Des Moines Sun

Ronald Gamble Jr. of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center will visit campus on Wednesday, Feb. 22, to speak with students and faculty in the sciences. Gamble is an award-winning Afro-Latino theoretical physicist, STEM educator, and visual artist. Associate Professor of Physics Charlotte Christensen organized the visit, which is funded by her prestigious CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Gamble is a visiting assistant research scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the University of Maryland-College Park and a NASA cosmic origins research scientist. His multidisciplinary research spans high-energy astrophysics, black hole physics, and study of the state of STEM professions.

During his visit, Gamble will deliver a talk titled, “What Is A Test Score?: Effective and Impactful Curricula and Mentoring in Stem Fields.” The talk is open to all and will delve into Gamble’s methods for crafting effective and impactful physics and astronomy curricula at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. It is scheduled for 11:55 a.m. on Feb. 22 in Room 1023 of the Noyce Science Center.

Gamble has received the Royal Astronomical Society’s 2023 Annie Maunder Medal for outreach and public engagement, a NASA ASD Peer Award, and A New Day Foundation’s Heart of Gold award. He is also an established artist and oil/acrylic painter, graphic designer, and illustrator with 15 years of experience. To learn more about Gamble, read his feature in NASA’s Conversations With Goddard series.

About the NSF CAREER Grant

The NSF's Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) supports early-career faculty who serve as role models in both research and education and are committed to advancing the mission of their institutions. CAREER Awards are the NSF's most prestigious and competitive grants, enabling junior faculty members to pursue research and teaching projects. Christensen received this prestigious teacher-scholar grant (AST-1848107) in 2019, and has used a portion of the funds to organize several impactful visits to campus by scientists from underrepresented groups.

Original source can be found here.