Full Name
Besty (Susan) Payne
Job Title
Philadelphia STEM Ecosystem Manager
Company
Philadelphia Education Fund
Speaker Bio

As manager of the Philadelphia STEM Ecosystem (PSE) since February 2020, Betsy has worked hard to forward the PSE’s vision for all young people in Philadelphia to have equal access to quality STEM education, STEM employment, and STEM career opportunities. This includes being part of the backbone team for the Philadelphia STEM Equity Collective, an active participant in the Pennsylvania Statewide STEM Ecosystem and various STEM Education project with The McKinney Center for STEM Education.

Working for equity and diversity in education has been a lifelong pursuit for her. Prior to arriving at PSE, she worked as the Manager of the Women In Natural Sciences (WINS) program at the Academy of Natural Sciences, as the Garden Educator for the Camden Children’s Garden, as a private Consultant in Environmental Education, as an Interpretive Specialist at the USDA Forest Service El Yunque National Forest, as the Manager of the Las Cabezas de San Juan Nature Reserve for the Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico and as a Biologist in the Institute of Neurobiology of the University of PR Medical Sciences Campus.

A marine biologist by education and an informal education, she loves the ocean, the outdoors and spending time with her family enjoying them.

Besty (Susan) Payne