Mark Westlake

Mark Westlake is the Director of the Saint Thomas Academy Innovation Center (St. Paul, MN), serves as Moderator of the Saint Thomas Academy Experimental Vehicle Team, is a Lemelson-MIT Invention Education Fellow and a Notre Dame Trustey Senior STEM Fellow. When he isn’t fretting about where the next donation is going to come from or how much welding his students will send home with him, he serves as the Chairman of the Advisory Committee for the Solar Car Challenge Foundation, was chosen as one of “Disney’s Magic Makers”, is an AARP “50 over 50” awardee, a 2021 AIAA Educator Achievement award winner, the 2018 National Space Foundation Educator of the Year, and the 2015 AFA National STEM Teacher of the Year. Mr. Westlake also mentors a NASA Hunch program, coaches a drone racing team, and fosters the inventive spirit in teachers and students all over the United States.