The Gevirtz School, along with the Physics Department, co-hosted a recent visit of physics professor Dr. Helen Quinn to the UC Santa Barbara campus to further strengthen its commitment to Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. While visiting the UCSB campus, Quinn met with science education graduate students, had dinner with Gevirtz School Noyce Scholar students, and presented a talk to the Santa Barbara County P-20 STEM Council entitled “A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts and Core Ideas.”
Helen R. Quinn is a Professor of Physics at Stanford University where she also serves as Education and Public Outreach Manager at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center of Stanford University. Dr. Quinn is a theoretical physicist who was inducted into the National Academies in 2003. She was an active contributor to the California State Science Curriculum Reforms and is the president of Contemporary Physics Education Project, a worldwide non-profit organization of teachers, educators, and physicists. Dr. Quinn is a member of the Board on Science Education and serves on the board for the NRC’s Center for Education. Previously she served as a member on the NRC's Committee on Physics of the Universe. Dr. Quinn served as a member on the NRC study committee for How Students Learn Science, K-8, which focused on how children learn the ideas of science. Dr. Quinn received a Ph.D. in physics from Stanford University in 1967. She taught at Harvard University prior to moving to Stanford. She was president of the American Physical Society through 2005. She has been widely published and holds numerous honors. Dr. Quinn is considered by many to be one of an elite group of women who have made original and important contributions to physics and is dedicated to the improvement of science education.