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Mandy Nix

500 500 Stroud Water Research Center
Photo of Mandy Nix holding a fish

[ALUMNA] Watershed Education Specialist

Education Department

Interests and Expertise

Mandy Nix (she/her/hers) is an ecologist and educator who engages “PreK–gray” audiences in science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) to spark lasting environmental literacy, resilience, and justice. She cares deeply about intersectional, inquiry-driven experiences that empower today’s learners to become tomorrow’s leaders in freshwater science and stewardship. Her enthusiasm for hands-on, minds-on watershed education has taken her from the Southern Appalachian mountain bogs of North Carolina to the salmon streams of Kodiak Island to the Potomac headwaters of West Virginia. Her hobbies include forging connections between creeks and communities, exploring streamside forests with her leash-trained kitty Magpie, feeding a small but mighty indoor vermicomposting empire, and hoarding secondhand treasures like a five-foot caddisfly.

Education

B.S., environmental studies: ecology and environmental biology, University of North Carolina, Asheville, North Carolina.

Certifications

  • Certified North Carolina Environmental Educator
  • Certified Interpretive Guide
  • Pennsylvania Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEE) Ambassador, Facilitator, and Trainer
  • Leave No Trace Trainer
  • Project WILD Facilitator
  • Aquatic WILD Facilitator
  • Project WET Facilitator
  • USFWS/NCTC Principles of Electrofishing and Electrofishing Safety

Professional Experience

  • Watershed education specialist, Stroud Water Research Center, 2018–2022.
  • West Virginia volunteer restoration and monitoring organizer, Trout Unlimited and Appalachian Forest Heritage Area AmeriCorps, Davis, West Virginia, 2017–2018.
  • Nature Explorers Camp educator, North Carolina Botanical Garden, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 2017.
  • Environmental education instructor, Mountain Trail Outdoor School, Hendersonville, North Carolina, 2017.
  • Education intern, The Duke Lemur Center, Durham, North Carolina, 2015.
  • Environmental education instructor, Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, Kodiak Island, Alaska, 2014.
  • Museum host, Marbles Kids Museum, Raleigh, North Carolina, 2013.

Related News

New Canoe Fleet Helps Foster Meaningful On-the-Water Education

Getting participants outside for learning in nature is a vital step in helping them make connections between the program content and the real world.

Stroud Center Establishes Girls-in-STEM Fund for Education Programs

The fund will support dedicated programming for an audience historically underserved in STEM and outdoor aquatic recreation: women and girls.

STREAM Girls Program Empowers Today’s Girls to Become Tomorrow’s Leaders

“It’s always fun to learn new things, but STREAM Girls was different because of how many new things we experienced that we never had before.”

ScoutReach Day Camp Empowers Young Stewards for Stronger Communities

Nearly 70 male and female Cub Scouts ages 5-11 experienced hands-on, minds-on learning stations and Q&A sessions with real water science professionals.

Creating Model Stewards by Modeling Watersheds

The true power of Model My Watershed is in the lasting lessons of action-based stewardship that follow students into the field.

Scouts Get Their Boots Wet for Science and Stewardship

Our badge program for Cub Scouts invites young minds to explore the scientific method and exercise their most powerful scientific tools: their senses.
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