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Atwater

University of Georgia College of Education professor Mary M. Atwater delivered  a keynote address during the Southern African Association for Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education’s 21st International Conference at the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town, Africa January 15.

This major event for researchers and scholars across Southern Africa attracts up to 500 of the leading international presenters and speakers to address delegates on current issues, trends and progressive research currently being undertaken in the field of science, mathematics and technology education. The theme for the conference was: “Making Mathematics, Science and Technology Education Socially and Culturally Relevant in Africa. ”

Atwater, a professor of science education, conducted a workshop titled, “Research Paradigms, Theoretical Frameworks, and Methodological Framework for Socially and Culturally Relevant Science Teaching.” Her keynote address was titled, “Socially and Culturally Relevant and Socially and Culturally Sustaining Science Education.”

Atwater served on the  Science Standards Committee of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) in 2011. She was named an inaugural class Fellow of the American Educational Research Association in 2009 and served as an original member of the NBPTS’s Early Adolescence/Science Standards Committee from 1991-98.

She received the Legendary Award from the Association of Multicultural Science Education for her work in adding to the depth of literature in the field by presenting research nationally and internationally, and spearheading organizations that promote multicultural science education.

An 8th grade science textbook written by Atwater titled, Using Energy, was heralded around the world as the inspiration and guide for a 14-year-old African boy’s quest to build a windmill that provided electricity for his family and village for the first time, after a book was published in 2009 about his experience.

Atwater was named one of 1999’s African-American Phenomenal Women by the African-American Professional Women of the Athens Area and was named to the National Technical Association’s Academy of Top Minority Women in Science and Engineering in 1998 and 1997. She was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1995.

Atwater, who joined the UGA faculty in 1987, was the first African-American female to earn a doctorate in science education at North Carolina State University in 1980 and first African-American female department head at the University of Georgia.