Project Team
The Pathways suite of tools was developed with input and review from informal STEM learning (ISL) professionals representing a wide range of roles and experience. Across three collaborating organizations, the project team represents decades of expertise in ISL research, professional development, and programming.
Contact the project team to share your Pathways feedback and questions.
Association of Science and Technology Centers
- Melissa Ballard (Principal Investigator) | Director of Programs
- Amanda Fisher (Co-Principal Investigator) | Associate Director of Programs
- Jenny Crayne | Manager of Programs
- Eve Klein | Senior Advisor for Public Engagement with Science
- Kris Morrissey | Former Director, Museology Graduate Program, University of Washington
- Dennis Schatz | Senior Fellow at Institute for Learning Innovation
COSI Center for Research and Evaluation
- Dolly Hayde (Co-Principal Investigator) | Co-director and Senior Researcher
- Joe Heimlich | Senior Director of Research
- Laura Weiss | Researcher
- Gary Timko | Senior Researcher
- Rita Deedrick | Founder and Principal at Deedrick Consulting
Justin Reeves Meyer | Co-Director and Senior Researcher
STEM Research Center at Oregon State University
- Kelly Riedinger (Co-Principal Investigator) | Senior Researcher and Program Lead in Informal, K-12, and Connected Learning
- Martin Storksdieck | Director
- Victoria Sellers | Researcher
Project advisors
We are proud to have enlisted several leaders in the museum field as project advisors for Pathways research to provide strategic direction. The advisors supported the project in connecting with diverse museum and ISL professionals, such as emerging professionals, museum studies students and graduates, and professionals with identities underrepresented in the museum field. Professional details noted below indicate affiliation at the time of Pathways development.
- Kelsey Brow | National Emerging Museum Professionals Network
- Mike Lesperance | The Design Minds, Inc.
- Rose Paquet | The Incluseum
- Therese Quinn | University of Illinois Chicago
- Jessie Ryker-Crawford | Institute of American Indian Arts
- Sierra Van Ryck deGroot | Museum Hue
The Research and Evaluation Advisory Committee added depth and perspective to the project’s data collection and analysis. These four experts met routinely with the research and evaluation teams to critically review plans, discuss findings, and respond to reports and publications.
- Marjorie Bequette | Director of Evaluation and Research in Learning, Science Museum of Minnesota
- David Delaine | Assistant Professor of Engineering Education and Principal Investigator of the Inclusive Community-based Learning Lab, The Ohio State University
- Kathayoon Khalil | Associate Vice President of Conservation Learning, New England Aquarium
- Mark Miller | Director of Education, Pittsburgh Botanic Garden and Study Leader, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Carnegie Mellon University
Past project contributors
We are indebted to the original project team for laying the foundation for Pathways.
The team included Margaret Glass, Lesley Markham, and Michelle Kenner, formerly of ASTC; Martin Storksdieck, Nancy Staus, and Nancee Hunter of Oregon State University’s STEM Research Center; Dennis Schatz, Institute of Learning Innovation (formerly the Pacific Science Center); Kris Morrissey, consultant (formerly the University of Washington’s Museology Graduate Program); Joe Heimlich of COSI’s Center for Research and Evaluation; Andy Aichele of COSI; and Cathlyn Stylinski of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.
Explore publications produced across several project phases on the Publications page.
This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Award No. 2215274. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of NSF.