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Teresa Leavens entered the field of elementary STEM education after 20 years of professional experience in chemical engineering and toxicology.  Her former STEM career sparked her interest in supporting STEM diversity by impacting formal elementary educational experiences. During her recent doctoral studies in the NC State Elementary Education in Mathematics and Science Program, she designed content and lead instruction for elementary preservice teachers' engineering and science methods courses, supported science classroom instruction and STEM events in local elementary schools, and organized science camps for her local community. Her dissertation research explored preservice teachers’ attitudes and beliefs, science knowledge, and pedagogical knowledge about drawing as an instructional strategy for reasoning about science phenomena in the elementary classroom.