APPENDIX B
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF ORGANIZING COMMITTEE MEMBERS, PRESENTERS, AND PANELISTS
COMMITTEE
Norman L. Fortenberry (Cochair) is executive director (since 2011) of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), with direct and full-time responsibility for executive and administrative management of the continuing operations and headquarters functions of ASEE. He also serves as secretary to the board of directors. ASEE is an international society of individual, institutional, and corporate members founded in 1893 and committed to promoting global excellence in engineering and engineering technology instruction, research, public service, professional practice, and societal awareness. Fortenberry was previously the founding director of the Center for the Advancement of Scholarship on Engineering Education (CASEE) at the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). CASEE, the NAE’s first operating center, promoted research on teaching and learning and sought to translate research results into improved educational practices in precollege, collegiate, and work-based settings. Before that Fortenberry was senior advisor for policy, analysis, and planning to the assistant director for education and human resources at the National Science Foundation (NSF). He concurrently served as director of the NSF Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) and then, while holding that post, serving as director of DUE, Fortenberry also served for two years as director of NSF’s division of Human Resource Development—making him the first person to simultaneously serve as head of two NSF divisions. Before becoming a division director at NSF, Fortenberry was executive director of the National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering and Science (the GEM Consortium), a national alliance of employers and universities dedicated to increasing the number and success of engineering and science graduate degree recipients from underrepresented minority populations. Fortenberry began his career as a member of the mechanical engineering faculty at the Florida A&M University—Florida State University College of Engineering. He is a fellow of ASEE and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the author or coauthor of more than 48 peer-reviewed publications, and he has written proposals for funded projects exceeding $16 million. He received his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Donna Migdol (Cochair) is a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teacher and professional developer for the six Oceanside (New York) elementary schools. Ms. Migdol previously taught grades 3–6 and was the mathematics and science lead teacher for the school district. Ms. Migdol has presented her classroom engineering design and math lessons to the Peer Review Panel in Albany, as well as to the National Science Foundation in Washington, DC. As a third grade teacher, WNET and Teacher Net filmed Donna’s classroom as engineering design coupled with inquiry-
based math and science instruction was highlighted. Donna Migdol codeveloped and facilitated the Math, Science, and Technology Summer Institute at Hofstra University, after her participation at Hofstra, Stony Brooks and Brookhaven Labs five-year National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded MSTe implementation plan. She is also an adjunct professor at Hofstra University, where she teaches graduate STEM courses. Ms. Migdol has served as an elementary mathematics and STEM consultant for school districts across Long Island and in New York City. She has published several articles, and her work as a teacher has been cited in Alfie Kohn’s book, The Schools Our Children Deserve (Houghton Mifflin, 2000). Ms. Migdol’s work with students was also cited in chapter 1 of Exemplary Science in Grades 5–8: Standards-Based Success Stories, edited by Robert E. Yager. She partnered with Hofstra University’s Center for Technological Literacy as a curriculum writer and professional developer for two grant-funded projects geared to support STEM literacy in grades 6–8. Donna Migdol was the keynote presenter for Hofstra’s Humanities and Social Sciences Online (HNET) Conference, where her presentation centered on “What a classroom could be . . .” In 2012 Ms. Migdol’s fifth-grade class involved in roller coaster physics was filmed by WNET and the Teaching Channel. She also served as a committee member for the National Academy of Engineering/National Research Council Committee on Integrated STEM Education, which authored the report STEM Integration in K–12 Education: Status, Prospects, and an Agenda for Research (2014). In the classroom, in 2013 Ms. Migdol had five sixth-grade teams who became national finalists in the Siemen’s “We Can Change the World” Challenge. In 2015 Donna Migdol also served as a judge for the National Academy of Engineering’s Engineering for You Video Contest. Ms. Migdol copresented a STEM workshop and served as a panelist at the STEM and The Next Generation Science Standards conference at the NY Hall of Science. Her work most recently has been to codevelop, integrate, and teach a comprehensive integrated 4–6 STEM program in the Oceanside schools. She will be codeveloping the curriculum for grade 3 shortly. In 2016 Ms. Migdol was asked to copresent the Oceanside STEM districtwide implementation design to the Nassau County Assistant Superintendent’s Organization. Since then, eight school district leaders have come to see Oceanside’s integrated elementary STEM model. Ms. Migdol continues to search out ways to integrate student-centered learning strategies into a STEM experience for students who will eventually be asked to use their passion for science, math and engineering to uncover solutions to the great problems we have left them to solve.
Linda M. Abriola (NAE) is director of the Tufts Institute of the Environment, professor of civil and environmental engineering, and adjunct professor in chemical and biological engineering. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS), and a fellow of the American Geophysical Union. Before her appointment at Tufts, she was the Horace Williams King Collegiate Professor of Environmental Engineering at the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on the integration of mathematical modeling and laboratory experiments for the investigation and prediction of the transport and fate of reactive contaminants in the subsurface. An author of more than 130 refereed publications, she is particularly known for her work on the characterization and remediation of aquifers contaminated by chlorinated solvents. Dr. Abriola’s numerous professional activities have included service on the US Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board, the National Research Council (NRC) Water Science and Technology Board, and the US Department of Energy’s Natural and Accelerated Bioremediation Research (NABIR) Advisory Committee. She served on the NRC’s Committee on Ground Water Cleanup Alternatives,
which investigated the efficacy of pump-and-treat technologies; the National Academy of Engineering Committee on Gender Differences in Careers of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Faculty; the Offshoring Engineering Workshop Committee, and STEM Integration in K–12 Education. She is the recipient of numerous honors, including the Association for Women Geoscientists’ Outstanding Educator Award (1996), the National Ground Water Association’s Distinguished Darcy Lectureship (1996), and the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program Project of the Year Award in Environmental Restoration (2006 and 2012) and was named Drexel University’s Engineering Leader of the Year in 2013. Dean Abriola received her PhD and master’s degree from Princeton University and a bachelor’s degree from Drexel University, all in civil engineering.
Robert B. Friend is the chief engineer for space systems in the Boeing Phantom Works (California). He has 31 years of experience in engineering and program management, and is a 31-year employee of the Boeing Company, beginning his career on the Space Shuttle program, one of the businesses acquired by the Boeing purchase of the Rockwell Aerospace and Defense businesses. Prior to this he was chief engineer for advanced space and intelligence systems and chief engineer for Boeing’s small satellite programs, which encompass company efforts to develop new spacecraft designs, avionics, and software and was responsible for the initial development of the Boeing 702SP, the first commercial all electric propelled spacecraft. Previous to the AS&IS chief engineer position, he was director for platform engineering in Boeing’s Southern California operations—responsible for engineering at four sites and the technologies of mechanical, structural, tooling, configuration design, aerodynamics, GN&C (guidance, navigation, and control), acoustics, aerothermal, mass properties, and propulsion engineering—and was co-leader for the BDS Flight Function, a functional engineering team that coordinated tool, technology, process, and staff development across 14 separate Boeing sites. Prior to the Platform Engineering directorship, Bob was chief engineer and program manager for the Orbital Express program, a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) project that successfully demonstrated autonomous rendezvous, docking, and propellant and commodity transfers between satellites. In this position he received the Engineer of the Year award for the Boeing Huntington Beach and Anaheim sites, and the Orange County Engineering Council’s James E. Ballinger Engineer of the Year award. Prior to Orbital Express, he managed the Attitude Control Systems Engineering (ACS) department at Boeing’s El Segundo Satellite Development Center, where he was also the ACS lead for the XM3/4 spacecraft. Other leadership and program execution positions that Mr. Friend has held include functional and technical leadership of the Ascent, Orbit, and Entry Guidance, Controls and Dynamics group, Rockwell Orbit GNC team lead for Shuttle/Mir Docking missions, and Boeing Non-Advocate Review team lead for Tracking and Data Relay Satellite I (TDRS-I) recovery efforts. He attended Northrop University in Inglewood, California, graduating in 1984.
Janice Koch is professor emerita of science education at Hofstra University on Long Island, New York, where she directed IDEAS—the Institute for the Development of Education in the Advanced Sciences. This outreach institute fostered the public understanding of science and showcased cutting edge science and technology to the local university community. Dr. Koch is the past president of the Association for Science Teacher Education (ASTE). She taught courses addressing introduction to education, action research, science education, engineering design, and gender issues in the classroom and qualitative research. Dr. Koch earned her PhD in education at New York
University, where her cognate area was environmental science. Her research explores furthering the science and literacy experiences of underserved and underrepresented youth in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. She was the co–principal investigator of a teacher enhancement grant (1996–2001) integrating engineering design challenges into science and mathematics education in New York State grades K–5. She was recently (2007–2015) senior personnel for two National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded grants addressing ecology and biodiversity in New York City middle schools and high schools. She was the external evaluator on an NSF Math and Science Partnership grant integrating alternative energy technologies into middle school science in Ohio (2010–1014). Currently, she is the science curriculum consultant for an NSF Discovery Research PreK–12 grant, integrating science and engineering into middle school science for English Language Learners in Texas. She is the author of TEACH, 3rd ed. (2016), an introduction to education textbook, and Science Stories: Science Methods for Elementary and Middle School Teachers, 6th ed. (2017). Dr. Koch integrates engineering education into her pre-service and in-service science education textbook and uses design thinking to apply concepts in natural science to humanmade systems.
K. Renae Pullen is a member of the National Academies Teacher Advisory Council. She has been an educator in Caddo Parish Public Schools for over 17 years. Currently, she is the K–6 science curriculum instructional specialist for Caddo Parish. She previously taught both third and fourth grades at Herndon Magnet and Riverside Elementary in Shreveport, and she has been an adjunct professor for Louisiana Technical University (teacher leadership) and LSU–Shreveport (elementary science methods). Pullen has received numerous awards and honors, including Walmart Local Teacher of the Year, Caddo Parish Elementary Teacher of the Year, a Fund for Teachers fellowship to study in Spain, a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship to study the American skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois, numerous grants to support science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instruction, and the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching in 2008. Ms. Pullen is dedicated to professional service. She has served on several local, state, and national committees and presented at numerous district, state, and national workshops and conferences. In 2011, she participated in the White House Champions of Change Event: Women & Girls in STEM. Ms. Pullen has a BA in elementary education from Northwestern State University, and an MEd in educational leadership from Louisiana State University in Shreveport, and she is certified as a Teacher Leader by the State of Louisiana.
Michael Town is a member of the National Academies Teacher Advisory Council. He has taught science and engineering courses for over 30 years in Redmond Washington. In 2010–2011 he served as an Einstein Fellow working on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education policy issues for the National Science Board, which provides oversight to the National Science Foundation. On his return to Redmond he was instrumental in the formation of Tesla STEM High School, a public lottery-based high school, and the development of a seven million dollar environmental education center. He has served on the Steering Committee on Climate Change Education in Formal Settings, and the STEM Integration in K–12 Education reports. He has also chaired STEM Learning Is Everywhere: Engaging Schools and Empowering Teachers to Integrate Formal, Informal, and After-School Education to Enhance Teaching and Learning in Grades K–8 and the Exploring Opportunities for STEM Teacher Leadership convocations and reports. Town has been awarded the National Education Association (NEA) Foundation Green Prize, Amgen Science Teaching Award, Presidential Innovation
Award for Environmental Educators and the Siemens Outstanding Educator Award. Currently he teaches advanced placement Environmental Science, Environmental Engineering, and Sustainable Design and the University of Washington Science of Climate Change courses. In his free time Town works on preserving public land and was instrumental in the passage by Congress of the Wild Sky Wilderness Act, which preserved over 106,000 acres in Washington State in 2008.
Bruce Wellman is a National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT, chemistry) who teaches engineering, chemistry, and robotics as part of the Aerospace & Engineering Program at Olathe Northwest High School in Olathe, Kansas. Wellman completed his BS degree in general science (focus in chemistry) at Penn State University and his MS in education at the University of Rochester (New York). He has taught overseas as an English teacher in French-speaking Africa as well as a chemistry/advanced placement chemistry teacher in the United States in rural, urban, and suburban settings. He received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Teaching in 2009 and served as a Teacher Ambassador Fellow at the US Department of Education during the 2011–12 academic year. Wellman has organized and led small- and large-scale professional development for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teachers and has been active in bridging the gap between STEM education research and classroom practices. He has provided workshops throughout the country on how to teach using a student-centered approach called Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) and was a contributing author for a published collection of high school chemistry POGIL classroom activities (POGIL Activities for High School Chemistry, Flinn Scientific, 2012). He has served on two National Science Foundation (NSF) review panels and has co-authored three different NSF proposals submitted to NSF for potential projects to improve STEM teaching practices and student learning. Wellman has also been involved with teacher preparation programs through serving as a mentor teacher for chemistry student-teachers as well as teaching the Science Teaching Methods class for secondary preservice teachers at Rockhurst University (Kansas City, Missouri). Wellman is involved with precollege engineering education at the national level and currently serves as a member of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Board of Directors’ Committee on P-12 Engineering Education. Wellman has also served on the executive board of the Precollege Engineering Education Division of ASEE. At the state level, Wellman has been involved with science standards development and teacher training through serving as the lead engineering standards reviewer for the Kansas Lead State Review Team for the Next Generation Science Standards.
PRESENTERS AND PANELISTS
Laura Bottomley joined North Carolina State University in fall 1997 with the mission of creating the Women in Engineering program. She soon realized the need for and originated the K–12 Outreach Program in 1999. She is responsible for the oversight of the Engineering Place and its strategic operations. She is also a frequent creative contributor to program content. She holds primary responsibility for funding operation and personnel. Bottomley also runs the Women in Engineering program, advises students and teaches the E 101 Introduction to Engineering and Problem-Solving class for first-year students.
Bottomley graduated from Virginia Tech with a BS and an MS in electrical engineering in 1984 and 1985, respectively. She spent two years at AT&T Bell Laboratories, before
returning to school at NC State for her PhD in electrical and computer engineering. She has also taught at Duke University, where she began her work in K–12 Outreach while teaching undergraduate and graduate electrical engineering courses. Since then, she has consulted with Lockheed Martin, IBM, MCNC, and others before eventually originating her current position in the Office Academic Affairs in the College of Engineering at NC State.
Bottomley is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a member of the American Society for Engineering Education, a faculty advisor for the Society of Women Engineers at NC State, a member of the steering committee for the National Assessment for Educational Progress assessment in technological literacy, and a frequent guest speaker for various groups (e.g., https://www.allbusiness.com/services/business-services/4342779-1.html).
She has been inducted into the YWCA Academy of Women for her work in empowering women and eliminating racism. The combined Women in Engineering and K–12 Outreach Program under her tutelage received the institutional President’s Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring in 2000. In 2009 Bottomley received the individual President’s Award for Excellence. Also in 2009 IEEE honored her with the Educational Activities Board Informal Education Award. Some of her National Science Foundation–sponsored work with K–12 was featured on the NSF Discoveries website in 2005.
Peggy Brookins joined the National Board as executive vice president in December 2014, and was named president and CEO in November 2015. Her long career as an educator includes many national leadership positions and accolades. In July 2014, President Barack Obama named Brookins as a member of the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans. She joins the National Board from the Engineering and Manufacturing Institute of Technology at Forest High School in Ocala, Florida, which she co-founded in 1994 and where she served as director and as a mathematics instructor.
On the NBPTS Board from 2007 to 2011, Brookins served as audit committee chair and on the CEO Search Committee. In addition, she has served on the board of inBloom, the Conference Board of Mathematical Sciences Ad Hoc Committee on Teachers as Professionals, and the Content Technical Working Group for the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, and as a commissioner on the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation. She has served as a national trainer for the American Federation of Teachers (Thinking Mathematics K–2, 3–6, 6–8 Common Core, collaborator and national trainer for Thinking Mathematics 6–8) and is also a member of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers assessment team. She serves on the Advisory Board of Digital Promise, P21 Executive Board, and the Executive Board of the Trump Foundation of Israel.
Brookins achieved her certification in Adult and Young Adolescent Mathematics in 2003 and renewed it in 2013. She was inducted into the University of Florida Hall of Fame in 2009, is a Florida Education Association “Everyday Hero,” and received the association’s Excellence in Teaching Award. In 2013, Brookins was named an Aspen Ideas Festival Scholar. She received a BS degree from the University of Florida.
Cheryl Farmer is Director of Precollege Engineering Education Initiatives at the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), where her work focuses on creating and facilitating multidisciplinary collaborations to develop standards-based, research-based
engineering curricula and instructional support programs. As co-founder of the National Science Foundation–funded UTeachEngineering program, she led UT Austin’s efforts to develop and roll out a high-quality, low-cost, hands-on, project-based high school engineering course; an innovative teacher professional development and induction program; and undergraduate and graduate degree programs for pre-service and in-service teachers of engineering. In 2012, recognizing the need for clear guidance to assist K–12 teachers and administrators in selecting appropriate professional development opportunities for engineering, she launched a national effort to develop a research-based framework of Standards for Professional Development for K–12 Teachers of Engineering. Her previous work in higher education includes the creation of an academic enrichment and mentorship program for university freshmen with a special focus on supporting first-generation college students. Ms. Farmer is a past recipient of the Dodd Teaching Excellence Award from the Department of Mathematics at The University of Texas at Austin.
Jacob Foster joined the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in 2005 and has served as the director of science and technology/engineering since 2006. In this role, Foster oversees the state’s standards and curriculum framework for science and technology/engineering, the state-funded professional development opportunities and support for districts. He is active in the implementation of the state’s Race to the Top grant, Math and Science Partnership program, and online learning grants for credit recovery and professional development. Foster is an active member of the state’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) planning process and is a member of the Operations Board for the governor’s STEM Advisory Council. He also serves on the Board of the Council for State Science Supervisors. Outside of his work for the state of Massachusetts, Foster has been a member of the writing team for the National Science Teacher Association’s Anchors project and the design team for the National Research Council’s Conceptual Framework for K–12 Science Education.
Previously, Foster has worked with the Coalition of Essential Schools on school reform and first started at the Department conducting school reviews as part of the state accountability system. He has taught high school physical and earth sciences and served as a middle school science coach and science teacher educator. Through these roles Foster has worked to actively engage students and teachers in science learning and integrated STEM curriculum.
Foster earned a BA with a focus in earth science from Hampshire College and an MA and PhD in science education from the University of Michigan.
Camsie McAdams An experienced science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education leader with more than 15 years in urban, public K–12 education, McAdams brings vast experience to her role at Discovery Education. Most recently McAdams served in the Obama administration as the deputy director for STEM at the U.S. Department of Education. She has also worked as the director of STEM for District of Columbia Public Schools. With over a decade of experience teaching math, science, and literacy in New York City Public Schools and in California’s Oakland Unified School District, she is a recipient of several teaching awards, including the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics Teaching for the state of New York. McAdams received a degree in general engineering and political science from the University of Denver, and a masters of education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Beth McGrath has served as chief of staff, Office of the President, since July 1, 2012 and was named Stevens Institute of Technology’s director of community and state relations in 2013. As Chief of Staff, Beth represents the Office of the President on all internal and external initiatives and works with the president to ensure progress on a wide range of Stevens projects, initiatives, and opportunities; provide advisement and counsel; monitor implementation of the strategic plan; and manage the Office of the President to ensure high standards of excellence. As director of community and state relations, Beth serves as the liaison with local and state government to advance Stevens interests across a broad range of issues.
A 25+-year veteran of Stevens, McGrath has held leadership roles within the administration and academic enterprises, as director of marketing and communications in the early 1990s, and as deputy director, director, and executive director of the Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education (CIESE) from 1993 to 2012.
In her role as director of marketing and communications, McGrath oversaw the development and production of all presidential, development, admissions, academic and research publications and collateral materials; handled media relations and outreach; developed and managed an award-winning image advertising campaign, and managed special events, including commencement and convocation and the campus’s 1992 Tall Ships celebration, which brought thousands of alumni and visitors to Stevens. She also wrote speeches for the President and handled crisis communications.
In her leadership roles at CIESE, McGrath’s contributions helped position the Center as a national leader in the use of technology to improve K–12 science and mathematics education, including in the formulation of several transformative initiatives: a $2.9 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant in 1993 to explore innovative applications of the Internet for K–12 science and mathematics education that directly impacted 3,000 New Jersey teachers; a $9.3 million US Department of Education grant (1998) to build capacity in for the use of the Internet in K–12 science and mathematics education that impacted 8,000 teachers in three states; an $11.5 million NSF Math–Science Partnership grant, one of NSF’s first engineering-focused MSP grants awarded; and a $2.0 million Department of Defense-sponsored research study to develop models to improve student learning and increase interest in systems engineering careers.
McGrath and her team conceptualized and led the launch of the Stevens K–12 engineering initiative, “Engineering Our Future NJ,” a statewide demonstration project that explored the integration of engineering in mainstream science and mathematics courses in elementary through secondary classrooms. This effort brought state and national recognition to Stevens for its pioneering K–12 engineering education efforts and led to approximately $29 million in funding for CIESE’s K–20 engineering education work from corporate, foundation and public sources.
Under McGrath’s leadership, CIESE was recognized in January 2011 by President Obama for the prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics, Science, and Engineering Mentoring, acknowledging the Center’s 24 years of leadership in STEM education. In 2014 with colleagues Jason Sayres and Mercedes McKay, McGrath was awarded the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Advancement of Invention Award for WaterBoticsTM with codevelopers M. McKay and J. Sayres. She was also named by the Office of the Secretary of Higher Education in New Jersey to the STEM Advisory Council (2014–).
McGrath has published or contributed to dozens of academic and scholarly papers and conference proceedings on K–12 engineering education and the use of technology in schools. She has given invited talks at the National Academy of Engineering and other US and international forums. She has served on the National
Academy of Engineering/National Research Council Committee on Integrated STEM Education, the Steering Committee of the National Assessment of Education Progress Technology and Engineering Literacy Assessment 2014, and on the advisory boards of several NSF-funded projects.
