Rebecca Vieyra

Headshot of a young woman named Rebecca Vieryra

Rebecca Vieyra

Fellowship Placement: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Cohort: 2014-2015

Prior to her Fellowship, Rebecca Vieyra taught high school physics, physical science, and engineering in Illinois public schools for seven years. She earned a B.S. in Physics Education from Illinois State University, an M.A.S. in Science Education from the Illinois Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D. in Science Education from the University of Maryland-College Park. In 2011, she achieved National Board Teaching Certification in AYA/Science-Physics. In 2013, she was awarded the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching.

During her 2014-2015 Einstein Fellowship placement, Rebecca was at NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate. She served in a curriculum development capacity, leading and authoring three products: NASA's Educator Resource Guide for "Living in the Age of Airplanes" IMAX film (https://bit.ly/4ixykOT), NASA/AAPT Aeronautics for Introductory Physics (https://go.nasa.gov/3EQySkj), and Aeronautics for PreK (https://bit.ly/3ETcHKd). In addition, she served as NASA Coordinator for the Young Researcher Network of the International Forum for Aviation Research. During this time, she published a three-volume work, "Teaching High School Physics" (https://bit.ly/4h023Pc).

Following her Fellowship, Rebecca became the K-12 Program Manager at the American Association of Physics Teachers and later served as lead for the Inter-American Teacher Education Network at the Organization of American States. Currently, she is Director of Global Initiatives at PhET Interactive Simulations, University of Colorado Boulder. Rebecca also serves as co-founder of Vieyra Software (www.vieyrasoftware.net), a company that produces, "Physics Toolbox," free mobile sensors apps for STEM education.