Email: tslater@uwyo.edu
Office: Education, Room 328
Timothy F. Slater, Ph.D., is a professor at the University of Wyoming where he holds the Wyoming Excellence in Higher Education Endowed Chair of Science Education. At the University of Wyoming, he is working in a unique Ph.D. program in which his graduate students conduct discipline-based education research on the teaching science. His research focuses on student conceptual understanding in formal and informal learning environments, inquiry-based curriculum development, and authentic assessment strategies, with a particular emphasis on non-science majors and pre-service teachers. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Wyoming, Dr. Slater was a tenured professor in the Astronomy Department at the University of Arizona where he built the first Ph.D. program in astronomy education research. Professor Slater earned his Ph.D. at the University of South Carolina in geophysics and his M.S. from Clemson University in astrophysics. He holds two bachelors' degrees from Kansas State University, one in science education and one in physical science.
Professor Slater is the Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Astronomy & Earth Sciences Education and has been elected to serve on the Boards of Directors and Councils for the American Astronomical Society, Astronomical Society of the Pacific, National Science Teachers Association, and Society of College Science Teachers and has served multiple terms as chairman of the Astronomy Education Committee of the American Association of Physics Teachers and Education Liaison Committee for the American Institute of Physics. He represented the United States as the initial US National Chairman of the International Year of Astronomy. He is an author on more than 100-refereed articles, winner of numerous awards, and is frequently an invited speaker on improving teaching of science through educational research and improving teacher education.