Speakers and Thought Leaders

Affiliation/Institution: AAAS
Job Title/Position: Head of Education and Human Resources Programs
About: Shirley Malcom is head of Education and Human Resources Programs at AAAS. She works to improve the quality and increase access to education and careers in STEM fields as well as to enhance public science literacy. Dr. Malcom is a trustee of Caltech and a regent of Morgan State University, and a member of the SUNY Research Council. She is a former member of the National Science Board, the policymaking body of the National Science Foundation, and served on President Clinton's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology. Malcom, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, received her Ph.D. in ecology from The Pennsylvania State University, master's in zoology from UCLA and bachelor's with distinction in zoology from the University of Washington. She holds 16 honorary degrees.

Affiliation/Institution: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Job Title/Position: Vice President and Program Director
About: Daniel Goroff is Vice President and Program Director at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, a private philanthropy that supports breakthroughs in science, technology, and economics. He is especially interested in behavioral economics, government regulation, big data, and higher education. Goroff is Professor Emeritus of Mathematics and Economics at Harvey Mudd College, where he served as Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty. Before that, he was a faculty member at Harvard University for over twenty years. Daniel Goroff has twice worked for the President’s Science Advisor in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, most recently as Assistant Director for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences.

Affiliation/Institution: National Research Council
Job Title/Position: Senior Advisor for Education and Communication
About: Jay Labov is Senior Advisor for Education and Communication for the National Research Council (NRC). He has directed or contributed to more than fifteen NRC reports on K-12, undergraduate, and international education. He directs the NAS's efforts to confront challenges to teaching evolution in the nation's public schools and oversees work on improving education in the life sciences through the NRC's Board on Life Sciences. He is a Kellogg National Fellow, a Fellow in Education of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow, and recipient of the "Friend of Darwin" award from the National Center for Science Education.

Affiliation/Institution: Learning Spaces Collaboratory (LSC); Independent Colleges Office (ICO)
Job Title/Position: Principal, Learning Spaces Collaboratory (LSC); Director of the Independent Colleges Office (ICO)
About: Jeanne L. Narum is Principal of the Learning Spaces Collaboratory (LSC), Director Emeritus of Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL) and Director of the Independent Colleges Office (ICO), all located in Washington, D.C. A nationally recognized advocate for undergraduate education, her activities collectively reflect her commitment to ensure today’s undergraduates--no matter their background or career aspiration--have access to learning environments that equip them to be tomorrow’s leaders. During the past twenty years, PKAL has played a major role in catalyzing discussions about the why and how of transforming undergraduate programs in STEM fields. Narum has facilitated opportunities for informed conversations among early-career STEM faculty, within and between STEM disciplinary societies, engaging leaders and leadership teams from campuses and organizations across the country. Narum received the 2010 Founder’s Award from the Society of College and University Planners (SCUP), was made a 2010 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), received the award for academic excellence from the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC), a lifetime achievement award from Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience, and a presidential citation from the American Psychological Association. She was named an AWIS fellow by the Association for Women in Science and is a St. Olaf College Distinguished Alumna.

Affiliation/Institution: University System of Maryland
Job Title/Position: Associate Vice Chancellor for Education and Outreach
About: Nancy Shapiro is the Associate Vice Chancellor for Education and Outreach at the University System of Maryland. She is Special Assistant to the Chancellor for P-20 Education, working on issues related to STEM undergraduate education, teacher education, and college readiness. As PI and project director of multiple NSF and U. S. Department of Education partnership grants, her work focuses on curriculum and instruction across the P-20 continuum leading to changes in policy and practice.

Affiliation/Institution: University System of Maryland
Job Title/Position: Director, Center for Innovation and Excellence in Learning and Teaching
About: MJ Bishop is inaugural director of the University System of Maryland's Center for Innovation and Excellence in Learning and Teaching, which was established in 2013 to enhance and promote USM's position as a national leader in higher education academic innovations. The Center conducts research on best practices, disseminates findings, offers professional development opportunities for institutional faculty and administrators, and supports the 12 public institutions that are part of the system as they continue to expand innovative academic practices.

Affiliation/Institution: Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Job Title/Position: Senior Program Officer in Precollege and Undergraduate Science Education
About: A professor and chair in the Department of Biology at Spelman from 2005 to 2011, Cynthia Bauerle, Ph.D., now serves as assistant director in Precollege and Undergraduate Science Education at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, Md. During her tenure at Spelman, Dr. Bauerle was program director of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Undergraduate Science Program, coordinated a multi-year curriculum transformation project in biology, taught biology, and served as an undergraduate research student advisor. In her current position, Dr. Bauerle currently manages the HHMI Professors Program and oversees post-award activities related to science education grants to colleges and universities. She also served as a professor at Hamline University, where she held a joint appointment in biology and women's studies.

Affiliation/Institution: Helmsley Trust
Job Title/Position: Program Officer
About: Prior to coming to the Trust, Ryan spent thirteen years at the Columbia University Center for New Media Teaching and Learning, most recently as the Director of Projects. At Columbia, Ryan led a team of educational technologists and design specialists partnering with faculty on innovative educational projects in the full range of academic disciplines, including simulations, case studies, health interventions, and global learning initiatives with funding from multiple public and private sources. He has also served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor and Instructor at Teachers College and New York University, offering courses in the design and analysis of effective solutions for improving higher education classroom practice using purposeful technology. Ryan earned his Ed.D. and M.A. in Communication and Education from Teachers College and his B.S. in biology from Santa Clara University. He also devotes time to environmental issues by serving on the board of the Black Rock Forest Consortium. He lives in Manhattan with his wife and two children.

Affiliation/Institution: NSF
Job Title/Position: Division Director
About: Susan R. Singer, Laurence McKinley Gould Professor of Natural Sciences, joined the Department of Biology at Carleton in 1986 and has pursued a career that integrates science and education. She has B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees, all from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and completed a teacher certification program in New York State. Susan has directed Carleton's Perlman Center for Learning and Teaching and worked at the National Science Foundation as a program officer in Developmental Mechanisms. Her biological research focuses on the evolution, genetics, and development of flowering in legumes with an interest in prairie legumes as a biofuel source. NSF supports her flowering research and her research on undergraduate genomics education. She co-authors an introductory biology text and is actively engaged in efforts to improve undergraduate science education. In 2004 she received the Excellence in Teaching award from the American Society of Plant Biology. Within Minnesota she coaches Northfield High School's Science Olympiad team and works with the Agricultural Utilization Research Institute's Renewable Energy Roundtable. Nationally she serves on the board of directors for Project Kaleidoscope, for the NSF-funded iPlant cyberinfrastructure collaborative, and for the National Academies' Board on Science Education. National Academies committee service has included contributions to the Committee on Undergraduate Science Education, the committee that authored America's Lab Report (chair), the committee that authored Taking Science to School (science consultant), a committee on agriculture education, and the committee on Promising Practices in STEM Undergraduate Education (chair).

Project: Creating a Web Presence for the I3 Track
Affiliation/Institution: TERC
Job Title/Position: PI
About: Joni Falk co-directs the Center for School Reform at TERC, a nonprofit research and development institution aimed at improving mathematics and science teaching and learning. She is the PI of multiple NSF grants including MSPnet.org, IGERT.org, and NSF-I3.org as well as other research projects aimed at studying technology infusion in K-12 settings and the implementation of inquiry-based science teaching. Her work has focused on using technology as an effective tool for knowledge generation, mentoring, dissemination, and broadening access. She has led efforts to create online professional learning communities as well as video competition platforms that have enabled graduate students to disseminate their cutting-edge science to the public at large.

Project: Creating a Web Presence for the I3 Track
Affiliation/Institution: TERC
Job Title/Position: Co-PI
About: Kathryn Hobbs is a Senior Researcher in the Center for School Reform at TERC. Her work has focused on the research and development of community-based websites for several educational constituencies funded by NSF including the MSP, IGERT, and I3 programs. Currently, she serves as CoPI of NSF-I3.org as well as the content manager and community outreach coordinator for IGERT.org, an interactive collegial network and resource center. In this role, she has also served as a facilitator for the online IGERT Video and Poster Competitions.