Catherine Bursk

Catherine is excited to bring her love of learning, teaching, and the natural world to GMRI as a Science Instruction Specialist. Until the fall of 2022, she was a science teacher for Portland Public Schools. Catherine received an undergraduate degree in Liberal Arts from Sarah Lawrence College where she studied a wide range of subjects such as poetry, physics, anthropology, and environmental justice. Catherine was fortunate to study abroad during her junior year in Belize and India where she surveyed and collected arachnids and studied the art of batik, respectively. That year inspired her interest in environmental justice and the power of experience- and passion-driven education. After bringing live insects from around the world into classrooms around the San Francisco bay area, her love of teaching (and insects!) crystallized.

Catherine returned to the University of Southern Maine for a post-bachelor degree in Biology and later, a teaching certification from USM’s Extended Teacher Education Program. Here at GMRI, she supports curriculum development, teacher professional development, and the Cohen Center for Interactive Learning.

When Catherine is not exploring new ways to share her love of science, she can be found hiking with her family, digging up worms for my daughter, or lost in creative pursuits such as writing, collaging, sewing, song-writing, and gardening.