleigh, NC. He worked with Meg Blanchard and Jennifer Albert helping to integrate instructional technologies in science and mathematics classrooms in rural northeast NC. He worked on the project in 2011 & 2012.
Kimberly Pigford (2012)
Kimberly Pigford worked on the project in Fall 2012 when she was an M.Ed. student in Science Education at NC State. She currently is a doctoral student in Science Education.