Bertha Vazquezis a retired science teacher who taught middle school for 34 years in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. She is currently the education director at The Center for Inquiry, an international nonprofit organization that promotes reason and science. Her multi-faceted approach to teaching climate science has been featured in the New York Times, NPR, Earth magazine, and in a book and film series by Lynne Cherry titled, Empowering Young Voices for the Planet. Her efforts awarded her many recognitions, including the 2008 National Environmental Education Charles C. Bartlett Award, the 2017 National Association of Biology Teachers Evolution Education Award, and the National Center for Science Educations 2023 Friend of Darwin Award. She is the editor and contributing author of the book, On Teaching Evolution, published in 2021 and the author of several peer-reviewed journal articles. Ms. Vazquez has also worked on several translation projects, including the translation of Maria Jinich''s book into English, A Brief History of Four Billion Years of Evolution: Understanding Darwin.
Kimi Waiteis an Assistant Professor of Child and Family Studies at California State University, Los Angeles. She has a multiple subjects teaching credential from the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, an M.Ed. from UCLA, and a Ph.D. in Sustainability Education from Prescott College. Her professional praxis is situated at the intersections of environmental justice education, geography, critical pedagogy, and social studies. An Asian American educator-activist-scholar with more than 10 years of teaching experience, she has received both national and state recognition for her leadership in environmental education, social studies, and climate change education.
She is an early career fellow with the UCLA Center for Diverse Leadership in Science; the 2021 California Council for the Social Studies Outstanding Elementary Social Studies Teacher of the Year; a 2021 Public Voices Fellow on the Climate Crisis with the OpEd Project and the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication; and a 2019 Environmental Education 30 Under 30, awarded by the North American Association for Environmental Education. Since 2019, she has been a steering committee member for California''s statewide climate change initiative, the Environmental and Climate Change Literacy Projects (ECCLPS). Her work has been published by outlets such as PBS, The Boston Globe, Grist, Ms. Magazine, The Progressive Magazine, The Journal of Curriculum & Pedagogy and more. Lauren Maddenis a Professor of Elementary Science Education at The College of New Jersey. She holds a BA in Earth Sciences-Oceanography, MS in Marine Science and PhD in Science Education. In recent years, her work has focused directly on K-5 climate change education, and she was the lead author on the New Jersey School Boards'' Association & Sustainable Jersey For Schools'' Report on K-12 Climate Change Education Needs in New Jersey. Her work advocates for scientific literacy and the health of our planet through teaching and learning.
Her research has been supported by grants from the New Jersey SeaGrant Consortium, National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. She has written a textbook on Elementary Science Teaching Methods along with more than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters. Her expertise has been cited widely in media venues including the New York Times, Washington Post, and PBS Weekend News Hour. She was named the 2021 Outstanding Science Teacher Educator of the Year by the Association for Science Teacher Education and served as the inaugural iCAN STEM Role Model Award by the New Jersey STEM Pathways Network.