[June 16, 2016]

Prominent Nevada Science Education Professor Elected as the National Science Teachers Association's 2016--2017 President-Elect

The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), the largest professional organization in the world promoting excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all, announced that Dr. David T. Crowther, professor of science education and the executive director of the Raggio Research Center for STEM Education at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), began his one-year term as president-elect of the NSTA on June 1, 2016. He will assume the office of president on June 1, 2017.

"David is a well-respected leader in the science education community," said NSTA Executive Director Dr. David Evans. "We are fortunate to have his skills and guidance, as well as his immense passion for quality science education at NSTA."

Crowther brings years of leadership and teaching experience to NSTA through his work as a classroom teacher, college professor, director, journal editor, and author. In addition to having taught science at the elementary and middle levels for 5 years, Crowther also has 23 years of teaching experience at the university level, teaching science methods to undergraduate students; general biology to education majors; and a variety of courses in curriculum, science education, and research to graduate students.

Active outside of the classroom, Crowther is also the associate editor of the Journal of Science Teacher Education and previously served as editor of CESI Science and associate editor of the Electronic Journal of Science Education. Crowther has also served as president of the Nevada State Science Teachers Association (NSSTA) and the Council of Elementary Science Internatinal (CESI), was on the board of directors for the Association of Science Teacher Educators (ASTE), and was chairman of the board for Bailey Charter Elementary School in Reno, Nevada. Crowther is currently the chairman of the board of directors for the Nevada STEM Coalition and serves on the board of directors and the executive committee for the Terry Lee Wells Nevada Discovery Museum.

During his distinguished career, Crowther has received more than $10 million in grant funding for various projects, $7.5 million to the UNR alone. He is the principal investigator or co-principal investigator for several grants, including Project ReCharge, a National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovative Technology Experience for Students and Teachers (ITEST) grant on energy education, the Northern Nevada English Language Initiative (NNELI) and STEM grant project from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of English Language Acquisition, and a NSF GK-12 E-Fellows grant. Crowther has also published broadly for the science education community. He has edited and written a portion of the Gateway to Science textbook series from Thomson (News - Alert) Press, consulted/ edited the children's book series The Science Behind from Heinemann-Raintree, and is the co-author/ editor of NSTA Press' Science for English Language Learners. Additionally, Crowther has written 11 chapters in science education texts, wrote the educators guide to the monster fish traveling museum exhibit for National Geographic, and has published more than 40 articles in various scholarly journals and conference proceedings.

A passionate member of NSTA, Crowther serves on the organization's development advisory board and is a member of the preservice teacher preparation committee. Crowther also served on the conference committees for NSTA area conferences in 1999 and 2003 and was the conference chair for the 2015 area conference in Reno. Crowther has presented sessions at NSTA national and area conferences consistently since 1994.

Crowther received his Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and received both his B.S. degree and M.Ed. from Brigham Young University.

About NSTA

The Arlington, VA-based National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) is the largest professional organization in the world promoting excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all. NSTA's current membership includes approximately 55,000 science teachers, science supervisors, administrators, scientists, business and industry representatives, and others involved in science education.

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