Biographical Sketches of
Committee Members and Staff
SUSAN R. SINGER (Chair) is the Laurence McKinley Gould professor of natural sciences in the Biology Department at Carleton College. Her research focuses on the development and evolution of flowering in legumes and on undergraduate learning of genomics. She has directed Carleton’s Perlman Center for Learning and Teaching and chaired the Biology Department. Previously, she was a National Science Foundation (NSF) program officer in developmental mechanisms. A recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award from the American Society of Plant Biology (ASPB), she is also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She coauthors an introductory biology text and is editor of the ASPB’s plant biology education book series. She is currently serving on the advisory board of the Education and Human Resources Division of the NSF, the board of the ASPB Education Foundation, and the board of the iPlant Cyberinfrastructure Collaborative board. She has served on several National Research Council (NRC) study committees and was a member of the NRC’s Board on Science Education. She holds a Ph.D. in biology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
ROBERT BEICHNER is a member of the Physics Education Research and Development Group at North Carolina State University. He is also the director of the university’s STEM Education Initiative, with a mission to study and improve STEM education from “K to gray” in North Carolina and around the world. His research addresses student learning and improving physics education. His largest current project is the creation and study of a learning environment supporting a new way to teach: Student-Centered
Active Learning Environment for Undergraduate Programs—SCALE-UP—an approach that has been adopted at more than 50 institutions. For his education reform efforts, he was named the 2009 North Carolina professor of the year by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and the 2010 national undergraduate science teacher of the year by the Society of College Science Teachers. He is the founding editor of a journal of the American Physical Society, Physical Review Special Topics: Physics Education Research. He holds a Ph.D. in science education from The State University of New York, Buffalo.
STACEY LOWERY BRETZ is a professor of chemistry at Miami University (Ohio). Previously, she was on the faculty of the University of Michigan–Dearborn and of Youngstown State University. Her current research relates to the assessment of student learning, including chemistry concept inventories, the application of cognitive science theories and qualitative methodologies to chemistry education research, inquiry in the laboratory, and children and chemistry. With support from the National Science Foundation, she has created a series of conferences for chemistry education research graduate students. She currently serves as chair of the board of trustees for the American Chemical Society Division of the Chemical Education Examinations Institute, and she is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is a recipient of the E. Phillips Knox award for undergraduate education from Miami University and of both the distinguished professor of teaching award and the research awards from Youngstown State University. She holds a B.A. from Cornell University and an M.S. from Pennsylvania State University, both in chemistry, and a Ph.D. in chemistry education research from Cornell.
MELANIE COOPER is an alumni distinguished professor of chemistry at Clemson University. Her research has investigated problem solving in a wide variety of areas, including laboratories and large enrollment lectures. Her work on methods to assess and improve students’ problem-solving abilities and strategies has focused on interventions that promote metacognitive activity. An outgrowth of this research is the development and assessment of evidence-driven, research-based curricula. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has received a number of awards for excellence in teaching. She holds a B.S., an M.S., and a Ph.D. from the University of Manchester (England).
SEAN DECATUR is dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and a professor of chemistry at Oberlin College. Previously, he served as associate dean of faculty for science and the Marilyn Dawson Sarles professor of life sciences and professor of chemistry at Mount Holyoke College. His primary
field of research is in the area of protein structure and protein folding. His interests also include the field of science studies, in particular the intersection of race and science in the United States. He has taught a wide range of courses in chemistry, including introductory chemistry, physical chemistry, and biophysical chemistry, and he has mentored more than 50 undergraduate students on research projects. He has received several national awards, including a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program grant. He received a B.A. from Swarthmore College and a Ph.D. in biophysical chemistry from Stanford University.
JAMES FAIRWEATHER is the Mildred B. Erickson distinguished chair in higher, adult, and lifelong education at Michigan State University, where he also directs the Center for Higher and Adult Education. His works focuses on faculty roles and rewards, reform in undergraduate STEM education, the globalization of higher education policy, and the role of higher education in economic development. His research has been funded by private and nonprofit organizations, as well as the Dutch and Omani governments and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Most recently, he has been co-principal investigator of the NSF-funded Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning. He has chaired the editorial board of the Journal of Higher Education. He received the exemplary research career award from a division of the American Educational Research Assocation, and he has been a Fulbright scholar and held an Erasmus Mundus professorship from the European Union. He received a Ph.D. in higher education from Stanford University.
MARGARET L. HILTON (Senior Program Officer) has directed and contributed to a wide range of studies at the National Research Council, including those on high school science laboratories, the role of state standards in K-12 education, foreign language and international studies in higher education, international labor standards, and the information technology workforce. Prior to joining the National Research Council staff, she was a consultant to the National Skill Standards Board and she directed studies of workforce training, work reorganization, and international competitiveness at the Office of Technology Assessment. She holds a B.A. in geography from the University of Michigan, an M.A. in regional planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an M.A. in human resource development from George Washington University.
KENNETH HELLER is a professor of physics at the University of Minnesota. His research in high-energy particle physics focuses on the properties of neutrino oscillations. He has conducted studies of quark dynamics from strong interactions of hadrons, quark confinement from magnetic moments
of baryons and their weak decay properties, and muons from high energy interactions. He is also actively involved in research in physics education, and he has served as the president of the American Association of Physics Teachers. He leads a physics education research group that is investigating better ways to teach problem solving through the use of cooperative groups, context-rich problems, and expert strategies. As part of this work, he is developing techniques to assess problem solving in physics. He received his B.A. from the University of California and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Washington in Seattle.
KIM KASTENS is a Doherty senior research scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and director of Columbia University’s program in earth and environmental science journalism, both at Columbia University. Her early work in marine geology focused on focused on mapping the seafloor and interpreting the tectonic and sedimentary processes that shaped it. More recently, she shifted her focus to geoscience education, learning science research, and instructional technology, particularly at the Ph.D. level. Her research interests include exploration of children’s map skills, use of maps to communicate with policy makers, and visualization of three-dimensional structures by scientists and geoscience students. She designed and produced Where Are We?, an educational software package and associated curricula for elementary school children. She served on the National Research Council’s Committee on the Review of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Education Program. She holds a B.A. in geology and geophysics from Yale University and a Ph.D. in oceanography from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego.
MICHAEL E. MARTINEZ was a professor in the Department of Education at the University of California (UC) at Irvine, where he also served as codirector of the university’s joint doctoral program in education with California State University and as vice chair of the Department of Education. Before joining the UC Irvine faculty, he worked at the Division of Research at the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, New Jersey, where he developed new forms of computer-based testing for assessment in science, architecture, and engineering and as a program director at the National Science Foundation. Earlier in his career, he was a high school science teacher. His research interests were learning and cognition, intelligence, and science and mathematics education. He served on several National Research Council study committees. His honors include the presidential commendation for contributions to psychology from the American Psychological Association. He received a Ph.D. in educational psychology from Stanford University.
DAVID MOGK is a professor of geology at Montana State University, and he is the co-principal investigator of the university’s image and chemical analysis laboratory. His research interests in geology include the evolution of ancient (> 2.5 billion years old) continental crust in southwest Montana, petrologic processes in the mid-crust, spectroscopy of mineral surfaces, and the search for life in extreme environments (from Yellowstone hot springs to the Lake Vostok ice core). He is actively involved in education research and innovation. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), he recently worked on the development of the digital library for earth system education and the National Science Digital Library, and he is currently working on projects related to geoscience education. He is currently a member of NSF’s EarthScope Science and Education Advisory Board. He is a recipient of the excellence in geophysical education award of the American Geophysical Union. He received a B.S. in geology from the University of Michigan and an M.S. and a Ph.D. in geology from the University of Washington.
NATALIE R. NIELSEN (Study Director) is a senior program officer with the National Research Council’s Board on Science Education, where she has also worked on other studies related to K-12 STEM education. Before joining the National Research Council, she was the director of research at the Business-Higher Education Forum, where her work focused on college readiness, access, and success, particularly in STEM, and a senior researcher at SRI International, where she conducted evaluations of a wide variety of reform efforts, including technology initiatives, after-school programs, teacher quality, data-driven decision making, youth development programs, and high school reform. She has also served as a staff writer for Project 2061 of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, exhibit researcher at the National Museum of Natural History, and exhibit writer and internal evaluator at the San Diego Natural History Museum. She holds a B.S. in geology from the University of California at Davis, an M.S. in geological sciences from San Diego State University, and a Ph.D. in education from George Mason University.
Laura R. Novick is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology and Human Development in the Peabody College of Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt University. Her current research explores issues at the interface of cognitive psychology and evolution education and has influenced how tree-of-life diagrams are depicted in biology textbooks. In connection with this work, she recently participated in an interdisciplinary project with natural history museums to make recommendations for improving their tree-of-life exhibits. She has previously conducted research in areas such as analogical problem solving, expertise,
and diagrammatic reasoning. She currently serves on the advisory board for an engineering and robotics education project at Georgia Institute of Technology. She is a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and a recipient of a Spencer fellowship from the National Academy of Education. She holds a B.S in psychology from the University of Iowa and a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from Stanford University.
MARCY OSGOOD is associate professor and vice chair of education in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of New Mexico. She also serves as a curriculum developer and faculty member for the university’s premedical enrichment program, a post-baccalaureate program for educationally disadvantaged students preparing to enter medical school. One aspect of her work has been putting into practice numerous multicontextual learning and teaching modalities for minority students. She is a mentor to other university faculty in curriculum development/course design in conjunction with the university’s School of Medicine teacher and educational development. Previously, she was at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where she coordinated a personalized system of instruction program in biochemistry and taught biology to both majors and nonmajors in the field. She has served as the director and outreach director, respectively, for two New Mexico programs, the Southwest Graduate Coalition Bridges to the Doctorate and the New Mexico Idea Network of Biomedical Research Excellence. She received a Ph.D. in biology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
HEIDI A. SCHWEINGRUBER (Report Co-Editor) is the deputy director of the Board on Science Education at the National Research Council (NRC), where she has directed or co-directed several studies on K-12 science education, including the project that resulted in the NRC report, A Framework for K-12 Science Education (2012). Prior to joining the NRC, she was a senior research associate at the Institute of Education Sciences in the U.S. Department of Education; was the director of research for the School Mathematics Project at Rice University, an outreach program in K-12 mathematics education; and taught in the psychology and education departments at Rice University. She has a Ph.D. in psychology (developmental) and anthropology, and a certificate in culture and cognition from the University of Michigan.
TIMOTHY F. SLATER is a professor at the University of Wyoming where he holds the Wyoming excellence in higher education endowed chair of science education. As part of the university’s Center for Astronomy & Physics Education Research (CAPER), his scholarship focuses on the cognitive processes underlying how students engage in learning science and how teachers
learn to teach science. He works with college and university faculty members on improving teaching practices for both nonscience majors and future teachers. He has been an elected board member of the National Science Teachers Association, the Society of College Science Teachers, the American Astronomical Society, and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. He was also a founding member of the editorial board for the Astronomy Education Review. He holds a B.S. in physical science and a B.S. in secondary education from Kansas State University, an M.S. in physics and astronomy from Clemson University, and a Ph.D. in geological sciences and geophysics from the University of South Carolina.
KARL A. SMITH is cooperative learning professor of engineering education at the School of Engineering Education at Purdue University. He also has appointments as the Morse-alumni distinguished teaching professor and a professor of civil engineering at the University of Minnesota. His research and development interests include building rigorous research capabilities in engineering education; the role of cooperation in learning and design; problem formulation, modeling, and knowledge engineering; and project and knowledge management. He is a fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education and past chair of the society’s Educational Research and Methods Division. He has served as the principal investigator or co-principal investigator on several National Science Foundation projects, including two centers for learning and teaching and a dissemination project on course, curriculum, and laboratory improvement. He holds a B.S. and an M.S. in metallurgical engineering from Michigan Technological University and a Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Minnesota.
WILLIAM B. WOOD is a distinguished professor of molecular, cellular, and developmental biology (emeritus) at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Previously, he was on the faculty of the California Institute of Technology. His early research focused on the assembly of complex viruses that infect bacteria. More recently, his research interests have included biology education and the genetic control and molecular biology of axis formation, pattern formation, and sex determination in development of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. He is the recipient of several awards for his scientific achievements, including the Bruce Alberts award for distinguished contributions to science education from the American Society for Cell Biology. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and has served on National Research Council study committees. He received a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Stanford University.
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