Amanda Dillingham

Amanda Dillingham is a 10^th-12^th grade Biology teacher at East Boston High School in Boston, Massachusetts. This is her fourth summer participating in the RET program. Her first year was research-focused. Her second and third year was mainly geared towards integrating engineering into her biology classrooms. And now, she has returned for more hands-on research in the labs.

Currently, Amanda is working on tissue engineering in the Chen Leb; specifically, vascular density and growing capillaries as part of the CELL-MET Engineering Research Center. She has enjoyed being a student again and actively participating in a professional laboratory setting.

Over the years, she has rewritten all of her Biology curriculum and created several design-based engineering challenges to which her students have responded well. She plans to continue these efforts next summer, reworking units with her peers in the RET program.

Amanda has this advice for future RET participants: “Don’t be afraid; just do it! It may seem intimidating at first, but this is an extremely supportive environment. Every day you either successfully complete your tasks, or you learn how to improve for next time.”