Denise Wright

Denise Wright

Fellowship Placement: U.S. Department of Defense
Hometown: Myrtle Beach, SC

Denise Wright, is a STEM educator in Horry County Schools located in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. For the past twenty five years, she has taught middle school Earth and Space Science, STEM, and Life Science. In her state online high school program, VirtualSC, she has taught Astronomy, Earth Science, and Computer Science.  She graduated with both her Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Biology and Master’s in Science Education from East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania.  Denise is a recent Astronomy Educator in Chile Ambassador , (ACEAP) , during this experience she visited some of the largest ground based astronomical observatories in the world, viewed the constellations and stars in the southern sky, and learned about the latest research and technology in the field of astronomy. In her local community she founded Grand Strand Astronomers and is passionate about public astronomy outreach. She is a STEM coach and her students were national finalists in 2020, 2021, for the Ecybermission STEM competition, sponsored by the Army Education Outreach Program. Denise  has written many educational STEM grants, is an ISTE Certified Educator, and has written several journal articles for the National Science Teachers Association, Science Scope Magazine. She has presented at K12 space education conferences for teacher professional development,  throughout the United States and internationally (Space Educator’s Explorers, National Science Teaching Association, Shaw-IAU Workshop for Astronomy Education, and Astronomical Society of the Pacific) . She has received awards for her excellence in teaching from the National STEM Scholars Program, Computer Science Technology Association, and was a former nominee for National Online Teacher of the Year. As a newly selected Einstein fellow she hopes to explore strategies and experiences for including more students of underrepresented groups in STEM education.