09
Aug

Lunch and Learn at the Smithsonian Institution Staff Picnic

Editor's Note: This post was written with the assistance of Patti Marohn. 

Under the encouragement of Douglas Herman of the National Museum of the American Indian, scholars across the Smithsonian presented the results of their research at the SI Staff Picnic on July 7, 2016. Example posters displayed at the Research Scholars’ Tent included the Smithsonian Science Education Center, who presented the results of its five-year, $30 million research study of its Leadership and Assistance for Science Education Reform (LASER) model, funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute presented posters from Qiongyu Huang, Peter Leimgruber, and Benjamin Robb on mule deer movement in Utah tracked though GPS collars and from Jared Stabach on releasing the scimitar-horned oryx to the Ouadi Rimé-Ouadi Achim Game Reserve in Chad.

Smithsonian Libraries shared how the large collection is aided by unique identification numbers. Richard Naples describes how the ORCID, or the Open Researcher and Contributor ID, helps research information flow and is useful to differentiate authors with the same or similar names. Freer-Sackler library resources are also being used to edit Wikipedia content about India’s Mughal Dynasty.

Laurie Penland, of the Smithsonian Scientific Diving Program, shared the underwater research efforts of the Smithsonian Institution.

 

Other posters included:

Smithsonian National Collections Program

National Museum of African American History and Culture/Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute

Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute/Museum Support Center

Freer-Sackler Galleries

Smithsonian Institution Archives

Smithsonian National Zoological Park

Office of the Under Secretary for Science

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About the Author

Dr. Carol O'Donnell
Douglas M. Lapp and Anne B. Keiser Director of the Smithsonian Science Education Center

Tel: 202-633-2972
EmailScienceEducation@si.edu

Dr. Carol O’Donnell is the Douglas M. Lapp and Anne B. Keiser Director of the Smithsonian Science Education Center (SSEC), an education organization of the Smithsonian Institution dedicated to transforming K-12 Education through Science in collaboration with communities across the globe. Carol is responsible for all operational activities and planning for the organization, including building awareness for Kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) science education reform; conducting programs that support the professional growth of K–12 teachers and school leaders; and, overseeing all research and curriculum development, philanthropic development, and administration.

In her role as the Lapp-Keiser Director, Carol serves as the U.S. representative on the Global Council of the InterAcademy Partnership Science Education Programme, an appointment by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, which jointly founded the SSEC in collaboration with the Smithsonian. Carol serves on the United Nations Broadband Commission on Sustainable Development Working Group on School Connectivity. She also represents the Smithsonian on the Subcommittee on Federal Coordination in STEM Education (FC-STEM), which advises and assists the Committee on STEM Education (CoSTEM) of the Office of Science and Technology Policy of the Executive Office of the President. In her role on the Program Committee for the International Dialogue on STEM Education, Carol co-authored the position paper on “STEM Education for Sustainable Development”. Prior to joining the Smithsonian, Carol was a group leader at the US Department of Education (ED), supporting States’ and districts’ implementation of Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) programs. She also oversaw the Cognition and Student Learning research grant program of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the research arm of the ED.

Carol is the winner of the 2008 American Educational Research Association (AERA) Graduate Research Excellence Award; 2021 National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity “Unsung Hero Award;” and the 2018 University of Pittsburgh Distinguished Alumni Award. O’Donnell’s team at SSEC was honored to receive the 2018 Smithsonian Innovation in Education Award and the 2024 One Smithsonian Education Award for their work on the Smithsonian Science for Global Goals project.

A former elementary science teacher and curriculum developer, Dr. O’Donnell served for 15 years on the part-time faculty of the Physics Department at The George Washington University, where she earned her doctorate. She earned her Executive Education certificate in nonprofit management from the Harvard Business School. Her TedX talk “The Power of Physical Stuff in a Digital World” demonstrates her passion for integrating digital and physical interactions in science classrooms.

Read about our Director on the Director's Page.