Meghan McCleary is a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S.T.E.M.) Educator with University of Illinois Extension. Meghan uses her expertise to provide educators and administrators professional development in science and engineering throughout Cook County.

Meghan works with schools and districts in Cook County to focus on the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Workshops are tailored to fit the needs of the requesting school and are updated often to reflect the growing body of knowledge surrounding the standards. She was a Co-PI for an Illinois State Board of Education Math-Science Partnership Grant, PrIMES (Practices Integrated across Math, Engineering, and Science), and she is actively developing K-12 curriculum through the PAGES (Progressing through the Ages: Global change, Evolution, and Societal well-being) grant and through OpenSciEd.

Meghan graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Bioengineering focusing on therapeutics engineering, drug delivery systems, and biomaterials. During her time at University of Illinois, Meghan taught multiple undergraduate courses including a Cell and Tissue Engineering Laboratory in the Department of Bioengineering and a Biomaterials Laboratory in the Department of Materials Science. She was also an instructor for Girls Adventures in Math, Engineering, and Science (G.A.M.E.S.) Camp, the Illini Summer Academies, and the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) BioNanotechnology Summer Institute.

Meghan is a trained facilitator for the OpenSciEd Middle School Sequence, the Next Gen Science Exemplar System (NGSX), the PLC Next Gen Storylines platform, the Lawrence Hall of Science Reflecting on Practice program, and the Exploratorium's Fundamentals of Inquiry program. She is currently a member of the National Science Teaching Association, the North American Association for Environmental Education, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Program Offerings

Meghan offers a variety of educational programming catered to the best practices of K-12 science education. Her professional development programs are typically facilitated in an extended format (3-5 days) where teachers take a deep dive into what 3-dimensional learning actually looks like and discuss implementation strategies for their own classrooms. Workshops focused on NGSS-designed curriculum development and programs for educational leaders are also available.