Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association Honors Outgoing Director of Education, Kim Botelho, and Welcomes New Education Coordinator, Camden Palm

Kelly Bernatzky • April 20, 2021

With profound gratitude and appreciation, the Maria Mitchell Association announces the departure of Kim Botelho, Director of Education.


The MMA has been extremely fortunate to have Botelho’s leadership, passion for education, and dedication to scientific learning. During her seven year tenure, and under her leadership as Director of Education, the Nantucket Science Festival has grown to be the largest off season event on the island with many incredible partner organizations; the Maria Mitchell Giving Garden has helped provide fresh produce to the Nantucket Food Pantry; the Summer Discovery programs have received a number of awards and now reach over 600 children each summer; and the MMA’s 5th Grade Trees in the Community Program has given out over 1,200 native trees with the help of our community partner, Annie Mendelsohn. Since the fall, Botelho has been teaching monthly STEM lessons with Nantucket Elementary School’s Kindergarten classrooms. Over the years, Botelho has also led and served as a mentor to nearly 100 interns through our environmental education internship program. When reflecting on this experience, she shares that, “Having the opportunity to pass on my knowledge, experience, and passion for the natural world to the next generation of environmental educators and science teachers fills my soul with joy and gratitude.”


Beyond our island, Botelho has served on the boards of the Massachusetts Environmental Education Society, the New England Environmental Education Alliance, as the partner representative for the National Informal STEM Education Network, and as a state affiliate representative for the North American Association of Environmental Education. In these roles, she was able to provide teacher professional development opportunities for hundreds of teachers across the Commonwealth and across the country. 

The MMA is grateful to Botelho and her dedication to sharing our mission. Botelho shares, “It has been one of the great honors of my life to represent Maria Mitchell, a truly, amazing woman whose convictions for science, learning by doing, and equal rights and opportunities for all resonate within myself. The educational initiatives and community partnerships I have been a part of over the years have been some of the most rewarding of my career. I hope Maria Mitchell would be proud of the work I have endeavored to do in her name. Before I leave, I want to send out a huge THANK YOU to all of the camp families, community partners, students, teachers, and coworkers who have helped make my time here so meaningful. I hope our paths continue to cross in the future.”

Next month, the MMA will officially welcome Camden Palm as its new Education Coordinator. Palm was born and raised in Southern California, and found a love for environmental education on an 8th grade field trip to Yosemite National Park. After spending many summers in New Hampshire and Connecticut, she is excited to be back working and exploring the New England ecosystems.

 

Her passion for environmental education was cultivated while attending the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) where she studied Environmental Studies and Statistics. During her time at UCSB, she volunteered with an environmental education organization teaching local students environmental stewardship and sustainability curriculum. After graduating, she worked as an Instructor and Assistant Director for the Catalina Environmental Leadership Program on Catalina Island, located off the coast of Los Angeles. Similar to the programs at the Maria Mitchell Association, this program promotes a passion for science and sustainability through land and sea exploration. Taking her experience from one island ecosystem to the next, she is excited to continue connecting students, participants, and campers to the natural world.


Palm will be leading the MMA’s summer programming, including the popular Discovery Camps, overseeing the 2021 Education Internship Program, mentoring this year’s Education Interns, and continuing the MMA’s school year STEM programming in partnership with Nantucket schools.

The Maria Mitchell Association is a private non-profit organization. Founded in 1902, the MMA works to preserve the legacy of Nantucket native astronomer, naturalist, librarian, and educator, Maria Mitchell. The Maria Mitchell Association operates two observatories, a natural science museum, an aquarium, a research center, and preserves the historic birthplace of Maria Mitchell. A wide variety of science and history-related programming is offered throughout the year for people of all ages.

For Immediate Release

April 19 2021

Contact: Kelly Bernatzky, MMA Development Associate

kbernatzky@mariamitchell.org

Recent Posts

Glass Plate Photographic Collection

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • August 4, 2025
With the help of Edward Pickering from Harvard, the MMA was able to develop a research program and realized that a photographic telescope would be necessary. Funds were raised and by November 1913, a 7.5-inch photographic telescope was installed. Using Maria Mitchell’s 5-inch Alvan Clark telescope as a guide for the larger photographic telescope, the photographic telescope had a lens from Thomas Cooke and Sons of York, England and a cast-iron pier, mount, and clockwork by Alvan Clark & Sons in Cambridge, MA. The pier, mount, and clockwork are still present in the MMO – the pier and mount still utilized but by a 17-inch research telescope purchased with a grant from the National Science Foundation. The glass plates taken of the night sky at the MMO total more than 8,000 and they are still utilized for research. They capture a moment in the night sky that can never be captured again – just like a regular photograph. In order to capture the image of the night sky, exposures could last for as long as three hours or more. Glass plates were heavily used for researching variable stars. They also afforded opportunities for new discoveries that could go unnoticed when one looked through a telescope by eye. Glass plates are gelatin-coated dry plate negatives that first came into use in the 1870s. They were utilized well into the late twentieth century particularly because they did not shrink or deform like plastic film. At the MMA, we continued to take glass plates of the night sky until 1995 when we had the opportunity and funding to update to a CCD camera – charge-coupled devices. While the CCDs provided many improvements, they still did not have the detecting area and resolution of glass plates. Technology continues to evolve, and the MMA with it, as we work with new methods to capture the night sky photographically. JNLF

Keep Calm and Bird On: August 2025

August 1, 2025
“If you don’t look, you don’t see. You have to go and look.” -Edith Andrews

Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association’s National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates Interns Present Summer Astronomy Research Projects

August 1, 2025
NANTUCKET, MA— Please join us in person at the Maria Mitchell Association’s Research Center, 2 Vestal Street, or online via Zoom, on Wednesday, August 6, 5pm – 7pm, for a very special presentation of this summer’s astronomy research. The MMA’s National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates (NSF-REU) 2025 interns will present their research on everything from glowing supernovae and mysterious variable stars to ways dust affects the light we see. The MMA’s Maria Mitchell Observatory operates the NSF-REU program each summer and has done so for decades. The program, funded by a generous grant from the National Science Foundation, allows the MMA to bring six top undergraduate students to the MMA each summer who are selected out of a pool of over 250 applicants from around the United States. The NSF-REU interns come to Nantucket for ten to twelve weeks during the summer to participate in astrophysics research projects. While on Nantucket, the NSF-REU interns also participate in the outreach efforts of the Astronomy Department, primarily by hosting public Open Nights at the Loines Observatory. This summer’s five NSF-REU interns and their research presentations are: Madison Gerard (University of Texas at Austin): How Low Can You Glow? Analyzing the Low-Luminosity SN IIP 2024abfl Kaylee Perez (Texas State University): How Dust Changes the Light We See: Exploring the Link Between Dust Extinction and Attenuation with Simulated Data Lauren Barkey (California Poly Pomona): Peek-a-Boo!: Exploring the NEOWISE Lightcurves of R Coronae Borealis Variable Stars Aiden Agostinelli (University of Montana) & Ben Radmore (University of Michigan): When the Dust Settles: Late-Time Infrared Imaging of SN 2011ja This event is free to the public. This presentation is offered both in person and online via Zoom. Pre-registration is required. Register for in person here : https://112458a.blackbaudhosting.com/112458a/Science-Speaker-Series---MMA-x-NSF-REU-Interns-A Register for Zoom here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_U5mGYBdESzKI8z_HX835eA The Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association (MMA), founded in 1902, is a recognized leader in inspiring and training the next generation of astronomers and scientists. Since the Astronomy Department’s inception, hundreds of undergraduate students, the great majority of them women, have discovered the joy of doing astronomical research surrounded by the natural beauty and dark skies of Nantucket Island. Many have gone on to successful careers as astronomers at leading universities, observatories, and other organizations. In fact, it is estimated that one of every twenty American women PhDs in astronomy today acquired their first research experience at the MMA’s Maria Mitchell Observatory. The organization’s success in STEM education was recognized in 2009 with the prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring from President Obama for its half-century long program of mentoring student research in astronomy. Over the years, several MMA NSF-REU interns have won the prestigious Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Award, including in each of the past five American Astronomical Society winter meetings, a testament to the quality of the MMA’s astronomy internship program. Approximately 90% of MMA astronomy interns have gone on to astrophysics Ph.D. programs. The Maria Mitchell Association was founded in 1902 to preserve the legacy of Nantucket native astronomer, naturalist, librarian, and educator, Maria Mitchell. After she discovered a comet in 1847, Mitchell’s international fame led to many achievements and awards, including an appointment as the first female professor of astronomy at Vassar College. Maria Mitchell believed in “learning by doing” and today that philosophy is reflected in the MMA’s mission statement, programs, research projects, and other activities. The Maria Mitchell Association operates two observatories, a natural science museum, an aquarium, a research center, and preserves the historic birthplace of Maria Mitchell. A wide variety of science and history-related programming is offered throughout the year for people of all ages. ###
Show More