Sharon Lynch, PhD, is a science educator and researcher who has focused on science education policy and science education policy research. She has written several peer-reviewed articles on science education policy, school practice and equity issues, and has published a book, Equity and Science Education Reform (2000). She has a recent chapter (2011), Equity and US Science Education Policy from the GI Bill to NCLB: From Opportunity Denied to Mandated Outcomes for a new book edited by George DeBoer, called Research in Science Education: The Role of Public Policy in K-12 Science Education, edited by George DeBoer of AAAS. Another chapter, ISO metaphor and theory for scale-up research: Eagles in the Anacostia and activity systems will appear in the Second International Handbook of Science Education, edited by Barry Fraser, Ken Tobin, & C. McRobbie in 2012. Lynch has also written articles on science teacher education policy and ability grouping. Her last major recent research project was Scaling up highly rated science curricula in diverse student populations: Using evidence to close achievement gaps, a $5M+ project funded by the NSF/Interagency Research Initiative. This project focused on implementation, feasibility, scale-up and sustainability issues for middle school science curriculum materials. An article summing up the results of that six year study will be published in February, 2012 in the Journal of Research in Science Teaching, and is entitled: A Retrospective View of a Study of Middle School Science Curriculum Materials: Implementation, Scale-up, and Sustainability in Changing Policy Environment. Sharon Lynch is currently the PI on a new NSF DRK-12 project, called Opportunity Structures for Preparation and Inspiration (OSPrI). This research, currently in its first year (2011-12), focuses on inclusive STEM-focused high schools. It will select 12 exemplary schools from across the US, and conduct site-based structured case studies that include 10 candidate critical components of the selected schools. The goal is to provide rich cases that reflect the important attributes of the schools to the field, as well as to make comparisons across schools. The study will also focus on students’ experiences in the schools from students’ points of view. Sharon Lynch is president-elect of the NARST (National Association of Research in Science Teaching), A Worldwide Organization for Improving Science Teaching and Learning Through Research. She serves on many national committees on science education and is a frequent contributor at national conferences.

I am Director of Grants Development for Strategic Initiatives at Rockland Community College in Suffern, NY, and serve as a researcher/program developer/administrator. This NSF project is with PI Dr. Edmund W. Gordon. I have several areas of interest, including: research, development and partnerships that advance STEM-related K-16 education and career development for students, particularly those from under-represented groups; the development of a regional incubator/accelerator to promote STEM-related economic development and job growth; the development a K-16 STEM pipeline to promote regional STEM-related innovation, invention, and entrepreneurship; and the development of "second-chance" STEM-prep programs in community colleges to provide under-prepared K-16 students with a second-chance for college-level study and careers in STEM related fields.

Dr. Neil Heffernan graduated summa cum laude from Amherst College in History and Computer Science. Neil taught mathematics to eighth grade students in Baltimore City as part of Teach for America, a program that selectively recruits top candidates to teach in inner-city schools. Neil then decided to do something easier and get a PhD in building intelligent tutoring systems. Neil enrolled in Carnegie Mellon University's Computer Science Department to do multi-disciplinary research in cognitive science and computer science to create educational software that leads to higher student achievement. For his dissertation, Neil built the first intelligent tutoring system that incorporated a model of tutorial dialog. This system was shown to lead to higher student learning, by getting students to think more deeply about problems. It is based upon detailed studies of students, which produced basic cognitive science research results on the nature of human thinking and learning. This technology was patented and licensed to Carnegie Learning Inc. which has sold tutors to 1,000+ high schools across the US. Neil is now a tenured professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he is focused on creating "cognitive models", computer simulations of student thinking and learning, which are then used to design educational materials, practices and technologies. Neil and his colleagues are working in close collaboration with the Worcester Public Schools, teams of teachers and WPI graduate students to create the next generation of intelligent tutoring systems. Neil’s current system, called ASSISTments is used by 6,000+ middle school student as part of their normal math class. He has gotten awards from the Worcester school system and the Massachusetts of School Committees for his work helping schools. Neil has written over 40 strictly peer-reviewed publications. Neil is one of the most successful grant writers at WPI. Since coming to WPI, Neil has received over a dozen grants (3 from NSF including the prestigious CAREER award, 3 from the US Dept of Education, as well as grants from the Office of Naval Research, the US Army, the Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center and the Spencer Foundation) worth over 9 million dollars. Recently, Neil’s work was cited in the National Educational Technology Plan. Neil started the learning sciences and technologies program and has seen to grow to include three more faculty members and now have a PhD program that he is the executive director of.

Elham Kazemi is an associate professor of mathematics education at the University of Washington. Her work fits within a growing body of research that explores the long-term supports that enable teachers and schools to meet the complex demands of teaching mathematics for understanding. She has extensive experience designing and studying professional development experiences for teachers in which they learn about and design instructional practices that build student reasoning in mathematics. Two central themes run through her research: (1) examining tools for professional education and teacher learning, and (2) investigating student learning and classroom practice. Currently she is collaborating on two projects. The first (RMLL: Researching Mathematics Leader Learning) aims to study the knowledge and skills that professional educators need when leading mathematical tasks in professional development. The second (LTP: Learning in, from, and through Practice) involves supporting ambitious pedagogy by redesigning mathematics teacher education to focus on the use of routine instructional activities and coached rehearsals.

Bruce Johnson is an Associate Professor of science education and Head of the Department of Teaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies at the University of Arizona, where he also serves as Director of the Earth Education Research and Evaluation Team. Dr. Johnson received his PhD in Educational Psychology with a minor in Science Education from the University of New Mexico in 1998. He was previously an elementary and middle school science teacher. As International Program Coordinator for The Institute for Earth Education, he works on curriculum projects with educators around the world. His current research includes a focus on the development of children’s ecological understandings, perceptions and actions and the development and validation of classroom learning environment perception instruments. Dr. Johnson teaches undergraduate elementary science methods and graduate courses in science education and environmental learning.

Bill is Senior Scientist at KCP Technologies where he leads the Fathom® Dynamic Data Software development team. His experience includes software development, curriculum development, research into programming tools, teacher professional development, classroom teaching, and research on learning statistics. He has been principal investigator of several NSF/SBIR and ED/SBIR funded projects, most recently Data Games, a collaboration with Cliff Konold at UMass Amherst. Prior to working at KCP Technologies, he served as Educational Technology Director at Key Curriculum Press where, in addition to starting the Fathom project, he conducted research and development of materials to support implementation of The Geometer’s Sketchpad and led the NSF/SBIR-supported effort to start a professional development center. Bill's experience as a software developer began in 1978 at San Francisco State University working with Diane Resek to create curriculum and computer environments for Statistics without Fear, Computers without Fear, and Computers in the Classroom. With Resek, he co-authored the Mirrors on the Mind software series and was co-PI of the Math Worlds project and the Computer Curriculum Cadre project. His research with Laura Gould at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center culminated in the development of a Smalltalk-based authoring environment called Programming by Rehearsal. At the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley, he led the team that developed DataRelator, an early hypertext relational database. Bill’s current interests center on developing software and curriculum to prepare students and teachers to make intelligent use of the data deluging our society.

As a textbook author, software developer and educational researcher, Danny Edelson has dedicated his career to improving young people’s understanding of the world they live in and their role in determining its future. In his position as vice president for education, he oversees National Geographic’s outreach to educators and its efforts to improve geographic and geoscience education in the United States and abroad. This work includes the creation of educational materials for learners of all ages, the delivery of professional development for educators, the implementation of public engagement programs, advocacy on behalf of geographic education in policy discussions and grant-making to support geographic literacy initiatives throughout the United States and Canada. Edelson began his career in education as a researcher in learning technologies with a focus on environmental and geographic education. Prior to joining National Geographic in 2007, he was a professor in education and computer science at Northwestern University for 14 years. As part of his integrated research and development at Northwestern, he created and published both software and textbooks for schools, including My World GIS™, a geographic information system for grade 6 through college; “Investigations in Environmental Science,” a case-based environmental science textbook for high school; and a number of project-based earth science units for comprehensive middle school science programs. He also created professional development programs for educators from middle school through college and led several large-scale instructional reform efforts in the Chicago Public Schools. Edelson has written extensively on motivation, classroom teaching and learning, educational technology and teacher professional development, drawing on research conducted with colleagues and students. He is an author of more than 50 papers in journals, edited books and conference proceedings, including “The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences,” “The International Handbook on Science Education,” Journal of the Learning Sciences, Journal of Research on Science Teaching, and The Science Teacher. He received his Ph.D. in computer science (artificial intelligence) from Northwestern University and his B.S. in engineering sciences from Yale University.

Paul Cobb is Professor of Mathematics Education at Vanderbilt University, where he holds the Peabody Chair in Teaching and Learning. His research interests focus on instructional design, issues of equity in mathematics teaching and learning, and the improvement of mathematics teaching on a large scale. He received the Hans Freudenthal Medal for a cumulative research program over the prior ten years from the International Commission on Mathematics Instruction in 2005, and the Sylvia Scribner Award from the American Educational Research Association in 2010 for research over the past ten years that contributes to our understanding of learning and instruction. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Education and an Invited Fellow of the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences. A book edited by Erna Yackel, Koeno Gravemeijer, and Anna Sfard that describes the evolution of his research program was published in 2010: A Journey in Mathematics Education Research: Insights from the Research of Paul Cobb.