Emily Schoerning, NCSE's Director of Community Organizing and Research, was elected as the National Science Teachers Association's Research Division Director.
Schoerning is perhaps most familiar for her efforts at community organizing, having overseen the pilot of NCSE's Science Booster Club program in eastern Iowa and, lately, its national expansion, with new clubs starting in ten states.
But all along she has been conducting the program also as a research study, in close association with the University of Iowa. She continues to accumulate data, and research studies showing the effects of the program are slated for publication.
"Research is a crucial tool for guiding teaching practice," Schoerning wrote in her candidacy statement for the post. "I will work to promote cost-effective, high-impact research, and to make such research accessible and meaningful to classroom teachers."
Schoerning will serve a three-year term as NSTA's Research Division Director, from June 2017 to May 2020.