NCSE is pleased to announce that Emily Schoerning has joined the NCSE staff as Director of Community Organizing and Research. Schoerning earned her Ph.D. in microbiology at Arizona State University and then, as a post-doctoral research scholar at the University of Iowa, turned her attention to science education research. In Iowa, she established partnerships to support and improve science education in rural communities. At NCSE, she will be building on that work by spearheading a new initiative that aims to help local communities form and nurture coalitions to support and improve science education.
At the same time, NCSE bids farewell to Mark McCaffrey, who joined NCSE as a Programs and Policy Director in 2012 to launch its climate change education initiative. McCaffrey's unique combination of expertise in pedagogy, climate science, and energy literacy was invaluable in providing NCSE with the intellectual firepower to launch the initiative, and his extensive network of collaborators helped to raise awareness of NCSE's entry onto the climate change education scene. While at NCSE, he wrote Climate Smart & Energy Wise (Corwin 2014), a guide for educators. All of us at NCSE wish him the best in his new endeavors.