Stories

Civic Science Fellow Jessica Vaden bridges science and community for inclusive climate education 

Jessica Vaden describes her work at The Franklin Institute science museum as “doing science for the people, with the people.” As the Institute’s inaugural Civic Science Fellow, she’s creating tools and resources to help middle-school teachers in Pennsylvania create environmental and climate lessons rooted in local issues.  

Though she had never heard the term before, civic science turned out to be a natural fit for Jessica that draws on lessons learned during her journey from a childhood in the suburbs of Philadelphia to a Ph.D. program in civil and environmental engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. 

Growing up, Jessica never doubted she belonged in science. “My mom, a Black woman in STEM, was my first science role model,” she says. “So science never felt out of reach for me.”  

Driven by curiosity, she took part in environmental projects and science fairs. She quickly discovered a passion for environmental science and community justice. In high school, when a teacher suggested she explore environmental engineering, she realized how math, science, and real-world action could all fit together in one career. “When my teacher explained environmental engineering, it was like all the pieces came together.”  

The path crystallized further when her mother watched a “60 Minutes” television special about the Meyerhoff Scholars, a program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) that aims to increase the diversity of leaders in STEM. At an on-campus event for applicants, Jessica says she found her people. “They’re all science and math nerds like me, they look like me, and they care about their community.”  

At UMBC, Jessica’s research on air quality in Baltimore day-care centers offered her a taste of civic science. “That was my first peek into what I eventually came to know as environmental justice,” she says. “You can measure something, interpret that data, and then take it back to who’s being affected, equipping them with knowledge about their environment—doing science with the community, not just on the community.”  

Creating inclusive classrooms 

For the first time in her academic career, Jessica faced real challenges—particularly with organic chemistry. “I was able to understand it, and I was even able to teach people,” she says. “But the way that I understood it and could explain it on exams just wasn’t the way they wanted to see it. It became this translation block, which then turned into testing anxiety and mental health issues I had never really faced before.”  

Jessica was still trying to pass her organic chemistry requirement when she started her graduate program at the University of Pittsburgh. But her new colleagues rallied around her. “The people at Pitt were like, ‘We want you to be here and we’re going to figure it out and support you along the way,’” she says.  

The experience planted seeds for her future work. When her graduate advisor suggested an engineering education project helping faculty create more inclusive classrooms, Jessica jumped at the chance. “As somebody who faced academic challenges while also being a Black woman in STEM, I could be a part of making engineering teachers better teachers,” she says. “That sounded amazing.”  

Her commitment to accessible, community-driven education deepened through a partnership with a girls’ school in Kenya affected by pollution from a nearby sugar cane factory. Working with students and teachers, they developed a curriculum for students to measure air quality over time. They identified practical interventions such as entry mats that reduce tracked-in pollution and filtering screens for windows. 

“It was about connecting data and action,” Jessica says. The solutions were modest but meaningful—exactly what the community could implement and maintain.   

Tools for teachers  

When Jessica reached out to Darryl Williams at The Franklin Institute for an informational interview about career paths beyond academia, he told her about the Civic Science Fellowship program. She’d never heard the term before, but as he described it, she realized she’d been doing “civic science” all along—from her work on environmental justice in Pittsburgh to the air quality project in Kenya. “It really defines the type of scientist and engineer that I am,” she says.  

Her Fellowship project was perfectly timed. Pennsylvania is rolling out new environmental literacy and sustainability education standards this fall, distinct from science standards adopted in other states, so there were hardly any resources to help teachers with implementation in the classroom. 

Jessica and her team gathered 11 Philadelphia-area middle school teachers for monthly sessions exploring place-based civic science education. Teachers shared neighborhood environmental challenges—from storm surges overwhelming the city’s sewer system to contaminants in schools to food insecurity.   

“We’d dig into what ‘place-based’ actually means, which is teaching science not as abstract facts, but as something rooted in local stories,” Jessica says. “The real air, water, and challenges your students live with.”  

Jessica worked with the teachers and three community partners to create practical tools: a Philadelphia Story Bank linking local stories to environmental concepts, lesson-planning storyboards connecting local issues to state standards, detailed unit guides, and student-facing slide decks.  

Every resource was shaped by the in-classroom experience of the teachers. “Unlike academic research, where everything is planned in advance, this was building the plane while flying it,” she says. “We didn’t know exactly what we would make. We changed direction whenever teacher feedback showed we needed to.”  

A pivotal moment came during a hands-on excursion to a nearby green space. “We brought teachers out to see how they might build lessons from a real, local site,” Jessica recalls. The spark in their eyes signaled this had become more than a professional development workshop. It was an awakening to the possibilities right outside their classroom windows.  

“Teachers were genuinely excited when they realized they could connect what’s required by standards to what’s actually happening in their neighborhoods,” she says. “That connection—between formal education and lived experience—is what gets students invested, and what makes teachers feel powerful, too.”  

Jessica and the team at The Franklin Institute are now organizing a website to house these resources, discussing potential professional development opportunities with the School District of Philadelphia, plotting out a possible session at a city-wide teachers’ conference, and working to share tools across Pennsylvania and beyond.   

“The standards are new for everyone,” she says, “so we want to meet teachers where they are, and make it as easy as possible for them to bring local and relevant environmental science into their classrooms.” More broadly, these tools model how science education in any town can start with community knowledge rather than abstract concepts.  

Jessica sees museums like The Franklin Institute as particularly powerful partners for this work. “Museums have been doing civic science work since before it emerged as a field, and continue to be a trusted source of information for the public,” she says. “You’re learning through play and through wonder and awe” rather than traditional classroom instruction. This creates lasting impact for families, students, and communities.  

Strength in community 

Jessica’s embrace of collaboration extends to her experience with the Civic Science Fellows program, which creates an unusual dynamic. “What I found the most fascinating is that none of us are doing the same thing,” Jessica says. Unlike traditional academic cohorts working on similar projects, each Fellow pursues entirely different work, united by a shared belief that science is strengthened by the inclusion and expertise of communities affected by it.  

“We’re all boundary spanners,” she says. “You’re not just an engineer. You’re not just an educator. You’re all of these different things, all at the same time.” This diversity becomes a strength: “We’re all able to feed into each other, using and sharing from all those different identities as well.”  

Central to Jessica’s approach is recognizing expertise beyond academic credentials. “I have degrees, and that’s wonderful. But that doesn’t mean I’m the only expert in the room,” she says. “There might be an 80-year-old grandmother at the end of the block who sits on her porch every day and can tell you exactly what’s going on. That’s the true expert in your community.”  

Place-based civic science starts with people, Jessica says “What are people experiencing? And then what is the science behind that? Science isn’t just something that I’m learning in school, it isn’t just something that’s happening around me.”  

This way of thinking is critical for aspiring civic scientists. “Open your eyes to what’s actually happening around you,” she says. “Lead with people first. Basic science is so, so important. However, we’re innovating for people to live better lives. When you take people out of the equation, you may end up with things we don’t actually need.”  

This philosophy extends to encouraging young scientists in general, especially those who don’t fit traditional academic molds. “Your path doesn’t have to be linear. You don’t have to have all these degrees or be the richest person in the world. The way the world says it has to go, you don’t have to do it that way to have the success or impact you’re looking for.”  

Jessica is a member of the 2024-25 Civic Science Fellows cohort. Her Fellowship is supported by the Rita Allen Foundation.