ASTROSUMMIT-2026

Amy Padolf is the Director of Education at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Miami, FL, where she oversees national and international multidisciplinary environmental science education programs. For nearly 25 years, Ms. Padolf has developed and implemented innovative STEM education programs for local, national, and international audiences. She holds a BA in Rhetoric and an MS in Science Education and is a Ph.D. Candidate in Education Research at Florida International University. Her most recent accomplishments include partnering with NASA to create Growing Beyond Earth®, an international citizen science project to support indoor agriculture in space and on Earth; establishing the nation’s first botany magnet elementary and high schools; and creating the first makerspace in a botanic garden to address the technology of food production.