2021 Research Symposium Keynote Speakers
Dr. Megan Bang
Northwestern University
Megan Bang is a developmental psychologist and learning scientist focused on the study of learning and human development in and across everyday contexts; designing and building science learning environments from Indigenous philosophies; and studying child, family, and teacher learning and practice in novel environments. She is a member of the Board of Science Education of the National Academy of Sciences and has won numerous early career awards from leading scholarly associations. Before joining the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University, she worked as an associate professor of education at the University of Washington.
Closing Plenary Panel
Friday, October 8, 5:45 PM EDT
Opportunities and Challenges in Climate Change Education Research
Dr. Christopher Emdin
Columbia University
Dr. Christopher Emdin is an associate professor in the Department of Mathematics, Science and Technology at Teachers College, Columbia University, where he also serves as director of the science education program and associate director of the Institute for Urban and Minority Education. He is an alumni fellow at the Hutchins Center at Harvard University and served as STEAM ambassador for the US Department of State and minorities in energy ambassador for the US Department of Energy. Dr. Emdin is a social critic, public intellectual, and science advocate whose commentary on issues of race, culture, inequality, and education have appeared in dozens of influential periodicals, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post.
Dr. Marcia McKenzie
University of Melbourne, Australia
Marcia McKenzie is a professor in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne, Australia, and professor on leave at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. She is a member of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists; and director of the $4.5M SSHRC-funded Monitoring and Evaluating Climate Communication and Education (MECCE) Project (www.mecce.ca), and Sustainability and Education Policy Network (www.sepn.ca). Her research blends theoretical and applied contributions at the intersections of comparative and international education, global education policy research, and climate and sustainability education, including in relation to policy mobility, place, affect, and other areas of social and geographic concern.
Frank Niepold
National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration and Action for Climate Empowerment
Frank Niepold is Senior Climate Education Coordinator at NOAA and Action for Climate Empowerment National Focal Point for the United States. He is also the Climate.gov Education section lead; the US Climate Action Report Education, Training, and Outreach chapter lead for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change; education and youth delegate for the United States at the 2015 Conference of Parties (COP21); founding member of the CLEAN Network and co-chair of the CLEAN Network Leadership Board; member of the Education, Communication, and Outreach Stakeholder Community Steering Committee; and member of the Federal Steering Committee for the Fourth National Climate Assessment. At NOAA, he develops and implements education and outreach efforts that specifically relate to the climate adaptation and mitigation goal and climate-literacy objective in NOAA’s strategic plan.
Dr. Oren Pizmony-Levy
Columbia University
Dr. Oren Pizmony-Levy is an associate professor of international and comparative education at Teachers College, Columbia University. His scholarship centers on the intersection of education and social movements. Specifically, he is interested in the emergence of movements that challenge schools and education systems worldwide, the role of both transnational and domestic actors in the development of these movements, and the intended and unintended consequences of movements. Much of his work focuses on three educational movements: International assessment of student achievement, environmental and sustainability education, and sexual orientation and gender identity education. His recent work examines the global diffusion Teach for America (Teach for All) and the Opt Out movement in the United States.
Dr. Joseph A. Henderson, Moderator
Paul Smith’s College
Dr. Joseph A. Henderson is a lecturer in the Department of Environment and Society at Paul Smith’s College in the Adirondack Mountains, where he teaches courses in the environmental social sciences. He is trained as an anthropologist of environmental education, and his scholarship investigates how sociocultural, political, and geographic factors shape climate change education. He is the co-editor of Teaching Climate Change in the United States (Routledge, 2020) and is a co-PI on the Spencer Foundation’s Climate Change Education Collective Project (ccecollective.org). He lives in Saranac Lake, New York, where he is an elected school board member and father to two amazing children who love to play outside.