Melissa George
National Science Foundation
Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Environmental Biology
Indiana, Middle School Science
Melissa George has taught middle school science for 15 years, most recently in the diverse city school system of Lafayette, Indiana. During this time, George coordinated student competition in the Indiana Science Academic Super Bowl and in Purdue University’s Regional Science Fair, helping her students earn honors and scholarships.
Growing up in Santa Cruz, California, George spent her childhood on the beach and in the foggy redwood forests where she learned to appreciate nature. She earned both a B.S. in Biology and a teaching certificate from Santa Clara University. George earned both her M.S. and Ph.D. in Science Education from Purdue University.
During her master’s level graduate work, George taught Elementary Science Methods and her dissertation explored teacher research in her middle school science classroom during a unit on magnetism and electricity. George’s dissertation was a finalist for the National Association of Research in Science Teaching Outstanding Dissertation Award in 2007.
George is a liaison for multiple Purdue STEM education outreach projects including the Indiana Interdisciplinary GK-12 Extension; Next Generation Scholars; Computer Engineering Outreach; English Language Learners’ Multimodal Discourse in Science; Exploring Magnetism through Nanotechnology; and the National Science Foundation’s GK-12, GK-12 in Mainland China, and Making Sense of Climate Change through Collaborative Research. The Lilly Foundation and Public Schools Foundation awarded George grants that she used to obtain classroom supplies that allowed for students’ modeling and testing of local ecosystems, collaborating with art teachers to create a periodic table tile mural, and providing the opportunity for students to communicate like scientists in the classroom using technology and presentations. George was awarded the Lilly Endowment Teacher Creativity Fellowship in 2008 which enabled her to study ecological sustainability in the Hawaiian Islands. In 2004, 2005 and 2010, George was honored with the Director’s Award for Outstanding Effort in Support of Science Teachers from the Lafayette Regional Science and Engineering Fair and in 2006 she received the Golden Apple Teaching Award from the Lafayette, Indiana Chamber of Commerce.
Melissa embraces the reflection orientation that focuses on the ways effective teachers cyclically reflect on the development, practice, and evaluation of their teaching to meet the needs and experiences of their students. “Students revere true teachers because they transmit love that changes lives and perceptions and opens up new ideas to them. I aspire to be the type of teacher who rouses her students to love their world and to appreciate science, learning and themselves.”
George is serving her fellowship at the National Science Foundation, Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Environmental Biology.