Science Academic Advisory Committee

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Committee Members

Arthur Eisenkraft (Chair)
John Hnatow
Anne Houtman
Paula Messina
Peggy O'Neill Skinner
Gay B. Stewart (Past Chair)
Vicente Talanquer

Arthur Eisenkraft (Chair)

Distinguished Professor of Science Education and Director, Center of Science and Math in Context (COSMIC), University of Massachusetts Boston

Arthur Eisenkraft taught high school physics for more than 25 years before arriving at UMass Boston and is a past president of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA). He is project director of the National Science Foundation-supported Active Physics Curriculum Project, a multi-platform learning program designed to introduce physics to students in a fun and dynamic manner. He is also leading a similar effort with Active Chemistry. Eisenkraft is the chair and co-creator of the Toshiba/NSTA ExploraVision Awards, which involves 15,000 students annually. In 1993, he was executive director for the XXIV International Physics Olympiad after initiating U.S. involvement in the program and serving as the academic director of the United States team for six years. He is a consultant for the award-winning ESPN SportsFigures. Eisenkraft has received numerous teaching awards and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

John Hnatow

Chemistry Teacher, Science Department Chair, Emmaus High School, Emmaus, Pennsylvania

John Hnatow is an experienced AP® Chemistry consultant, AP and Pre-AP® workshop leader, AP Reader and Table Leader and has served on the Chemistry Development Committee for four years. Hnatow is currently co-chair of the AP Chemistry Redesign Committee. He is also a Dreyfus Master Teacher and was team leader of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation (WWNFF) CHEM4 Chemistry team, with whom he presented more than 27 week-long TORCH institutes for chemistry teachers throughout the country. He has presented numerous technology workshops, including TI calculator, CBL, Lab-Pro, Hypercard, Graphical Analysis, Concept Mapping and Multimedia workshops for science teachers. He has presented numerous topics at American Chemical Society meetings, Chem Ed conferences, and demonstrated in the Flinn-sponsored "An Incredible Evening of Chemistry" at a National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) meeting in Boston. Notable national awards include the 2004 Discovery Center Science Teacher Hall of Fame Inductee, the 1996 CMA Catalyst Award, the 1995 Tandy Technology Scholars Award and the 1987 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Teaching.

Anne Houtman

Associate Professor of Biology and Director, General Education Biology Program, California State University, Fullerton

Anne Houtman has been teaching university-level biology for 15 years, offering courses ranging from non-majors biology, to ecology and evolution, to research methods and statistics. Anne received her undergraduate degree from Pomona College, a master's degree from UCLA and her doctorate from the University of Oxford. She conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Toronto. Her research interests are in the behavioral ecology of birds, and current research in her laboratory focuses on the ecology and evolution of hummingbird song. She also has an active research program on science pedagogy. She has received numerous grants and awards to support her research, from such agencies as the National Science Foundation, the Fulbright Foundation and Canada's Natural Science and Engineering Research Council. Her administrative duties include the oversight of all non-majors biology courses offered at Cal State Fullerton, serving approximately 5,000 students a year.

Paula Messina

Professor, Department of Geology, San Jose State University

Prior to her career at SJSU, Messina was a high school earth science teacher in New York City for 20 years. During her K–12 career, she was the recipient of several regional and national awards, including the National Association of Geoscience Teachers' Outstanding Earth Science Teacher for New York State. Her areas of interest include desert processes, Quaternary geology, online learning strategies, and pre-college science education. In addition to publications in peer-reviewed journals, her research has been featured in National Geographic and Smithsonian magazines. Prior to her College Board Science Academic Advisory Committee appointment, Messina served on the AP Environmental Science Redesign Project (2006-08). She also participates in several educational outreach endeavors, including consulting work with various geoscience-related educational television programs, and is a member of the Board of Directors for California Earth Science Teachers Association (CalESTA).

Peggy O'Neill Skinner

Chair of the Science Department, The Bush School, Seattle, Washington

Peggy O'Neill Skinner’s primary area of academic interest is in molecular biology, specifically the development of resistant strains of organisms that cause disease. She teaches a course in microbes and disease, which focuses on just four diseases: influenza, polio, tuberculosis and malaria. Skinner is currently working on a malaria project using yeast as a model organism at the University of Washington in the Department of Genetics. She has been involved in helping develop and act as a mentor teacher in scientist-educator partnership programs. Skinner received the Outstanding Biology Teaching Award from the National Association of Biology Teachers in 1996.

Gay B. Stewart (Past Chair)

Associate Professor of Physics, Department of Physics, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

Gay Stewart received her Ph.D. in experimental physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1994. As a concerned parent, she shifted her research to science education. In 1995 she began a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded course and curriculum development project. Success promoted further change in the department, with the average number of graduates increasing eightfold. She has published 16 papers, given eight invited talks at the American Physical Society (APS) and 15 invited talks at other national meetings. She serves on the editorial board of a science education research journal and on the Project Kaleidoscope Faculty for the 21st Century. She served on the APS Committee on Education and on the AP Physics Curriculum Development Committee from 1998-2003, and chair for the last three years. She is past-chair of the APS Forum on Education Executive Committee. She is also co-chair of the NSF-funded initiative to redesign AP Physics. Currently, she directs one of four physics programs for the NSF/American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), "Shaping the Preparation of Future Science Faculty," and a primary program institution of the APS/AAPT/American Institute of Physics (AIP) "Physics Teachers Education Coalition." She has received several teaching and advising awards, including the Fulbright College Master Teacher award, the Honors College Mentoring Gold Medal and the CASE Arkansas Professor of the Year award. Stewart was also honored as the first recipient of the University of Arkansas Outstanding Advising Award.

Vicente Talanquer

Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Arizona, Tucson

Vicente Talanquer has been the chair of the Chemical Education Committee in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Arizona for the past five years. He does research in chemical education and teaches chemistry courses to science and non-science majors, as well as science education courses to prospective science teachers. He has received several teaching awards in recognition for his educational work inside and outside the classroom. The focal point of Vicente's research is the study of the intuitive ways of thinking used by chemistry students to answer questions and solve problems that require qualitative reasoning. As a science educator, he has published more than 40 articles in peer-reviewed journals and 10 textbooks, four of which are the elementary school science textbooks used by all students in Mexico. In the past five years, he has been the principal investigator of several federal and state grants mostly focused on the development of innovative curricular and instructional materials for the teaching of general chemistry.