Research/Areas of Interest
Elissa is particularly interested using open-ended, client-centered problems to bring engineering to elementary and middle school students, exploring ways that students with different learning styles and interests can become excited by and access engineering. Supporting teachers as they bring engineering with messy, ill-defined problems into their classrooms is another interest.
Education
MEd from Tufts University with a focus on engineering education
MEd in Special Education from Virginia Commonwealth University
BA in Psychology from University of Richmond
Biography
Before coming to the Center, Elissa was a classroom teacher, working with high school students with special needs. She began working with the CEEO in 1999 while teaching at a local school, bringing engineering into her English classroom. The following year she entered Tufts as a graduate student at the Center, taking classes in engineering and education, and received a MEd Excited by the Center's work and mission, Elissa continued working at the Center.
CEEO Responsibilities:
Elissa is Director of Outreach and works to provide schools, teachers, other organizations and students with engineering design opportunities. As Director of Outreach, she also oversees STOMP and the Design and Engineering Workshops. Elissa is also program manager for Integrating Engineering and Literacy, a DRK-12 project funded by the NSF.