External Evaluator, University of Colorado-Boulder (February 2024- January 2027) External Evaluation, National Science Foundation Integrative Activities in Physics. Collaborative Research: Evaluating Access: How a multi-institutional network promotes equity and cultural change through expanding student voice. The Access Network directly addresses the critical issue of representation and equity in the physical sciences by connecting institutions with student-led, equity-oriented programs to share and disseminate research-based strategies and provide support for overcoming common barriers. Through mentored inter-site student cohorts and an annual Assembly, Access fosters community, develops student leaders, reinforces institutional memory, and provides a national context, all important factors for sustainability and scalability. At the Network’s core is a unique philosophy that recognizes and elevates students as drivers of change, recognizing them as powerful members of the STEM community and the future leaders of our disciplines. This project continues and expands the work of Access through sustained support for student leaders and inter-site collaboration. An innovative evaluation partnership among external evaluators, educational research faculty within the network, and internal student evaluation fellows will document the network’s impacts on student leaders, local sites and individual departments. These activities combine a student-driven, community-based approach with the expertise of external evaluators, resulting in a more complete picture of the model.

External Evaluator, San Jose State University (September 2023-August 2029). National Science Foundation Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM): Empowering Low-Income Students to Succeed in Engineering and Computer Science. This project will contribute to the national need for skilled scientists, mathematicians, and engineers by supporting the attraction, retention and graduation of low-income undergraduates at San José State University, a four-year, Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI). In addition, because the university’s undergraduate student population has a high percentage of students of color, low-income, and first-generation students, this project has the potential to diversify the STEM workforce, particularly in computer engineering, software engineering, and computer science. The project addresses two major challenges: 1) the low number of low-income students entering computer engineering, software engineering, and computer science majors 2) the high equity gaps by the time students take introductory math and programming courses, which cause low-income students to drop out of these majors disproportionately in their first year in college. To address these challenges the project team engages students prior to their first-year at SJSU and continue that engagement throughout their college careers. The project focuses on several aspects of empowering the students: 1) developing math and programming skills to ensure success in college, and beyond 2) fostering a growth mindset to support resilience and persistence 3) understanding technology-based career opportunities and pathways, and developing a sense of belonging in the STEM 4) building a support network of peers, SJSU students, staff, and faculty. Link to award.

External Evaluator, University of Hawaii-West Oahu (September 2021-March 2024). National Science Foundation Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE): Broadening Engagement in Mathematics Participation and Readiness Education (BE-PREP). This project provides academic support for students in/to the pre-service mathematics teacher preparation program at UHWO to determine the effectiveness of evidence-based practices in STEM teaching and learning for undergraduates through use of a tiered mentoring approach in the pre-service math teacher preparation program employed through a multilayered structured program in which the lower-division math students are mentored by Peer Academic Leaders (PALs) who, in turn, will be mentored by professionals (math faculty via PAL program and in-service teachers via Math Teacher’s Circle at Hawaii (MaTCH) sessions). BE-PREP project objectives are as follows: 1) Establish a supportive and engaging learning community for undergraduate students; 2) Affirm the value of work with teacher candidates by recruiting BE-PREP PALs into mentee and mentor. Link to award.

External Evaluator, Rutgers University (January 2021-September 2026). National Science Foundation Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) Education and Human Resources: Coordinating a Teaching Excellence Network to Engage STEM Faculty in Teaching Reform. This project aims to serve the national interest by supporting STEM faculty members implementation of evidence-based teaching practices. This project will create a Teaching Excellence Network to provide professional development activities that approach the challenge of institutional change through multiple facets of faculty support. Project activities include (1) formally coordinating existing institutional resources for teaching through the Teaching Excellence Network, (2) designing and implementing resources to decrease faculty barriers to course transformation, and (3) engaging institutional leadership in promoting and valuing teaching reform. Link to award.

External Evaluator, Southwestern College and San Diego State University (June 2020 – May 2025) Evaluation subcontract, National Science Foundation Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE): Hispanic-serving Institutions Mathematics Persistence through Inquiry and Equity: Redeveloping Gateway Mathematics in a Two-year HSI to Promote Success in STEM. This collaborative research and development project will 1) study a two-year institution’s response to a state-mandated change in gateway STEM mathematics courses, 2) use cycles of design research to build the capacity of mathematics instructors in the two-year institution in order to foster student success and persistence, including transfer to a four-year STEM degree, and 3) investigate the effects of the capacity-building effort. Link to SDSU award Link to Southwestern College Award Project Website

External Evaluator, University of Colorado Boulder and Colorado State University (2016-2020), Departmental Action Teams: Sustaining Improvements in Undergraduate STEM education through faculty engagement. Served as external evaluator for this National Science Foundation IUSE funded project focused on Departmental Action Teams (DATs), a type of Professional Learning Community focused on making change. This was a four-year, two-institution project to continue the creation and assessment of DATs at CU while expanding the DAT model to Colorado State University (CSU).Department Action Teams support faculty members, students, and staff within a department to identify and address an educational issue of broad-scale importance (e.g., lack of coherence across courses in a sequence, the underrepresentation of particular populations among department majors, graduating students consistently ranking their department low on exit surveys). Link to Award.

External Evaluator, University of California-San Diego (2016-2018). Served as evaluator for National Science Foundation funded project, “Collaborative Research: A New Computer Science Faculty Teaching Workshop.” This three-year project supported creation and delivery of a new faculty teaching workshop for new computer science faculty. The workshop focused on active learning strategies. Note that my involvement here was in partnership with primary evaluator Dr. Andrea Beach. Link to Award.