Melissa Hemling Pulaski, WI | 7-12, Science, 2009

The official biography below was current at the time of the award.

Melissa Hemling has enthusiastically taught high school Biology, Physical Science, Chemistry, and Advanced Placement Chemistry for 7 years in the McFarland, Pulaski, and, most recently, Oregon school districts of Wisconsin. Melissa is credited with making her classroom engaging, fun, and meaningful while also increasing enrollment in her classes and significantly improving test scores. She has a passion for bringing cutting-edge science into the classroom. She has participated in classroom research with Quantum artificial intelligence tutors and piloted a science curriculum for the national Pharmacology Education Project. Melissa spent five summers engaging inner-city students in science research with the Pre-college Enrollment Opportunity Program for Learning Excellence. She helped create nanotechnology museum exhibits and developed nanotechnology curriculums for inner-city schools, which were published in the journal Science Scope. As only 1 of 24 High School Process-Orientated Guided Inquiry Learning Initiative curriculum writers, Melissa is helping lead inquiry science reform nationwide. Melissa has a B.S. in Secondary Education and an M.S. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is certified in 6-12 biology, chemistry, and science.

• High-resolution version of the official portrait photograph
• Awardee holding Presidential certificate between NSF Director Subra Suresh and OSTP Director John P. Holdren
• High-resolution version of the teacher profile photograph

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