Nicole Fernandes (MPP/MS '08), has been awarded a five-year Science Teaching Fellowship by the Knowles Science Teaching Foundation.
Established in 1999 to improve math and science education in the United States, the Knowles Science Teaching Foundation has supported 250 Teaching Fellows over the past ten years, including 35 in 2013. The competitive five-year fellowship is designed to recruit, train, and retain exceptional teacher candidates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
Fernandes earned a bachelor's degree in entomology from the University of California, Riverside, and a dual master's degree in public policy and environmental policy from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and the School of Natural Resources and the Environment. Since graduation in 2008, Fernandes has worked as a program examiner with the Office of Management and Budget in Washington, DC, evaluating natural and cultural resource policy. She hopes to teach biology and environmental science in the Washington, DC area.