Susan Gomez-Zwiep
Susan Gomez-Zwiep, Ph.D., is Professor of Science Technology at California State University, Long Beach. She is also a Regional Director for the K-12 Alliance in the Southern California area. Dr. Gomez-Zwiep consistently works toward establishing equitable access for all students to rigorous, inquiry-based science instruction and supporting teachers in their journey to become advocates for students, science education, and their own professional development. She has developed professional development programs for both K-12 teachers and university faculty around teaching and assessment. Dr. Gomez-Zwiep has a passion for science, science teaching and science learners of all ages. She earned her Ph.D. in science education from University of Southern California in 2005.

Jason Grissom
Jason Grissom, Ph.D., is Associate Professor at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Grissom's research uses large data sets and draws on the perspectives of political science, public administration, and economics to study the governance of K-12 education, including both its leadership/management and political dimensions. He is particularly interested in identifying the impacts of school and district leaders on teacher and student outcomes and has conducted research on principal effectiveness, human capital decision-making in schools, school board governance, and turnover among teachers, principals, and superintendents. He has also published a stream of articles on the implications of the race and gender composition of the public education workforce and the public bureaucracy more generally for the distribution of resources and outcomes among diverse groups. Dr. Grissom received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Stanford University (2007).

Anna-Lise Halvorsen
Anne-Lise Halvorsen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Teacher Education and Ph.D. Coordinator of the Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education Program at Michigan State University. Her research interests are elementary social studies education, historical inquiry, project-based learning, the history of education, the integration of social studies and literacy, and teacher preparation in the social studies. She is the co-author of Reasoning with Democratic Values: Ethical Issues in American History (Teachers College Press, 2018) and the author of A History of Elementary Social Studies: Romance and Reality (Peter Lang, 2013). Her work has been published in Journal of Curriculum Studies, Teachers College Record, Theory and Research in Social Education, Social Education, and Social Studies and the Young Learner and has been funded by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, the Michigan Department of Education, and the Spencer Foundation. Anne-Lise was awarded the Michigan Council for the Social Studies College Educator of the Year in 2017. She is a former kindergarten teacher and a former curriculum writer for the State of Michigan.

Kara Jackson
Kara Jackson, Ph.D., is Associate Professor at the University of Washington. Her work as a mathematics educator is principally concerned with understanding how to improve mathematics teaching and learning – especially in the middle-grades – to support youth from historically underserved communities to participate substantially in and identify with academically rigorous mathematics. She attends to both what is necessary on the part of classroom teaching and how teachers can be supported to develop such forms of practice. Dr. Jackson earned her Ph.D. in Education, Culture, and Society; University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education (2007).

Bruce Johnson
Bruce Johnson, Ph.D,, is Professor of Environmental Learning and Science Education in the department of Teaching, Learning and Sociocultural Studies, Dean of the College of Education, and the Paul L. Lindsey and Kathy J. Alexander Chair at the University of Arizona. He was previously an elementary and middle school teacher in Arizona and New Mexico and director of outdoor schools in New Mexico and Australia. Dr. Johnson’s research includes the teaching and learning of ecological concepts, development of environmental values/attitudes and actions, and curriculum development, and teacher preparation and development. Dr. Johnson teaches in graduate programs in environmental learning and science education and also teaches courses in research design and elementary science methods. Dr. Johnson has a MS in Environmental Education from George Williams College and a BS in Elementary Education from Northern Arizona University, and a PhD (1998) in Educational Psychology with a minor in Science Education from the University of New Mexico.

Deena Khalil
Deena Khalil, Ph.D., is Associate Professor or Mathematics Education at Howard University. Deena Khalil is an assistant professor at Howard University School of Education. She completed her doctoral studies in Urban Systems with a focus on education policy and mathematics education. Her scholarship focuses on how issues of equity, diversity, and social justice relate to the challenge of recruiting, hiring, and retaining teachers in urban districts. She earned her PhD from Rutgers University in Urban Systems (2012).

Tiffany Neill
Tiffany Neill, Ph.D., serves as the Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction and the Director of Science and Engineering Education at the Oklahoma State Department of Education. She is also the President for the Council of State Science Supervisors, an organization comprised of state leaders for science education. Tiffany is the Co-Principle Investigator for the National Science Foundation Project, ACESSE, working directly with thirteen states to promote equity and coherence in state science education systems. In her role at the Oklahoma State Department of Education, she works to support districts and educators in aligning their curriculum and instruction to standards and supports thirteen curriculum directors in similar efforts with various disciplines. In addition to her work at the state and national level, Tiffany is also completing a Ph.D. in Science Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Oklahoma..

Judith Warren Little

Judith Warren Little, Ph.D., is the Carol Liu Professor of Education Policy, emerita at the University of California Berkeley. Judith Warren Little's research interests center on the organizational and occupational contexts of teaching, with special attention to teachers' collegial relationships and to the contexts, policies, and practices of teachers' professional development. In pursuing these interests, she attempts to balance attention to the daily life of schools and locally situated meanings, identities, and relationships with a broader view of the social, institutional, and policy environments in which the work of teaching resides. She earned her PhD (1978) in sociology from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Layne Scherer - (Staff Officer)
Layne Scherer is a Program Officer with the Board on Higher Education and Workforce at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Prior to joining the Academies, Ms. Scherer supported strategic initiatives, conducted program analysis, and managed cross-agency partnerships for the Office of the Assistant Director for Education and Human Resources at the National Science Foundation. Ms. Scherer served as the National Science and Technology Council Executive Secretary for the Federal Coordination in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Task Force responsible for overseeing the governance and communication between fifteen participating agencies working to improve federal investment in STEM education. As a result of the cross-agency work, Ms. Scherer developed an interest in performance management and completed training as a group facilitator and graphic recorder from the Performance Improvement Council. Ms. Scherer earned her M.P.P from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, and she focused her studies on education policy, non-profit management, and quantitative analysis. She earned her B.A. from the University of Michigan. Outside of work, Ms. Scherer is committed to the development of women’s sports and is an assistant coach for the women’s ultimate Frisbee team at Catholic University of Americ