Trailblazing STEM Educator Award

Each year, Challenger Center and AIAA celebrate three K-12 educators who go above and beyond to inspire the next generation of explorers and innovators in science, technology, education, and math (STEM) through the Trailblazing STEM Educator Award.

Recognition

  • $5,000 award to the educator

  • $5,000 award to the educator’s school or organization

  • Free access to Challenger Center’s STEM education programs

  • Opportunity to attend a future space launch experience, provided by Blue Origin’s Club for the Future

Nomination Requirements

  • Nominee must be a K-12 educator who brings real-world STEM experiences to students

  • Past recipients are ineligible for future consideration

  • Preference will be given to teachers who demonstrate active use of AIAA and Challenger Center resources in their classroom

  • Self-nominations are not permitted

  • Nominator is not required to be a current AIAA member

  • Nominator may not serve as a reference

  • References are not required to be current AIAA members

  • One signed letter of endorsement from someone with intimate/recent knowledge of the educator and their work. Preferably a principal or supervisor. Finalist candidates may be asked to provide a second letter or endorsement

  • Nominations must be submitted using the online database

2026 Awardees

Challenger Center and AIAA are proud to present Laurie Hamzik, Kenji Nomura, and Lillian Reynolds with the 2026 Trailblazing STEM Educator Award. Each year, nominations for this award from across the country demonstrate the incredible creative efforts teachers make every day to empower students in STEM, both in and out of the classroom.

Laurie Hamzik

Middle school science teacher at Saint Ambrose Catholic School (Brunswick, Ohio)

For over 35 years, Laurie Hamzik has helped students gain STEM experience beyond the classroom. She helps her students participate in a variety of STEM events throughout the year, including St. Ambrose School science fairs, the Northeast Ohio Science and Engineering Fair, Ohio State Science Days, and Young Astronaut Day. She regularly organizes tours of NASA Glenn Research Center, and provided insight on NASA’s “Sound Off Engineering Design Challenge” before the activity went nationwide in 2023. Hamzik has received the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Crystal Apple Award and the 2024 Ohio Academy of Science’s Governor’s Thomas Edison Award for STEM Education and Student Research.

Kenji Nomura

STEM educator at Virginia Space Flight Academy (Wallops Island, Virginia)

Kenji Nomura is a STEM educator dedicated to expanding access to hands-on STEM learning and helping students see a future for themselves in the aerospace industry. With experience teaching math, astronomy, robotics, computer science, and engineering, Nomura engages students through project-based experiences that build curiosity, confidence, and problem-solving skills. An Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow supporting NASA Science Activation, Nomura creates makerspaces and engineering projects – from building data loggers to launching rockets and analyzing flight data – to help his students see themselves as explorers, innovators, and future STEM professionals.

Lillian Reynolds

Middle school STEM teacher at Voyager Public Charter School (Honolulu, Hawaii)

Lillian Reynolds connects STEM learning to real-world space exploration by building lessons around current events and research. Selected for NASA’s Astronomy Activation Ambassador program and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Teacher Innovator Institute, Reynolds brings cutting-edge space science into the classroom. Her students tackle projects grounded in real science – from rover and solar design to analyzing Mars landing sites – and participate in initiatives such as the International Astronomical Union’s Exoplanet Naming Campaign, Challenger Center missions, and NASA’s TechRise Challenge, helping them see themselves as capable problem-solvers and future innovators.

Previous Awardees

2025

Kelsy Achtenberg, Allan Miller, and Kevin L. Simmons

2024

Jenn Donais, Sarah Leonard, and Darryl Newhouse

2023

Aymette Medina, Caroline Little, and Taylor Whisenant

2022 (inaugural year)

Cedric Turner, Jackie Blumer, Jennifer Cheesman, Kellie Taylor, and Katrina Harden Williams

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