Luke Conely

Pullman High School, Pullman WA

Luke is a high school biology teacher in Pullman, WA who has been in education for over 15 years. Luke and his teaching partner Liv Craine use phenomenon-based science teaching, along with a focus on Science and Engineering Practices, to help train young people to think and act like scientists regardless of what their future careers might be. When he’s not at work, Luke loves spending time with his wife and 7-year-old son. His family loves to get outside to hike, fish, skateboard, read, camp, and play sports. Luke is also a musician who plays the bass and drums.

Kim Alvin De Lara

Harford Sylvia Encinas Elementary School, Chandler AZ

Kim Alvin De Lara is an elementary gifted/STEM teacher with 14 years of experience teaching in Title I urban schools. Passionate about STEM, environmental education, and sustainability, he empowers students to explore innovative solutions to real-world challenges while fostering curiosity, creativity, and leadership in the classroom. He is a Department of Defense (DoD) STEM Ambassador 2025, a RESET intern (Research Experiences for STEM Educators and Teachers), and the 2025 recipient of the Arizona Environmental Educator of the Year award.

Carolyn Peterson

Warrenton Grade School, Warrenton OR

Carolyn has an eclectic teaching experience. She’s taught science at a large science center, after school programs, homeschool co-ops, a private school, and in public schools. She’s taught in California, Washington, and now Oregon. 11 years were spent teaching high school Chemistry and Physics. Now she’s in her second year teaching STEAM to kindergarten through second grade! Through it all, her passion is igniting scientific curiosity and creativity in her students.

Liv Craine

Science Teacher, Pullman High School, Pullman WA

Liv teaches science at Pullman High School in the beautiful Palouse region of Eastern Washington, where she is in her sixth year of teaching. She loves teaching biology because it is all about patterns, connections, and intricately complicated understandings. There often aren’t straightforward “answers” to complex questions, and she loves building lessons where students are challenged to think deeply.

Before becoming a science teacher, Liv had a wide range of experiences working in biological research. During her undergraduate at the University of North Carolina she studied soil microbial ecosystems in old growth rainforests in Costa Rica. She also worked for the Eastern Nevada Landscape Coalition surveying rangelands recovering post-wildfire. Additionally, she completed a research internship at the Archbold Biological Station in Venus, Florida, where she worked in the Plant Ecology Lab and conducted a study on wiregrass (Aristida stricta) regrowth after prescribed burns.

When she’s not in the classroom, Liv loves reading, cooking, playing tennis, and spending time with her husband and their almost one year old daughter.

Acer Pitas

Big Country Educational Cooperative (BCEC), Miles City MT

Acer is a special education teacher with over a decade of experience. With advanced
training in early childhood and mathematics education, Acer’s goal is to help students build
confidence and resilience, leading to stronger engagement and achievement in the classroom. Acer empowers students through initiatives that nurture personal growth and encourage them to contribute meaningfully to their communities. At the state and national level, Acer advances the field by sharing educator resources, reviewing research, and evaluating educational content standards and assessments to support effective teaching practices.

Wendy McKenzie

Natural Resources CTE Teacher, Network Charter School, Eugene OR

Wendy (she/they) has taught science and literature with Network Charter School since its founding in 2003 and has worked with Nearby Nature since 1995. Wendy earned BAs in Environmental Studies and Philosophy from the University of Oregon while working as a Park Host. In Wendy’s NCS classes, students develop a keen appreciation of the natural world as well as a clear understanding of the many threats that face it. Recently Wendy has started a Natural Resources CTE Program with NCS and a Community Science Program at Nearby Nature. She believes that hands-on work and observations in nature is where humans can truly learn (and re-learn) wonder. Wendy has served for many years as an Administrative Co-Director for NCS, and as an Administrative Assistant for Nearby Nature’s other programs. She is the mother of the best co-teacher, a Great Pyrenees named Juniper. And in the limited time she is not Nature Nerding on the trails and water, she is playing games and creating with friends or reading sci-fi/fantasy.

Rama Devagupta

Southridge High School, Kennewick WA

Rama Devagupta has been an educator for 17+ years. She has spent the last 12 years at Southridge High School teaching Biology, Honors Biology, Advanced Placement Biology, and Forensics to students of all grades. She previously taught Biology, Environmental Science, and Physical Science at Three Rivers HomeLink, and Earth Science and Physical Science at Highlands Middle School. She has also been an adjunct chemistry faculty at Columbia Basin College for the last 15 years.

Rama’s infectious passion for science and search for knowledge led her to seek professional learning opportunities that enrich student learning. She worked at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in 2018 and 2019 as a Murdock Partners in Science Teacher and used the supplemental grant funds to purchase Vernier Go Direct Sensors to empower her students with data incorporation technology.

Rama is a recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (2023). Rama received the 2024-2026 Hutch Fellowship for Excellence in STEM Teaching, 2024 Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms Program Fellowship, 2024 STEM Research Grant from Society for Science, 2024 Outstanding Biology Teacher Award, and the 2023 Washington Education Association Human & Civil Rights Commission International Peace & Understanding Award. Rama was a semifinalist for the 2024 and 2025 Albert Einstein Distinguished Fellowship Award and a semifinalist for the 2025 Shell Science Teaching Award. She also received the 2023 Fund for Teachers Fellowship and 2022 National Education Association Foundation Global Learning Fellowship.

Rama is National Board Certified in adolescent and young adult science with endorsements in biology and chemistry. She earned her B.S. in chemistry, botany, and zoology, her M.S. in chemistry from Ravishankar University, and her Ph.D. in bioorganic chemistry from Texas A&M University. She serves the educational community as a member of the Washington Education Association’s National Board Certified Teachers Leadership Cadre and board member of the Washington Science Teachers Association.

Rama is also an artist, a freelance writer on comparative spirituality, Neural Ed champion, and Heartfulness meditation trainer. She is currently getting trained to become a Heartful Communications facilitator.