NAAEE 2026 Awards for Excellence Awardee Bios

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Congratulations to Brock!

The Walter E. Jeske Award is NAAEE’s most prestigious award, given each year to recognize service to NAAEE and leadership within the field of environmental education. This award was established to honor Walt Jeske, chief of the Education and Publications Unit with the U.S. Soil Conservation Service. Jeske was a dedicated member of the NAAEE Board of Directors, and an outstanding environmental educator until his death in 1981. This year, we are excited to present this award to Brock Adler. Brock has spent more than two decades advancing environmental education and literacy at national and state levels through advocacy, strategic planning, climate and civics education, and educator development. Brock’s work has expanded NAAEE’s policy influence, helping turn advocacy into a year-round national program. He’s built systems that track legislation, translate policy into practice, and connect educators with policymakers. He has shaped federal priorities like EPA and NOAA programs and the Climate Education Act, and supported state-level policy and literacy planning, including in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Colleagues describe him as generous, compassionate, and deeply knowledgeable. He’s a true collaborator who makes the field better.

Congratulations to NHEE!

From 2022 to 2026, NAAEE Affiliate the New Hampshire Environmental Educators (NHEE) grew membership by 174%, strengthened capacity, led the updated New Hampshire Environmental Literacy Plan, expanded outdoor learning grants, improved communications, and built regional partnerships across New England. They’ve broadened access to EE, strengthened educator networks, and become a catalyst for environmental education excellence. By supporting teachers, schools, and community organizations, they help ensure that thousands of young people across New Hampshire have opportunities to connect with the natural world, develop stewardship skills, and become informed and engaged citizens. As the Education Director of Squam Lakes Natural Science Center said, “I have seen the organization develop from a small but dedicated network into a vibrant statewide leader that connects educators, organizations, agencies, and communities around a shared commitment to environmental literacy.”

Congratulations to Mike!

For decades, Mike has gently shaken the world through love, tenacity, and respect, helping people across metro Detroit and throughout Michigan notice the natural world, care for it, and see themselves as part of its future. He speaks plainly about inequity in natural spaces, amplifies voices too often muffled, and he makes room for young people to be seen, heard, respected, and trusted to lead. His impact is visible in classrooms, community centers, neighborhoods, watersheds, forests, and the lives of learners and neighbors from early childhood to retirement. He has helped children notice, teens lead, adults rediscover wonder, and communities to act. His legacy shows up in practical, lasting ways. Young people stand taller working with him. Neighborhoods understand their drains and rivers differently. Community members believe their daily choices matter. As his nominator put it, “Like Grace and Rosa, Mike is a Detroiter who has overcome many institutional and societal obstacles to share the joys of nature with Detroit residents, creating generations of people interested in understanding and protecting the environment, bringing the wilds of Michigan to the Heart of Detroit.”

Congratulations to Alberto!

For over 25 years, Alberto has advanced environmental and sustainability education through exceptional scholarship, teaching, and international leadership. As Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Environmental Education since 2019, he has significantly contributed to high-quality research globally; he has presented in over a dozen countries; and he served 15 years on the World Environmental Education Congress International Scientific Committee. Through his research, Alberto has helped expand the boundaries of environmental and sustainability education by drawing attention to often-overlooked structural challenges and their implications for environmental learning and social change.

Congratulations to Christopher!

Christopher has demonstrated his clarity of purpose as a researcher: to challenge and directly critique our assumptions about what environmental and climate education can and should be, who they should be for, who can practice them, and the role these fields should be playing in world-building. He has achieved an incredible list of accomplishments as a researcher very early in his career, and has done so by prioritizing collaboration with practitioners historically marginalized in science and environmental education, prioritizing justice, confronting politically sensitive environmental and social problems, and prioritizing care and humanity. Christopher’s dissertation at the University of California, Davis examined how youth and conservation practitioners negotiate power and collaborate in watershed monitoring. At UCLA, his recent work shows how relationships with land and food can support learning, healing, and political clarity for just climate and environmental action. Across this work, he advances innovative, place-based methods, from discourse analysis of pandemic-era watershed workshops to interviews with BIPOC garden educators about their social and political commitments in Los Angeles community gardens.

Congratulations to Laura!

Laura has shown exceptional leadership in environmental education across British Columbia. At her school, she has led stewardship events, secured grants to reestablish a small wetland that has become an outdoor classroom, and integrated other green spaces into daily learning. Across her district and province, Laura supports teachers by hosting workshops and sharing resources. She champions outdoor teaching, curriculum support, networking, and environmental education leadership. At CBEEN, she has guided initiatives that have built collaboration, mentorship, leadership capacity, and professional learning communities. She also manages Wild Voices for Kids, connecting classrooms with environmental educators and community partners. Hundreds of educators and students have directly benefitted from Laura’s school, district, and CBEEN initiatives and the professional networks she has helped to build. Her inspiring leadership has strengthened EE across British Columbia, and continues to create meaningful opportunities for learners to develop a deeper connection to the natural world.

Congratulations to Kim!

Kim is an award-winning environmental educator who empowers historically underserved students through hands-on sustainability, water conservation, and STEM projects. Beyond the classroom, Kim extends his impact through the Young Eco-STEM Club, educator presentations, national STEM fellowships, and collaborations with programs such as the Department of Defense STEM Ambassador Program, Arizona State University sustainability initiatives, and NSTA conferences. 

Kim’s work transforms complex environmental challenges into meaningful, age-appropriate learning experiences that help young students become environmental problem solvers in their own communities. He encourages students to develop evidence-based solutions through engineering and scientific inquiry. His approach cultivates environmental responsibility, systems thinking, creativity, and optimism, while helping students recognize that they can make meaningful contributions to a more sustainable future. His accomplishments demonstrate distinguished service by inspiring environmentally responsible citizens, strengthening environmental literacy, and advancing sustainability in elementary STEM education.

Congratulations to the Marine Mammal Center and NNOCCI!

The National Network for Ocean and Climate Change Interpretation (NNOCCI), sponsored by The Marine Mammal Center, represents the very best of Outstanding Service to Environmental Education by an Organization. They’re scientifically rigorous, deeply collaborative, innovative, and steadfast in their commitment to helping educators inspire informed, hopeful, and community-centered action. Founded in 2009 with initial funding from NOAA, IMLS and NSF, NNOCCI has grown into a vibrant community of practice of educators and scientists. They’ve developed research-based communication techniques and offered thousands of trainings that have shifted the conversation on climate to be more positive, community-minded, and solutions-focused. With more than 800 trained members across nearly 500 institutions and 47 states, they’re collectively reaching hundreds of millions of people and their work has contributed to 35 scientific publications and provides an important source of social and emotional support for climate communicators nationwide.

Congratulations to the Taiwan Ministry of Environment!

Since passing its Environmental Education Act in 2010, Taiwan has built a strong national commitment to environmental education while also extending its leadership globally. For more than a decade, the Ministry of Environment has partnered with the Global Environmental Education Partnership (GEEP), driving GEEP’s international collaboration. The Ministry has supported the Eco-Campus program in partnership with Eco-Schools and helped establish the Asia-Pacific Regional Center, a GEEP hub that is advancing environmental education across the region through convenings, internships, professional learning, and other innovative programs. Minister Peng Chi-Ming recently shared insights into Taiwan’s ongoing work to address environmental and social challenges, underscoring the Ministry’s lasting commitment to building a more sustainable future. We are so grateful for the Ministry’s partnership, leadership, and long-standing commitment to environmental education.

Congratulations to Queta!

Queta has brought an extraordinary range of experiences to this work, from outdoor and wilderness education to conservation and community engagement, but much of her career has focused on helping organizations and leaders build more diverse, inclusive, and equitable environmental movements. Through her leadership at the Center for Diversity and the Environment, she has helped people think more deeply about who is part of the environmental movement, whose voices are heard, and how we build stronger relationships between people, communities, and the natural world. Queta has been a thoughtful teacher, facilitator, mentor, and friend to so many people in our field. As she has said: “I am the daughter my mother raised. My mom is full of grace and absolutely fierce when it comes to justice.” And Queta leads with grace and is committed to create a just future for all!

Congratulations to Ian!

Ian for many years as chief executive of Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, where he helped expand work ranging from Eco-Schools, helped expand leadership programs, and supported environmental education, community engagement, and conservation through creative outreach and communication strategies. He also loves birds and bugs, or insects as we call them, and served as senior conservation officer with Buglife in Northern Ireland. Ian has brought his expertise to the international stage through his work with the Foundation for Environmental Education, where he has served on the Board and as treasurer for many years. He’s also been an Advisor with the Global Environmental Education Partnership for more than a decade and has done so much to advance our collective work. What I especially appreciate about Ian is his belief that awareness alone isn't enough—we need to give people opportunities to get involved and make a difference. As one of Ian’s colleagues says, “Ian is one of those people who gets things done, inspires you along the way, and then makes you feel like you really accomplished something.” He also believes deeply in building leadership and using the tools of communication to get the word out about our work. He has spent his career connecting education with action and helping people and communities care for the places they call home.