Headshot photo of Emily Weiss

Emily Weiss (Co-PI) is the head of Youth STEM Pathways at the Lawrence Hall of Science with over twenty years of teaching experience, both in school-based and out-of-school settings. She is committed to expanding access to high quality, immersive learning experiences for historically marginalized youth in ways that highlight the relevance of science to their communities, and empower youth with the skills to affect change in personally meaningful ways including through the pursuit of STEM and STEM-adjacent careers. Ms. Weiss works with teachers, schools, school districts, and university faculty around California, the US, and internationally to improve the quality of science instruction for all students. She has particular expertise in the convergence of science and literacy instruction, especially in scientific argumentation, as well as ocean and climate science. She has served as a Principal Investigator or Project Director on multiple federally funded projects related to the creation and iteration of models for district science improvement, professional learning, teacher leadership development, and partnerships between university labs and school districts. She is an author of several ocean and climate science curriculum materials for grades K-12, as well as the designer of a wide range of ocean and climate science outreach activities. Ms. Weiss has co-developed and run several ocean and climate science-themed residential learning programs for teens at marine laboratories and on college campuses.  She has also taught and co-developed university courses on ocean and climate science communication, in addition to pre-service science and mathematics teacher courses. In 2021, the UC Berkeley Academic Senate Committee awarded Ms. Weiss with an award for Extraordinary Teaching in Extraordinary Times. Ms. Weiss is the former President of the Southwest Marine Educators Association. Prior to her work in science and science education, Ms. Weiss was a middle school literacy specialist. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Policy from Brown University, a Masters in Education in Language and Literacy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a Masters in Marine Biology from Boston University.