Marianna Ruggerio

Rockford, IL | 7-12, Science, 2023

What motivates you to contribute to excellence in STEM teaching?

Inspired by passionate, expert teachers—including PAEMST awardees—who modeled excellence in content and pedagogy, I recognized early the power of impactful teaching. Their ability to elevate both students and peers inspired my own work. In short, as a novice teacher I aspired to one day become that type of professional educator. Now, as a teacher-leader, I’m motivated by the ripple effect of my contributions—supporting educators, improving student outcomes, and uplifting our broader community.

What has been the most transformative moment that affirmed your impact on STEM education?

The most transformative moments are where I am engaged in community. Notably my participation and leadership in the NSF-funded Illinois and Secondary Schools Partnership with the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. During the summer we meet for two weeks to learn and grow together. During those weeks I'm able to take the best from my own experiences and trainings and train fellow teachers of physics, including new and out of field teachers. This directly impacts roughly 4000 students each school year. In my classroom I have 2-6 students each year who choose to pursue a physics bacholers. Nationally 20% of physics majors are female, but 50-60% of my former students who choose physics are female, closing the gender gap.

Using your platform as a Presidential Awardee, how do you hope to advance our nation in STEM?

Our nation's advancements in STEM are rooted in the government's financial commitment to research and education. This was most evident during the space race which funded NASA programs to include a wide range of backgrounds and talents and kickstarted many of the gifted and talented programs across the nation. My work as a teacher then, requires the teaching science's history and social impacts, past and present, in order to develop informed citizens who will critically solve problems.

Biography

Marianna Ruggerio has been an educator for 15 years and has spent the last eight years working at Auburn High School in the Rockford Public School District teaching all levels of physics. Prior to that, she taught at East High School in the same district, as well as at Glenbrook South and Mundelein High Schools, both in Illinois, for two years each. She has also taught physics courses for elementary education majors and Psychological Perspectives in Education at Rockford University. As physics teachers are often isolated in their schools, it has been of utmost importance for Marianna to be connected to other physics teachers through social media and writing. Marianna also holds leadership roles with the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) where she serves on the executive board of directors. She is also a fellow with the NSF-funded Illinois and Secondary Schools Partnership (IPaSS) with the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC), where she mentors, trains, and collaborates with teachers of physics across the state of Illinois. Within the classroom, Marianna has created high-quality, evidence-based curricula. She has been recognized by the Illinois section of AAPT's Outstanding High School Teacher Award and its Distinguished Service Citation. Her master's thesis which researched the retention and persistence of Latinas in Physics was awarded Outstanding Research by Rockford University. Marianna has a B.S. in physics from UIUC and an M.Ed. in urban education from Rockford University. She is certified in science education for grades 6-12 and mathematics education for grades 9-12.

High-resolution version of the teacher profile photograph

The views expressed in awardee profiles are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of NSF or the PAEMST program.