Amanda Baskett

Amanda Dyann Baskett is the Director of Rockdale Magnet School for Science and Technology in Conyers, Georgia. Before becoming an administrator she taught Scientific Research and Microbiology to 9th-12th graders. She is passionate about helping students experience hands-on science and serves as a co-director for the Rockdale Regional Science and Engineering Fair. She was a founding teacher for Georgia Tech’s K-12 InVenture Prize, an innovation competition for Georgia schools that now reaches over 5,000 students each year. This will be her thirteenth summer organizing a summer STEAM camp for rising fifth grade students.

She received the Georgia Junior Science and Humanities Symposium’s Science Teacher Award in 2012 and was selected by her peers as Teacher of the Year for 2012-2013. She served as a board member, research committee chair, and awards chair for the National Consortium of Secondary STEM Schools. She co-authored an article on computational biology education that was published in the August 2013 issue of Science and has presented her research at the American Society of Microbiology and the National Association for Gifted Children annual meetings.

Amanda graduated with highest honors from the Georgia Institute of Technology where she served as editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, The Technique. She earned her masters of curriculum and instruction in science education from the University of Texas Arlington. She is the proud mom of six-year-old Evelynne who loves reading and building original Lego creations. Amanda and her husband, Kenny, do their best to keep up with Evey as she investigates new things everyday.