CLEAN Leadership Board

Frank Niepold - NOAA, (NOAA Liaison)

Frank Niepold is currently the Climate Education Coordinator at NOAA's Climate Program Office and co-chair of the Climate Education Interagency Working Group at the US Climate Change Science Program. At NOAA, he develops and implements NOAA's Climate goal education and outreach efforts. He is a co-managing author of the 2009 USGCRP-released Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Science, a collaborative effort of NOAA, NSF, NASA, AAAS Project 2061, CIRES, the American Meteorological Society, and various members from both the science and education community to define climate literacy in the United States. He received his MSEd in Earth Space Science Education (2006) from Johns Hopkins University with areas of concentration in Earth Observing Systems, Scientist/Teacher/Student Collaboration, and Earth Systems science education focused on climate.


Anne Gold - CIRES, University of Colorado, Boulder (CLEAN PI)

Anne Gold is the Director of CIRES Education and Outreach and the PI for the Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN). She led the development of the CLEAN peer-review process for educational resources. Anne is an Associate Scientist and geo-education specialist with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES)'s Education and Outreach group. She has conducted climate science research for 6 years and taught many college-level classes, including field camps, and advised M.S. students. She conducts program evaluation and educational research around climate topics. Her projects translate research into educational resources.

Katie Boyd - CIRES, University of Colorado, Boulder (CLEAN Program Manager)

Katie Boyd is the program manager for the Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN). She has been with CLEAN from its beginnings and helped lead the development of the CLEAN peer-review process. She earned her BS from the University of Washington and her MS from Colorado State University (CSU), both in Atmospheric Science. During these programs, she became interested in science education and outreach and worked with many groups helping the general public learn about weather & climate. She then returned to school and completed an interdisciplinary program with a focus on science education research, receiving a second MS in Ecology and Education from CSU. She also works on educational research and evaluation projects for Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences Education & Outreach.

As the CLEAN program manager, Katie manages the CLEAN collection and coordinates the CLEAN review process, she coordinates all CLEAN professional development and other teaching guidance efforts and resources, and she manages the CLEAN website. She works with the CLEAN Coordinator to help manage the CLEAN Network and provide continuity between the Network and other aspects of CLEAN. As the Leadership Board Secretariat she works alongside, and supports, the Co-Chairs to set meeting agendas, coordinate Leadership Board meetings, and track actions of the Leadership Board. She also helps coordinate special Network events, such as but not limited to, AGU, GSA, ESIP, NSTA, and NAAEE sessions.


Gina Fiorile - CIRES, University of Colorado, Boulder (CLEAN Program & Communication Coordinator)

Gina Fiorile is the CLEAN (Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network) Program and Communication Coordinator at CIRES. She holds a B.S. in Environmental Studies from the University of Vermont and an M.A. in Science Communication from George Mason University. In her former roles, she has worked at the U.S. Geological Survey's National Climate Adaptation Science Center as a Science Communication Specialist, at the Center for Climate Change Communication's Program on Climate and Health at George Mason University, and in non-profit climate education and program coordination roles. This work earned her recognition from the EPA and The White House, as a Champion of Change for Climate Education and Literacy. She has served as a US delegate to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change's Conference of Parties at both COP 21 in Paris and COP 26 in Glasgow and is recognized as a "Global 30 Under 30" leader in Environmental Education by the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE). She was recently awarded the Joe Witte Special Recognition in Science Communication Leadership Award and currently serves on the Leadership Board for the CLEAN Network and the Youth Climate Summit Program with The Wild Center, and Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks.


Wendy Abshire - American Meteorological Society

Wendy Abshire is the Education Program Director for the American Meteorological Society. She leads her program in the offering of graduate professional development courses for K-12 educators in weather, ocean, and climate science and the creation of undergraduate curriculum packages on the same topics. Before joining the AMS staff, she was a senior program manager and content developer for UCAR's COMET Program. There, for over 25 years, she led expert teams in the development of interactive education and training in a variety of earth science topics, including climate education. In addition to publishing globally respected materials for the MetEd website, she also served as the classroom coordinator for continuing education for atmospheric science professionals and passionately engaged in science education and outreach. Wendy is a graduate of the University of Wyoming with an MS in Atmospheric Science and a BS in Meteorology from Metropolitan State University.


Rebecca Anderson - Alliance for Climate Education

Rebecca Anderson has been a member of the CLEAN Network since its inception in 2008. Rebecca manages ACE's Education Program including the online climate education resource, Our Climate Future, and the ACE Teacher Network. Rebecca holds a BA in Geoscience from Williams College and an MS in Geological Sciences from the University of Colorado at Boulder where her research focused on ice caps on Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic. She has also worked as an interpretive ranger for the National Park Service and as an ice core technician on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Ice Core Drilling Project.


Jessica Bean - University of California, Berkeley, Museum of Paleontology

Jessica Bean is the leader of the Understanding Global Change Project at the Museum of Paleontology at UC Berkeley. She designs tools for learning about the Earth as a dynamic, interconnected system. Jessica studies the effects of environmental change on marine invertebrates along the California coast, has taught college and graduate level biology and Earth science courses, and partners with K-12 educators to develop and implement new tools for learning about the nature and process of science and climate change. Previously, she ran an NSF Graduate STEM Fellows in K-12 Education Program at the University of California, Davis, where she received her Ph.D. in Earth and Planetary Sciences.


Devarati Bhattacharya - School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska

Dr. Devarati Bhattacharya is a K-16 STEM Education Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska. Her work focuses on advancing the understanding of the Anthropocene among teachers through STEM curriculum, teacher education and professional development, and education research. Building upon her background in environmental science, and ecology and her doctoral work focused on secondary science teachers' conceptual understanding of global climate change, Bhattacharya engages in STEM curriculum development, implementation, and assessment to foster students' conceptual and epistemological understanding of the Earth's climate.


Don Haas - Paleontological Research Institute

Dr. Don Haas (formerly, Don Duggan-Haas) is the Director of Teacher Programming at The Paleontological Research Institution and its Museum of the Earth & Cayuga Nature Center in Ithaca, NY. He is a past president of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers, and a nationally regarded expert in climate and energy education, place-based and technology-rich Earth and environmental science education. He is co-author of the books, The Teacher-Friendly Guide to Climate Change and The Science Beneath the Surface: A Very Short Guide to the Marcellus Shale.


Jen Kretser - The Wild Center

Jen Kretser is the Director of Programs & the Youth Climate Initiative for The Wild Center – a science center in Adirondack Park in northern New York State. Jen manages The Wild Center's climate change engagement programs including the Youth Climate Program which was highlighted by the former White House Office of Science and Technology; interpretive programs for visitors; green building education & design; the farmers market and other climate-related initiatives/partnerships. In December 2015 Jen represented the Wild Center and the Association of Science-Technology Centers at the UN COP 21 climate talks in Paris and is working to help seed youth climate summits around the world. Jen is an active member of the Climate Reality Project and has been involved in CLEAN for 3 years. Jen is a graduate of Cornell University in Wildlife Ecology & Antioch University in M.S. Environmental Science & Education.


Tamara Shapiro Ledley - Sustaining Science, STEM Education Consultant

Dr. Tamara Shapiro Ledley is a STEM education consultant and Earth and climate scientist. She was a 2017 Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative Fellow where she explored her interests in making climate change education efforts scalable and financially sustainable and leveraging these efforts to enable all climate change stakeholders to align efforts to address the local impacts of climate change. She served as a senior scientist and chair of the Center for STEM Teaching and Learning at TERC and was chair of the CLEAN Network from 2008-2016. She holds a Ph.D. in meteorology and has published 30 scientific research papers on climate science and Earth system science and 40 papers on educational efforts on those topics. She has led the development of the following Earth system science and climate change educational resources: Earth Exploration Toolbook (EET, http://serc.carleton.edu/eet; EarthLabs (http://serc.carleton.edu/earthlabs; and the CLEAN Collection (http://cleanet.org). more ...


Deb Morrison - the University of Washington, College of Education

Deb Morrison, Ph.D., is a collaborative design-based educator-researcher engaged in disrupting racism and other forms of intersectional oppression, specifically in the area of climate literacy and action. Her work connects across education (teaching and learning climate change, justice, and action in K-12 and community-based education settings), communication (around climate literacy and justice), and outreach (collaborations with scientists in education and community-based settings). She is a learning scientist at the Institute of Science and Math Education within the College of Education at the University of Washington. Deb's research interests are in environmental justice, literacy, and action, particularly around climate change topics. In her position as a white science educator and researcher, Deb believes that praxis is a personal responsibility and seeks to engage in ethical research and its translation into practice. In terms of place, Deb is located in the Salish Sea region of North America, working across both British Columbia, Canada, and Washington state, U.S. More about Deb can be found at http://www.debmorrison.me. Follow her at @educatordeb.


Kristen Poppleton - Climate Generation: A Will Steger Legacy

Kristen Poppleton has been a member of the CLEAN network since 2010. Kristen is the Director of Programs at Climate Generation: A Will Steger Legacy. Climate Generation empowers individuals and their communities to engage in solutions to climate change. Kristen holds a BA in Biology and Hispanic Studies from St. Olaf College, a Med in Environmental Education, and a MS in Conservation Biology from the University of Minnesota where she researched climate change education and communication.


Billy Spitzer - Hitchcock Center for the Environment

Dr. William (Billy) Spitzer is the ExecutiveDirector of the Hitchcock Center for the Environment, an environmental education center in Amherst, MA working at the intersection of climate change, sustainability, and environmental justice. He is a member of the coordinating team for the US Action for Climate Empowerment Coalition (www.usacecoalition.org) and an advisor to the Blue Hill Observatory and Science Center. He is the former Vice President for Learning and Community at the New England Aquarium, where he was responsible for applying learning and social science research across education programs, exhibits, visitor experience, and community outreach for more than 20 years. He has served as Principal Investigator for numerous informal science education projects funded by the NSF, NOAA, IMLS, and EPA. These include a series of projects focused on public engagement in climate change, including the National Network for Ocean and Climate Change Interpretation. He has been recognized by the White House as a Champion of Change for Engaging the Next Generation of Conservation Leaders and has received a Visionary Award from the Gulf of Maine Council for innovation, creativity, and commitment to marine protection. He holds a Ph.D. in Oceanography from MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.