Katy Adams joined the Ecology Center's education team in 2014. Advanced degrees in biology and education complement over 10 years of teaching in classrooms and nature centers, and practical experience as a field ecologist and toxicologist. She has taught students of all ages, from preschool through college. The Network of Michigan Educators nominated Katy as a 2013 Teacher of Promise, she was granted a prestigious Woodrow Wilson Fellowship to support completion of her Master of Science Teaching, and her conservation-based early childhood work has been recognized at three national conferences. Currently she is working toward a doctorate in Ecojustice Education at Eastern Michigan University.
Katy's passion for environmental and social issues began as a child growing up in Detroit and developed through years of international fieldwork, where she explored the diversity and complexity of human impacts on natural systems. Since 2007, Katy has worked to advance science literacy across Michigan through teacher training, curriculum development, and community involvement, collaborating closely with the Michigan Math Science Center Network and local universities. This work has given her a great respect for the creativity and capacity of our teachers. Katy embraces education as an opportunity to preserve and cultivate enthusiasm, resilience, compassion, and innovation -- qualities that are needed to solve the environmental challenges we now face and move us toward healthier, more sustainable ways of living.