Bio/Personal Statement

I have a background in teaching at higher education settings as well as K-12 schools and my work focuses on both pre-service and in-service teachers to meaningfully integrate STEM pedagogy into classroom practice. I earned my PhD in STEM Education from the University of Minnesota. My doctoral dissertation focused on "Understanding Teacher Professional Identity Development", where I explored Secondary Science Teacher beliefs and practices through reflective practice. My research interests have focused broadly on issues of understanding (i) how teachers' beliefs impact their classroom practice, (ii) teachers' conception of STEM and (iii) teachers' attitudes toward culturally diverse students. I am also passionate about working on preparing culturally responsive science and math educators. I am currently involved for an IES grant project aimed at supporting reform based instruction of AP Chemistry teachers.

Publications, Awards, and Other Highlights

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=aKiMLFwAAAAJ&hl=en Publications: 1. Crabtree, L., Titu, P. What will we teach the teachers? Grappling with racism in a professional development setting. Cult Stud of Sci Educ 17, 899–906 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-022-10119-2 2. Rivera, S., & Titu, P1. (2021). “I still don’t see the problem with treating each individual student as an individual”: science preservice teachers’ views on diversity and race in the science classroom. Curriculum and Teaching Dialogue. 23(1&2), 161-179. https://www.proquest.com/openview/c80c887e8355a652d430eee673d6c31f/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=29703 3. Titu, P1., Jiang, S., Perez, S. A., Gunes, B., Kulkarni, C., Zhu, W., Rushton, G. T., & Yaron, D. J. (2020). Making Lemonade out of Lemons: Supporting Adoption of Evidence-Based Practices in Response to Educational Disruptions. Journal of Chemical Education, 97(9), 3306-3311. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00818 3. Titu, P1., Ring, E. A., Brown, J. C., & Roehrig, G. H. (2018). Exploring changes in science teachers' attitudes toward culturally diverse students during an equity-focused course. Journal of Science Teacher Education. https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/VFEafQYFeIHX8Xtjp3xD/full 4. Mensah, F. M., Brown, J. C., Titu, P1., Rozowa, P. S., Sivaraj, R., & Heydari, R. (2018). Preservice and in-service teachers’ ideas of multiculturalism: Explorations across two science methods courses in two different contexts. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 29(2), 128-147. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1046560X.2018.1425820 5. Ring, E. A., Dare, E. A., Roehrig, G. H., Titu, P1., & Crotty, E. (2018). From Conception to Curricula: The Role of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics in Integrated STEM Units. International Journal of Education in Mathematics, Science and Technology (IJEMST), 6(4), 342-362. https://www.ijemst.net/index.php/ijemst/article/view/257/157 HONORS AND AWARDS - Selected to serve on the Editorial Review Board for Innovations in 2021-2024 Science Teacher Education (ISTE) journal for a three-year term. - Appointed to serve for 2-years as a co-chair of the Equity and Diversity Strand 2021-2023 for the Association for Science Teacher Education (ASTE) 2022 conference. - Appointed to serve as a Program committee member and coordinator of the 2021-2023 Technology for Teaching, Learning, and Research strand for National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST) 2022 conference. - 3MT Thesis presentation runner-up, University of Minnesota 2019 - Jhumki Basu Scholar, National Association for Research 2018 in Science Teaching (NARST) - Ruth Eckert Scholarship, University of Minnesota, MN 2018