Melissa Cook is a doctoral student at the UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, where she focuses on how kids learn to participate in science discourses and begin to identify with science. It was this combined interest in science education and identity construction that led her to Whyville.net, where kids play casual science games to earn virtual money that they use to build their avatars. Besides hanging out in science classrooms and playing Whyville, Melissa enjoys cooking, gardening, playing her Nintendo Wii, and posting to her fashion blog.