Destination Mars
Destination Mars for the Benefit of Earth centres on Dianea Phillips' own experience of becoming an analog astronaut. In August 2025 she became the first Canadian teacher of colour trained for that role, serving at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah, where she completed geological studies and aging-in-space tests and ran a space-to-ground postcard programme that reached 300 children around the world. She will talk about what that took and what it was like, and about how it feeds a career that has already trained more than 40,000 educators.
Dianea Phillips
Analog Astronaut, Mars Desert Research Station
Dianea is a former teacher and consultant with the Lester B. Pearson School Board in Montreal and the Kativik School Board in Nunavik. She is a graduate of McGill University (B.Ed.), a certified personal and professional coach (Concordia University), and a certified Adventures in Wisdom youth coach (Austin, Texas).
Dianea served four and a half years as president of DKG Quebec, which is part of an international society for women educators, and is a recognized speaker for the society and its International Speakers Fund. She is a master storyteller and one of the four founding members of the Montreal Storytellers' Guild, established in 1990. She is a recognized storyteller during Black History Month, telling folktales from her ancestors' Trinidadian roots and other African nations.
For more than seven years she has been an entrepreneur, as creator and CEO of Science Yourself! No G's About It. She proudly provides programs for all and created the STEAMGENUITY Girls' Space Program.
In August 2025, Dianea became the first Canadian teacher of colour to be trained as an analog astronaut (Crew 321) at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah. She completed geological studies and aging-in-space tests, and implemented a space-to-ground communication postcard program in which 300 children from around the world took part.
Dianea is the Canadian principal investigator for the Magnitude.io Leguminaut Plants in Space program, working in collaboration with Springdale Elementary School. She is also the volunteer education director at the Montreal Aviation Museum, designing and overseeing the implementation of STEAM camps and education events.
In February 2024, during the Space Exploration Educators Conference at Johnson Space Center Houston, Dianea became the first recipient and lead educator to implement the ISS Mimic program, a 3D-printed model that mirrors the real space station’s movements and data as they happen, with the help of volunteer students from John Abbott College in Montreal.
Dianea has provided more than 23 years of presentations and teacher development space workshops at Johnson Space Center Houston, and has trained over 40,000 educators during her career. In February 2021 she was selected as a member of the elite SEEC CREW team. As a CREW member she serves as a lead space STEM/STEAM educator in the province of Quebec, working in collaboration with other CREW members and space-related agencies from around the globe. At the 2024 conference she completed her astronaut-aquanaut training experience successfully.
She works in partnerships with teachers, schools and community programs to support content development, teacher facilitation, mentoring, parent talks and home support. Her education outreach partnerships extend from the island of Montreal across the globe to Ontario, the United States, Mexico, Brazil, the Philippines, South Africa, Spain, Thailand and more.
Recognitions and training
The Inspired 24, named October 2026. An organization promoting access to space for all
FLIGHT 24, Space Foundation Teacher Liaison Program, December 2024
Sheri Brinley Outstanding Educator Award, Johnson Space Center, February 2023
Legacy STEM+ Outreach Excellence Award, the first ever, Stardust Festival, Timmins
SEEC CREW team member since February 2021
Alumna of Space Camp, with certifications from the US Space & Rocket Center, Huntsville
Certificate of flight and five completed experiments, Zero G Corporation Teachers in Space Weightless Microgravity Flight Program
Read more about Dianea in McGill's profile of her: giving.mcgill.ca/all-stories/trailblazing-educator
Follow us
Space Foundation Teacher Liaison profile: spacefoundation.org/teacher-liaisons/dianea-phillips
Storytellers of Canada directory: storytellers-conteurs.ca/en/storytellers-directory/Dianea_Phillips.html
For more information, please contact us at (514) 620-9270 or info@lakeshorekiwanis.ca