Sara Shunkwiler, M.Ed.
Sara Shunkwiler, M.Ed., taught middle school at Marburn Academy, a private school in
Columbus, Ohio, for bright children who learn differently. She is currently teaching Pre-
Algebra and Algebra in a public school setting and has worked with many students who
have varying degrees of math difficulty. Prior to entering teaching, she was an engineer,
a career she chose when she placed third in a schoolwide algebra contest and discovered
she was “good at math.” Her team won the state competition, and the three women on
that team went on to graduate at the top of their engineering classes at The Ohio State
University. Ms. Shunkwiler also earned a master of science degree in ceramic engineering
from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. For 12 years, she worked as a product
development and test engineer with General Motors and received three United States
patents during that time. She left engineering to share her love of mathematics and science
with students in the pivotal middle school years, and she earned a master of education
degree in middle childhood mathematics and science education from The Ohio
State University. She and her husband, also a ceramic engineer, live in Frederick, Maryland,
with their two teenage sons.