Conferences & Events
Cottrell Scholar Conference
19th-Annual Conference (2013)
Keynote Speakers Announced for July 2013 Cottrell Scholar Conference
Planning is proceeding for the July Cottrell Scholars Conference, to be held July 10-12, 2013, in Tucson, Arizona. This annual, invitation-only conference, enables about 60 scholar-educators to focus on methods and ideas to reform undergraduate science teaching in America’s research universities. The 2013 Cottrell Scholars, who will be announced by the end of February, will be attending this conference.
Keynote speakers currently scheduled for the July 2013 Cottrell Scholar Conference include:
Andrew Ellington, Fraser Professor of Biochemistry in the Center for Systems and Synthetic Biology at The University of Texas at Austin. He works primarily in the area of biotechnology and is focused on making useful products based on living systems.Amongst his contributions are nucleic acids that can act like antibodies, methods for understanding the immune status of individuals, new operating systems for organisms, and personalized diagnostics.Ellington is a fierce advocate of the use of research in teaching, and of encouraging students to find their dreams while still benefiting the economy (sometimes called entrepreneurship).
Ellington, a 1995 Cottrell Scholar, received his B.S. in Biochemistry from Michigan State University in 1981, and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Harvard in 1988. As a graduate student he worked with Steve Benner on the evolutionary optimization of dehydrogenase isozymes. His post-doctoral work was with Dr. Jack Szostak at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he developed methods for thein vitroselection of functional nucleic acids and coined the term “aptamer.”Dr. Ellington began his academic career as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Indiana University in 1992, and continued to develop selection methods. He received the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator and Pew Scholar awards. In 1998 he moved to the University of Texas at Austin.
Noah Finkelstein, Professor of Physics, UC Boulder. A physicist who creates and studies conditions which promote students' interest and ability in physics, education and the intersection of these domains, Finkelstein is deeply committed to blending research, teaching, and community partnership. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, which has recognized him for advancing physics education research through studies of student learning in context, and for extensive professional service at all levels from individual mentoring, to developing model programs, to national advocacy.
Susan Singer, Laurence McKinley Gould Professor in Biology and Cognitive Science at Carlton College and the newly appointed director of the National Science Foundation’s Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE). A developmental biologist who also does research on learning in genomics, Singer is a AAAS Fellow. She has received both the American Society of Plant Biology teaching award and Botanical Society of America Charles Bessey teaching award. She directed Carleton’s Perlman Center for Learning and Teaching, and she serves on numerous boards, including: the NSF EHR advisory committee; Biological Sciences Curriculum Study Board; and the Botanical Society board of directors. She is also a member-at-large for the AAAS Education Section; participates in the Minnesota Next Generation Science Standards team; and was a member of the National Academies’ Board on Science Education. She chaired the committee that authored the National Academies’ America’s Lab Report, Promising Practices in STEM Undergraduate Education and Discipline-based Education Research.
Candace Thille, Director of the Open Learning Initiative (OLI) at Carnegie Mellon University, a position she has held since the program’s inception in 2002. Thille’s focus is in applying the results from research in the science of learning to the design and evaluation of open web-based learning environments. Thille serves as a redesign scholar for the NCAT; as a Fellow of International Society for Design and Development in Education; on the technical advisory committee for the AAU STEM initiative; and on the Global Executive Advisory Board for HP’s Catalyst Initiative. She has served on the working group at the U.S. Department of Education to co-author the National Education Technology Plan and on a working group of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) to write the Engage to Excel report for the Obama Administration on improving STEM in higher education.
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