Gretchen Brinza is currently teaching fifth and sixth-grade science in Chicago Public Schools. She has spent her teaching career in various science and engineering teaching positions in grades K-8th. She is always willing to learn more about three-dimensional learning and the positive impact it has on student learning in science. Gretchen participated in the MSU-Urban STEM and Leadership Fellowship. She is a recipient of the 2016 Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (K-6 Science, Illinois) and the 2017 Illinois STEM Educator Award.

Katie Larson, Education Manager at the Alliance for the Great Lakes, works with educators around the Great Lakes region, including Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit and Racine. As a former middle and high school special education teacher, Katie has a passion for empowering youth of all ages and abilities to learn about and connect with the unique places in their community through indoor and outdoor learning experiences. Katie has an M.S.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on Outdoor/Environmental Education. In 2012, she developed the Great Lakes in My World 9-12 curriculum to supplement the Alliance’s existing Great Lakes in My World K-8 curriculum and Adopt-a-Beach shoreline field trip program. Katie previously worked at The Morton Arboretum as an environmental educator, in addition to teaching 6 years in public schools.

Amy McGreal is currently teaching fifth and sixth grade science at Lara Academy in Chicago, IL. Amy is an adjunct professor at Northwestern University, teaching Science Methods for Elementary Teachers, and has partnered with the Next Generation Science Exemplar System for Professional Development (NGSX) to train teachers and administrators. She is passionate about bringing high quality, student driven, phenomena based science experiences to her students.

Michael Novak develops NGSS-designed curriculum materials and professional development for the Next Generation Science Storylines project at Northwestern University. He is currently working on several development teams in the OpenSciEd Developers Consortium to build storyline-based middle school NGSS units and professional development resources. He has also authored instructional units and computational models for the Center for Connected Learning. Novak is a 2014 Golden Apple Fellow and National Board-Certified teacher.