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Clark is program director of the NSF’s division of Research.

University of Georgia College of Education alumna Julia V. Clark (MEd ’67) has received the Director’s Award for Distinguished Service from the National Science Foundation for her exemplary career in federal service over two decades.

Clark, program director of the NSF’s division of Research on Learning, has worked throughout her career to support high-quality Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programs, especially for communities underserved and underrepresented in science.

Since coming to the NSF in 1990, she has served as a program officer in the Young Scholars, Teacher Enhancement, Teacher Professional Continuum, Discovery Research K-12 and the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers programs.

Clark also spent four years as a Legislative Fellow in Congress, serving as Principal Advisory for Science and Technology Issues. She mentors new program officers and devotes countless hours to reach out to STEM education communities, including those at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Through formal workshops and individual consultations, Clark has successfully mentored many young, minority researchers.

She has published on a variety of topics, and her book, Redirecting Science Education: Reform for a Culturally Diverse Classroom, has received national recognition. She is also the editor of a forthcoming publication titled, “Closing the Achievement Gap,” to be released in 2012.

Clark’s numerous awards include the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow in Science Education, a W.K. Kellogg National Fellow, and the Outstanding Achievement in Government in Science and Technology.

She received the UGA College of Education’s Distinguished Alumni Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2006.

Before her NSF career, Clark served on the faculty at Texas A&M, Howard, Clark Atlanta, Albany State universities, and Morris Brown College.

Clark received her doctorate in science education from Rutgers University, her master’s in science education from UGA and her bachelor’s in natural science from Fort Valley State College. She did additional graduate studies in environmental science at Yale University, in radiation biology at the University of California-Berkeley and in chemistry and biology at Emory University.