STEM Education Advisory Board
Charge
The STEM Education Advisory Board collaborates with Undergraduate Education through the Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching to strengthen STEM education across Northwestern. The Board helps foster a more connected, reflective, and forward-looking STEM education that supports student success and advances Northwestern's mission of excellence in learning and teaching. The Board is charged with:
- Connecting STEM faculty to surface emerging questions, understand shared needs, and create opportunities for collaboration.
- Synthesizing faculty expertise, evidence-informed practices, and insights from peer institutions and professional communities to evaluate opportunities and challenges.
- Cultivating promising ideas and helping move them into action through initiatives, pilots, working groups, communities of practice, and multi-institutional collaborations.
Steering Committee
The steering committee provides strategic guidance to navigate barriers, support planning, and cultivate broad participation. Members include the Executive Sponsor and Senior Director of the Searle Center, who champion STEM education and ensure alignment with institutional goals; and the Advisory Board Co-chairs, who are educational developers at the Searle Center with expertise to drive the strategic initiatives in STEM in partnership with the board.
- Karen Smilowitz (Executive Sponsor), Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education
- Jennifer Keys (Convener), Senior Director of the Searle Center
- Daisy Haas (Advisory Board Co-chair), Assistant Director of STEM Education, Searle Center
- Veronica Womack (Advisory Board Co-chair), Associate Director of High-Impact Teaching, Searle Center
Membership
Members are appointed by the associate provost for undergraduate education and include faculty members serving staggered rotations of three-year terms with Searle Center educational developers and key campus partners.
Faculty Members
2026–29
- Laura Lackner, Associate Chair of Molecular Biosciences; Professor, Biology
- David O'Neill, Professor of Instruction, Biomedical Engineering
- Aaron Peterson, Professor of Instruction, Mathematics
- Magdalena Osburn, Associate Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences
2025–28
- Ashti Doobay-Persaud, Associate Professor, Medicine and Medical Education
- Stephanie Knezz, Associate Professor of Instruction, Chemistry
- Michael Peshkin, Professor, Mechanical Engineering
- Gayle Ratliff, Assistant Professor of Instruction, Physics and Astronomy
- Greg Schwartz, Associate Professor, Ophthalmology and Neuroscience
2025–27
- Wesley Burghardt, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Engineering; Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering
- Matt Glucksberg, Professor, Biomedical Engineering
- Julia Kalow, Associate Professor, Chemistry
- Thomas McDade, Professor, Anthropology
Campus Partner Members
- Sabrina Abdulla-Wolphe, Assistant Director for STEM Learning Support, Academic Support and Learning Advancement (ASLA)
Searle Center Educational Developers
- Denise Drane, Senior Associate Director of Research and Innovation
- Greg Siering, Director of Pedagogy and Curricular Development