Dr. Merrie Koester is a veteran science teacher and educational researcher, specializing in socially empowering, youth based participatory action research. Her work is focused on building practice partnerships between higher education, schools, community programs, and civic leaders to effect positive change in historically underserved schools and communities. Since 2016, Dr. Koester has directed a community outreach effort called Kids Teaching Flood Resilience, which positions youth in flood-prone communities as resources of knowledge and flood resilience.

Specializing in arts-based science pedagogies, Dr. Koester facilitates a wide array of STEAM professional development training and is the author of a series of science education novels and curriculum for middle grade readers. Her text, Science Teachers Who Draw: The Red Is Always There, narrates the journey of five science teachers who explored with their students and Dr. Koester the theory and practice of teaching science through drawing and visual thinking.