Sandra Laursen

Sandra Laursen, Ph.D., is senior research associate and director of Ethnography & Evaluation Research (E&ER) at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she leads research and evaluation studies focusing on education and career paths in STEM fields. Particular research interests include the visibility of women, people of color, disabled people and queer people in the sciences; professional socialization and career development of scientists and teachers; and organizational change in higher education. She is also interested in inquiry-based teaching and learning, and the opportunities and challenges for strengthening STEM education across learning venues and organizations. Laursen’s books include Undergraduate Research in the Sciences (2010), Levers for Change (2019), and Building Gender Equity in the Academy (2020). She has also published chemistry curriculum manuals, journal articles in chemistry, education, gender studies, and the Journal of Irreproducible Results; co-directed a documentary film on how science works; and recorded choral music. She has degrees in chemistry and French from Grinnell College (IA) and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley.