AAEEBL is delighted to welcome Cassandra Volpe Horii as one of the keynote speakers for this year’s conference.  In this role, he will give our closing keynote for the Annual Meeting in July.

Dr. Horii earned her B.A. in Physics (Summa Cum Laude) at the University of Colorado at Boulder and Ph.D. at Harvard University in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, with a focus on Atmospheric Chemistry and Biosphere-Atmosphere Exchange, in Professor Steven Wofsy’s group. Her research was done in collaboration with Dr. Mark Zahniser and colleagues of the Atmospheric and Environmental Chemistry group at Aerodyne Research.

Dr. Horii has led teaching and learning related initiatives, programs, and centers for faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates in her prior roles as Dean of the Faculty and Founding Director of the Faculty Center for Professional Development and Curriculum Innovation at Curry College in Milton, MA, and as Associate Director of the Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard University. She has created and taught courses in atmospheric and environmental science for majors and non-majors, environmental chemistry for undergraduate and graduate students, first-year expository writing, freshman seminar, and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) pedagogy.

In addition to publications on spectroscopic measurements of tropospheric reactive nitrogen trace gas concentrations and fluxes, her articles and talks have addressed topics such as student writing in the sciences, adult learning theories, peer teaching mentors, learner-centered teaching, educational technology, STEM education, and faculty/educational development. She has been the recipient of grants, fellowships, and awards from the Association of American Universities, National Science Foundation, Davis Educational Foundation, NASA Earth System Science program, American Geophysical Union, Merck Foundation, Phi Beta Kappa, and Boettcher Foundation.

Dr. Horii is President of the POD Network in Higher Education, a national professional organization dedicated to advancing the research and practice of educational development in higher education since 1976. This is her second year of an elected three-year term on the Executive Committee and she has previously served on the POD Network Board of Directors and as Conference Co-chair. She serves on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Roundtable on Systemic Change in Undergraduate STEM Education.