Co-Chair & Professor of Educational Studies
Department Chair
Biography
Angela Johnson is a Professor of Educational Studies. She is a former high school physics teacher. She graduated in physics from Bryn Mawr College and earned her doctorate in the social foundations of education from the University of Colorado at Boulder, with an emphasis in anthropology. She teaches courses in educational equity, assessment, educational policy, and research methods. She has authored and co-authored numerous articles and book chapters on the experiences of women of color in physics and other science contexts, and on other issues involving equity and excellence in science and science education.
Areas of Research Specialization
- Women of color in science
- Retaining members of historically excluded groups in physics
- Retaining members of historically excluded groups in college
Areas of Teaching Specialization
- Diversity, equity and multicultural education
- Educational research methods
- Educational policy
Education
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A.B. in Physics at Bryn Mawr College, 1987
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Ph.D. in Social Foundations of Education at University of Colorado, Boulder, 2001
Spotlight
- Book chapter
Johnson, A. Using an intersectional physics identity framework to identify components of physics settings where women of color thrive. In A. Danielsson and A. Gonsalves, eds., Mapping Out New Terrain in Physics Education Research.
- Publication co-authored with students
- NSF grant: Centering Women of Color in STEM: Data-Driven Opportunities for Inclusion
This grant supports the creation of a data portal through which users locate the universities in the US and UK in which women of color/Black and minority ethnic women are graduating in higher-than expected numbers in physics.
- Grant: Jump-starting physics teacher education at St. Mary's College of Maryland through formalization of a physics teacher education program and recruiting
This grant, through the American Physical Society, allowed us to work with current physics majors to develop skills in culturally relevant physics teaching.