Kal Mannis

Currently the Senior Director for Rural Engagement with Arizona Science Center, Kal Manis's career has been anything but a straight line. Over the last four decades he has been an entrepreneur, K12 educator and administrator, higher ed lecturer, researcher, program evaluator, and, this year, one of the 2025 DoD STEM Ambassadors. He currently oversees multiple projects including heat monitoring and data analysis, the use of STEM topics for indigenous language preservation, regional science fairs, rural STEM Learning Ecosystems, Participatory Science with libraries, STEM assets for rural economic development, and is the Director of the National Rural STEM Summit. An avid outdoors enthusiast, Kal sits on the boards of the White Mountain (AZ) Nature Center, and Friends of the Verde River.