UTD Alumna Earns Statewide Teaching Honor

Emma DeVine BS’19, MAT’21

University of Texas at Dallas alumna Emma DeVine BS’19, MAT’21 has been named Outstanding Rookie Science Teacher of the Year for 2022 by the Science Teachers Association of Texas (STAT).

DeVine, who teaches seventh and eighth grade science at Greenhill School in Addison, Texas, earned a Bachelor of Science in interdisciplinary studies, with a concentration in science education, from the School of Interdisciplinary Studies, and a Master of Arts in Teaching in science education from the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (NSM).

The statewide award recognizes an educator who has been teaching for less than three years and demonstrates creativity in the classroom, excellence in science education and dedication to community involvement.

While at UT Dallas, DeVine participated in UTeach Dallas, an academic program in NSM’s Department of Science/Mathematics Education that allows students to earn their undergraduate degree and teaching certification concurrently. The department also oversees the MAT degree program.

“I am so incredibly grateful to have been named Rookie Science Teacher of the Year for 2022. I share this honor with every mentor, teacher, professor, colleague and administrator who has influenced me for the better in these formative years as a middle school science educator,” DeVine said. “I would have never imagined my career trajectory taking the path it has and especially learning how to teach during a global pandemic, but I am truly humbled and honored to be worthy of this recognition.”

Emma DeVine BS’19, MAT’21, a UT Dallas alumna and middle school science teacher, gets students started using fruit flies to study the endocrine system. Students first breed flies and collect the eggs. They will introduce the larvae to different foods to determine how diet affects metabolism, growth and development.

Earlier this year DeVine completed the STARS (Science Teacher Access to Resources at Southwestern) Summer Research Program for Teachers, an eight-week experience that gives teachers an opportunity to work side by side with a faculty member in a research laboratory at UT Southwestern Medical Center. DeVine’s research focused on applications of the model organism Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies) and identifying specific genes related to metabolism and energy homeostasis, factors that play a role in obesity and diabetes.

“I am passionate about bringing real-world science applications from the research laboratory into the middle school classroom in the form of hands-on, inquiry-based experiences,” DeVine said.

DeVine will receive the STAT award during the organization’s annual Conference for the Advancement of Science Teaching to be held Nov. 10-12 in Dallas.

–Amanda Siegfried