Who I am
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*Second-generation Immigrant
My mother’s grandparents (Szulecki) emigrated to the US from Poland in the mid 1900’s.
My father’s parents (Buinauskas) emigrated to the US from Lithuania around the time of the Second World War.My parents grew up in different enclaves in New Jersey.
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*Southerner
I was born in Richmond, VA.
I grew up in Martinsville, VA. My parents opened a dermatology practice there, and my father died 3 years later. My late “pseudo-stepfather” was from Eden, NC. My mother still lives in Martinsville.
I have lived in Durham, NC for the last 20+ years. -
*Woman in Science
I received my B.S. in Chemistry and my B.A. in English from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1993.
I received my Ph.D., in Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1998.
From 1999-2002, I was awarded a fellowship from the Australian Research Council to teach and do research at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. -
*Australian-US Citizen
I was granted Australian citizenship in 2002, making me an Australian-American dual citizen.
About Melissa
Since returning from Australia to the United States in 2002, Melissa has published several children’s books as well as stories and verses in Highlights Children’s Magazine, Bay Leaves, and other serials. Her children’s stories, Beyond the Dark, Milk Drinkers turning to Powder, and Counting on Me won first place in the 2009 and 2016 Burlington Writers’ Stories for Children and Children's Poetry categories, and her sonnet Hope won first place in the 2009 Poetry Council of North Carolina’s ‘Charles Shull Traditional Poetry’ category.
Melissa’s children’s books Eddie the Electron and The Fate of The Frog, which won the Beverly Hills Children’s Fiction Award in 2018, form the basis of two workshops offered through the Durham Arts Council's Culture and Arts in the Public Schools (CAPS) program, through which she teaches elementary and middle school students about electrons and atoms or sustainability and rhyme, respectively. In addition, Melissa provides writing residencies for primary and secondary school students that culminate in anthologies designed and published by Froward Press. For her involvement in public education, she received the first Durham Public Schools' Get Involved! award.
Melissa also reviews children’s and young adult books for the New York Journal of Books and reviews theatre and music productions for Triangle Theater Review.
When she isn’t writing creatively or engaging kids of all ages, Melissa provides contract scientific editing for Durham-based American Journal Experts, researchers and college/graduate students, as well as freelance editing for literary authors. She is also a soil and water conservationist and grant writer for Urban Sustainability Solutions..
Melissa’s Mission
Melissa believes in honesty and transparency - in government, in business, in education, in everything.
She believes that society underestimates our children’s interest in what we consider ‘complicated’ subjects, and that we underestimate our children’s ability to understand many basic scientific concepts.
She is confident that the sooner we expose our children to these ideas, the less intimidated they will be by such subject matter in the future. Whether or not they understand everything is beside the point. What’s important is whether or not they are interested, which is generally in the hands of their teachers, including parents and caregivers.
Melissa, her husband Mike, and their three children happily reside in Durham, NC.
Organizations and Affiliations
Albemarle Magazine
Amberjack Publishing
American Journal Experts
Burlington Writer’s Club
Chicago Review Press
Children’s Book Insider
Clarion (Durham Online Magazine)
Clean Valley Council
Danville Science Museum
Durham CAPS/Durham Arts Council
Durham Soil and Water Conservation District
Elenco Snap Circuits
Highlights Children’s Magazine
Mascot Books
Monash University
Poetry Council of NC
Raleigh News and Observer
Richmond Book Festival
Science Museum of Western Virginia
Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators
Star City Sustainability Series
Triangle Arts and Entertainment
Triangle Review
University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill)
UNC Science Expo
Virginia Museum of Transportation
Virginia Tech STEAM Day