Christine Girtain is an award-winning STEM educator and aerospace pathway leader serving students in New Jersey for more than 32 years with Toms River Regional Schools. As the 2023 New Jersey State Teacher of the Year and a nationally recognized genetics educator, she is known for designing rigorous, authentic learning experiences that connect classroom science to aerospace engineering, systems thinking, and space exploration careers.
Christine serves as Regional Director of the East Coast Space Settlement Design Competition, where students engage in industry-modeled design reviews, technical briefings, and large-scale orbital settlement simulations. Under her leadership, teams advance to the International Space Settlement Design Competition, collaborating with peers and aerospace professionals from around the world.
She co-founded the Jersey Shore STEM Ecosystem, an extension of the Research and Development Council of New Jersey, to strengthen K–industry partnerships and expand workforce development pipelines in aerospace, engineering, and advanced technologies.
Through invention education, authentic research, and immersive engineering competitions, Christine prepares students not only to study aeronautics and astronautics, but to contribute meaningfully to the future of human activity in air and space.