Fenna D. Hanes

Senior Director of Professional & Resource Development, New England Board of Higher
Education, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Country of birth: Netherlands

Educational background: MS Public Affairs, McCormack Institute, University of Massachusetts; BS Liberal Arts and Business Management, Northeastern University

A typical work day
I am the project manager and principal investigator for curriculum and professional development projects in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education projects funded by National Science Foundation grants and other sources.
My work entails recruiting high school and college STEM teachers and faculty from around the country, managing the projects' professional development activities, and providing support services that facilitate implementation of the new instructional materials into the classrooms. I recruit and interface with industry professionals, industry associations such as SPIE, as well as government and non-profit agencies that are eager to
support education activities.

What I enjoy most
I like the multifaceted aspects of my work that include managing the project so that my content expert co-principal investigators can concentrate on their curriculum and professional development activities; conducting outreach to recruit new educators and developing new collaborations with
industry and other partners; and seeing our projects' participants implement the new instructional materials so that more students will be STEM literate and will pursue education and careers in STEM fields.

Words of wisdom
I was in high school before women were encouraged to consider STEM careers and pursued a business and education track instead. However, those experiences made it possible for me to develop a meaningful career in support of photonics and STEM education. I believe that to be successful,
education projects need a multi-disciplinary team including content experts, education specialists, and managers.