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Dr. Pat Marsteller is the Principal Investigator for PRISM. She directs the Center for Science Education
and is a faculty member in the department of Biology at Emory University. She studied evolution of animal behavior for her M.S. degree
at University of South Carolina and evolution and quantitative genetics for her Ph.D. at the University of Florida.
She worked with alligators for her M.S. thesis, investigating whether they could use the sun, the moon and the stars to navigate.
Her dissertation research focused on a quantitative genetic analysis, using fruit flies as a model system, to investigate genetic and
environmental influence on life history patterns and traits such as longevity and quantity and timing of reproduction.
She has taught courses on Darwin, evolution and many other courses over her 30 years of college teaching. She also works with college and
pre-college faculty on developing curriculum materials and on using active learning strategies in the teaching of science and mathematics.
Pat's grand project is to prepare Faculty of the Future to teach well, to be creative, to be excellent mentors. She believes that
we all have a responsibility to educate the public about science.
Prior to arriving at Emory in 1990, Pat taught at large state universities and tiny liberal arts colleges. This experience gave her
the opportunity to teach nearly every course in Biology. She loves teaching because transmitting the joys (and trials) of the process of science
to students gives them the tools for lifelong learning and discovery. Science is not merely a body of accumulated facts and theories, but an
exhilarating process of discovery. Good teachers are constant learners, inventing, creating and discovering new ways to facilitate learning.
As her friend John Jungck says, "teachers must move from the position of sage on the stage to guide on the side." Learning is an active process.
Students are not vessels into which we pour our accumulated wisdom; they are participants in generating, constructing and linking knowledge by
placing new content in the context of what they know and by developing critical analysis skills so that they can generate reasonable hypotheses,
test them, analyze carefully and draw reasonable conclusions. Good teachers and good students should "Question Authority" as the bumper sticker on
her door suggests. Don't just believe! Delve into it, connect, apply, and make it your own!
Pat is a member of the Biology faculty and the NBB faculty and directs the Hughes Undergraduate Science Initiative and the Center for Science Education.
She is the oldest of 11 kids. She is married to Fred Marsteller, who is a consultant in Biostatistics and Research Design. Her son Sean was the
founding Director of LearnLink. He and his wife now live in Canada. She has two really cute dogs, Dino and Curious George.
Jordan Rose is the PRISM Project Manager, responsible for the daily operations of the PRISM program, including coordinating the program's
participants, events, products, publicity, budget, reporting, and evaluation. As Assistant Director at the Emory College Center for Science Education,
he supervises the Center's K-12 outreach activities, managing the Problem-Based Learning Graduate and Teacher Fellowships, advising the Emory
Science Outreach student group, and administering a listserv of over 450 metro-Atlanta K-12 science educators. Jordan has 8 years of experience
coordinating K-16 science education initiatives.
An Emory alumnus twice over - with a BS in neuroscience and behavioral biology and an MPH in health education and prevention science -
Jordan is interested in science literacy, adolescent and school health, and university-community partnerships. He lives in Tucker with his wife,
Laura, who puts up with him most days, and his dog, Humphrey, who follows him everywhere with snorts of disapproval.
Jordan is an amateur juggler and professional watcher of funny movies.
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