Associate Professor Maria Parappilly OAM is a multi-award-winning physics educator at Flinders University, Australia. She received her PhD in Theoretical Particle Physics from the University of Adelaide. For her service to Science Education and to Women, Maria was awarded a Medal of Order of Australia in the Australia Day 2020 Honours. Her teaching innovations have been recognised with state and national awards, and internationally with the international D2L Innovation Award in Teaching and Learning, Canada. She has been named as the 2015 South Australian STEM Educator of the year. In 2019, she was named as The Advertiser Woman of the year - Top Innovator. A/Prof Parappilly is an elected fellow of the Australian Institute of Physics (AIP). She is the past-chair of Physics Education Group (PEG) of AIP.