Kathleen Hill, PhD

Director
Associate Professor of Science Education

Email: kathyhill@psu.edu | Phone: 814-863-2275

Kathy is a former environmental scientist and science teacher. Kathy’s role at CSATS is to collaborate with scientists and engineers to design and implement STEM education outreach programs that bridge cutting-edge science and engineering research and K-12 classrooms.

Kathy received her B.A. degree in geological sciences from Lehigh University, followed by a M.S. degree in Environmental Pollution Control from Pennsylvania State University. With a move to Phoenix, Arizona, she worked in environmental consulting for 10 years, which involved a wide variety of projects across the desert southwest region. She then transitioned to teaching middle and high school science and served as a teacher leader on the NASA Phoenix Student Internship Program as well as coordinator for a school-wide middle school science and engineering fair. While in Arizona, she received her Ph.D. from Arizona State University in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis on science education. She served as an Assistant Professor of Education at Bethany College in West Virginia developing and teaching science and math education courses for preservice teachers. Her research has focused on teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge and specialized content knowledge. Joining CSATS in June 2015, Kathy works with scientists and engineers to design and implement STEM education outreach programs that bridge cutting-edge science and engineering research and K-12 classrooms.

Matthew Johnson, PhD

Assistant Professor of Science Education

Email: mmj125@psu.edu | Phone: 814-863-6607

At CSATS, Matt works closely with science and engineering faculty to develop and implement teacher professional development programs as part of funded research grants. These workshops use researchers’ projects to support K-12 educators in teaching science content using the practices of scientists and engineers. Matt is also an active member of the National Alliance for Broader Impacts, an organization that serves to support the development of high-quality and scalable activities that broaden the reach of science and engineering research. In supporting outreach efforts across institutions, he has contributed to the development of CSATS’s STEM-EO model, a tool used to assess science education outreach and research endeavors as systems with interrelated and interdependent components. Matt has facilitated conference workshops to support institutions in assessing their science education outreach and research activities using the STEM-EO model. His research is aimed at better understanding the productive use of failure in elementary engineering design projects.

Amanda Smith, M. Ed

Assistant Professor of Education
STEM Outreach and Engagement Liaison

Email: ajs398@psu.edu | Phone: 814-867-3183

Amanda spent 8 years in Loudoun County Public Schools in Northern Virginia teaching honors and AP biology as well as an Independent Science Research course, where she also received the 2007 Teacher of the Year award from the Tourette Syndrome Association. Amanda also earned a master degree in Education Leadership with a K-12 administration certification from George Mason University. Amanda has many outreach professional opportunities such as participating in the Zero Gravity Flight program sponsored by Northrop Grumman and leading a student/adult group on an ecological science trip to Costa Rica. Amanda’s role focuses on building relationships with school divisions and the STEM industry to better support science education and enhance professional development opportunities for teachers.

Amber Cesare, M. Ed.

STEM Education Outreach Specialist

Email: ams5306@psu.edu | Phone: 814-867-1323

Amber is a former high school science teacher. During her five years teaching, Amber worked for two different STEM magnet schools to teach Honors Biology, Physical Science, and Marine Science. While teaching, she started the first 3D printing lab for one of the high schools she worked at. Amber is passionate about bringing modeling into the science classroom, so she frequently collaborated with the Milwaukee School of Engineering’s Center for Boimolecular Modeling to pilot new instructional materials in her classroom. She also lead professional development workshops within her district and at local conferences for secondary science educators. At CSATS, Amber works with science and engineering faculty to develop and implement teacher professional development for secondary educators. She also works to build relationships with school divisions to better support science education and enhance professional development opportunities for teachers.

Tiffany Lewis

STEM Education Outreach Specialist
Harrisburg/Hershey region

Email: tzs80@psu.edu | Phone:

Tiffany is a former high school science teacher at Middletown Area High School outside of Harrisburg, PA. In her seven years of teaching, she has taught Earth Systems Science, Biology, Advanced Biology, AP Biology, and Forensics. She has led building-level professional development sessions and presented at various educational conferences on incorporating research projects in the classroom and using learning management systems. Tiffany’s main interest lies in spreading teacher awareness about breaking through the walls of the traditional classroom and introducing students to the world of research. Her role at CSATS is to work with research faculty at Penn State Harrisburg and Hershey campuses to bring current research to the classroom by developing content-specific professional development for teachers. She also engages in building relationships with school districts in the greater Harrisburg area to better support science education.

Darlene Kolesar

Administrative Support Assistant

Email: dmm70@psu.edu | Phone: 814-865-3525

Darlene serves as the Center’s administrative assistant and is accountable for a number of organizational and clerical duties that are essential to run the center. She works independently performing a wide range of complex and confidential administrative duties including office management, customer service, data processing, information preparation, file maintenance, records management, and communications. She monitors multiple budgets-tracking expenditures; works directly with faculty on all aspects of research grants and contracts administration, including pre and post award activities; and processes academic, staff, and graduate appointments.

Annmarie Ward, PhD

Emerita Director
Associate Professor of Science Education

Email: arw192@psu.edu | Phone:

Annmarie is a former scientist and science teacher. She works closely with scientists, engineers, and K-12 educators to design and implement innovative outreach projects incorporating reform-oriented science teaching practices. Her research interests focus on teacher science content learning and its relationship to inquiry-based teaching.

Annmarie received her B.S. degree in Botany from Duke University, followed by a Master’s degree (Ph.D., ABD) in Cellular and Developmental Biology from Harvard University. After working as a researcher at the U. Mass. Medical Center and later the Idaho National Laboratory, she changed careers to teach middle and high school life science, biology and physical science and achieved National Board Certification in Adolescence & Young Adulthood Science. She also served as Science Curriculum Coordinator for a large Idaho school district, and Adjunct Professor of Education at Idaho State University, teaching introductory teaching and learning theory. After moving to the State College area, she received her Ph.D. degree from Penn State University in Curriculum and Instruction, with a Science Education focus. In addition to running the day-to-day operations of the Center, Annmarie has been a key player working collaboratively with scientists and engineers and K-12 educators to design and implement numerous K-12 education outreach projects incorporating reform-oriented science teaching practices. She also collaborates with other science education and science and engineering faculty to develop and teach specialized content courses for preservice K-8 teachers at Penn State. Her research interests focus on teacher science content learning and its relationship to inquiry-based teaching.

Annmarie retired as Director of CSATS in December 2017.

William Carlsen, PhD

Faculty Affiliate
Professor of Science Education

Email: wcarlsen@psu.edu | Phone: 814-865-5664

Bill is a former science teacher with training in biology, education, and computer science. Bill has served as principal investigator on many professional development and curriculum projects funded by NSF and other agencies. His research interests include teacher knowledge, environmental education, and instructional technologies.

Bill was the founding director of CSATS. Bill and his wife, Cynthia Berger, recently completed a year-long voyage traveling The Great Loop on a hybrid solar-electric canal boat.