BENNETT GOLDBERG, PHD

Director of Research in Higher Education, Training, and Evaluation

Collaborative Principal Investigator

Northwestern University

Bennett B Goldberg (BA’82 Harvard College, MS’84 & PhD’87 Brown University): Following a Bantrell Post-doctoral appointment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Francis Bitter National Magnet Lab, he joined the physics faculty at Boston University in 1989. During his 28 years at Boston University, he was Physics Department chair; founder and director of the Center for Nanoscience and Nanobiotechnology; founder and director of the Office of STEM Education Initiatives in the Office of the Provost; and designed and implemented active learning for many STEM classes.

In 2016, he became the Director of the Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, and Assistant Provost of Learning and Teaching at Northwestern University. Goldberg guided an expert staff toward Searle’s mission to advance learning in higher education. Under Goldberg’s leadership, the Searle Center became a research-practice partnership collaborating across Northwestern and with the national and international academic community to catalyze and sustain change that supports learning at all levels, for all learners.

Goldberg leads numerous funded projects and plays a leading role in national and international teaching innovation and scholarship. Goldberg has helped build a network of universities preparing future faculty to be excellent researchers and excellent teachers, has co-authored two massive open online courses (MOOCs) for PhDs and postdocs on STEM learning and teaching, is co-creator of the Postdoc Academy, a national initiative to advance strategic and career skills of postdocs, and is involved in bringing together cross-sector organizations across the nation and internationally to scale effective strategies for increasing access to higher education for underrepresented groups.

Goldberg leads an NSF project to develop and deliver inclusive pedagogy for STEM instructors nationwide, improving access to and success in STEM for marginalized and minoritized students. Following his leadership of Searle, Goldberg is currently the Director of Research in Higher Education, Training, and Evaluation. Goldberg is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a United Methodist Teacher/Scholar of the Year has been awarded a Sloan Foundation Fellowship and is a recipient of the Presidential Young Investigators Award.