Melanie Will-Cole has over a decade of college-level teaching experience and has garnered a successful 30-year research career a senior research scientist and Fellow of the US Army Research Laboratory (ARL). Currently Melanie teaches in the school of math science and engineering at Central New Mexico Community College (CNM). In 2019 she was awarded CNMs highest honor for faculty, e.g., excellence in teaching, the Distinguished Faculty Award. Aside from teaching Melanie has performed Science Education Research. In 2018, she was recognized by CNM as one of only 4 faculty to receive the Adaptive Teaching Award, where CNM credited her for the creation of interactive visualizations and simulation (IVS) to enhance student understanding of complex phenomena and processes in the areas of physics, engineering and geoscience. During her tenure at CNM Melanie has created and facilitated the Faculty Learning Circle on Experiential Learning, served on the CNM faculty senate, serves as a faculty peer coach, volunteers as a peer circle mentor for early career STEM faculty/professionals/students through Mentoring 365. Through her mentoring/coaching efforts Melanie is committed to help others to thrive in STEM and strives to build a more inclusive community of practice. While at CNM Melanie has been awarded (as PI or as sub-awardee) 3 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant awards, (1) Supporting and advancing geoscience education at two-year colleges/SAGE-2YC (Stipend Award); (2) Accelerating Latinx Retention in STEM education (supported under NSF INCLUDES ALRISE ALLIANCE- NSF-2120021 support award - CNM STEM Team Student Centered Experiential Learning (SCEL-1 and SCEL-2) total $50k); (2) Creating/executing an atmospheric science research program to engage community college students in authentic research (PI for NSF Award 2246468 - 5-year award, $1.2M). Prior to joining CNM in 2015 Melanie spent 30 yrs. as a Senior Research Scientist, and Fellow (an honor bestowed on only 1 % of the technical workforce) at the U.S. Army Research Lab (ARL) in Aberdeen MD. While at ARL Melanie performed original research in the area of Integrated Electromagnetic Materials & Devices and is recognized through her 140 published peer reviewed journal articles, 276 invited talks, 4 book chapters and 3700+ science citations. As a scientific inventor she holds 12 US patents and 2 licensed patents. Fun fact, one of her patents was commercially licensed to enable their LED technology, you know those long-lasting light bulbs we all use! During her tenure as a research scientist at ARL she has been the recipient of many honors and awards for her scientific contributions in the field of electronic devices and materials physics: She received five Army Research and Development Achievement Awards (1992, 1996, 2005, 2007, 2012) and thirteen Directors Research Initiative Awards, In 2008 Melanie was the recipient of the Prestigious Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her achievements and sustained contributions to the fields of science & engineering whereby SWE credited her ?for pioneering research contributions, experimental creativity and innovation in developing a fundamental understanding of the complex relationships between the structures, processing, and the properties in thin film electronic materials.? This award is an international award bestowed on only one woman each year for their seminal contributions in science technology, engineering, and mathematics. When she is not teaching or performing research Melanie enjoys art, music, Latin dancing, hiking, biking and spending time with her family, friends and pets. However, most of all she enjoys teaching/mentoring all learners and sharing her time, knowledge, and love of science with others.