Meet the Team

Kathy Chen joined The STEM Education Center at WPI after 15+ years as a professor in Materials Engineering at California Polytechnic (Cal Poly) State University, San Luis Obispo where she served as Department Chair and lead many K-12 and community STEM outreach activities. In her current role to support PreK-12 STEM educators, she works to broaden the participation of students in STEM (especially those from underrepresented and excluded groups) by advancing equity in education through holistic and innovative approaches. She also currently leads the Central MA STEM Network.At Cal Poly, she ...

Amy Blessington is the Operations Coordinator at the WPI STEM Education Center, where she brings 19 years of experience in educational publishing, project management, and event coordination. Beyond her professional life, Amy is passionate about making a positive impact. She volunteers with organizations like the Girl Scouts and Veteran’s Inc., demonstrating her commitment to leadership, community development, and building a brighter future for all.

Jillian DiBonaventura joined the STEM Education Center at WPI as the Director of Teacher Preparation in 2022. Her extensive and varied background within the field of education include rich experiences as a classroom educator for middle-level Science and before coming to WPI, she served as the Coordinator of Teacher Education for Smith College.Jillian began her career teaching Music (K-12) for the Worcester Public Schools (WPS) before transitioning into Science education, which she taught for 10 years between the Worcester and Wachusett Regional ...

Mia Dubosarsky is the Director of Professional Development. In this role, she oversees the development and facilitation of STEM-focused professional development workshops for PK-12 teachers and administrators across the country and internationally. Mia has been a science and STEM educator for more than 25 years. Early in her career, she founded and managed a science education enrichment enterprise for young children, called Discoveries, which engaged children in exploring science phenomena through stories, games, and experiments. Mia also led the collaborative development of Seeds ...

Noemi Robertson joined the STEM Education Center as the Director of Community Partnerships & Education Access in October 2022. Noemi is responsible for building and managing relationships in the local community to support teaching experiences for the WPI Teacher Preparation Program and PreK-12 STEM learning opportunities. She promotes and supports PreK-12 teachers in developing relevant and inclusive STEM curriculum and instructional practices. Additionally, she supports the Mass Academy of Math & Sciences in sustaining existing partnerships and building new ones to ...

Prior to joining the STEM Education Center full time in 2018, Donna was a classroom teacher with 15 years of teaching experience. She holds National Board Certification in Early Adolescence Science and is a NASA Network of Educator Astronaut Teacher.  She has won several awards for teaching and curriculum development including the Blackstone Valley Educational Consortium Promising Practices in Education Award.  She was named Florida Wildlife Federation Conservation Educator of the Year, the Florida Association of Science Teachers Most Outstanding Science Teacher and the Palm Beach County ...