Abstract: I will discuss, using my research in physics education, how research can be used as a guide to develop curricula and pedagogies to improve student understanding of introductory and advanced concepts as well as for making physics learning environments equitable and inclusive. For example, we are developing research-based learning tools such as tutorials and tools for peer instruction to improve student understanding of quantum mechanics. I will also describe our research studies that provide guidelines for how to enhance physics by making it inclusive. For example, I will discuss how a field-tested short intervention was implemented at the beginning of a physics course and how it improved the performance of traditionally underrepresented students in introductory physics classes compared to the comparison group.

Bio: Chandralekha Singh is a Distinguished Professor of Physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Founding Director of the Discipline-based Science Education Research Center (dB-SERC) at the University of Pittsburgh. She is a Past President of the American Association of Physics Teachers. She obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur and her Ph.D. in theoretical condensed matter physics from the University of California Santa Barbara. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, before joining the University of Pittsburgh. She co-led the US team to the International Conference on Women in Physics in Birmingham UK in 2017. She is a Fellow of the American Association of Physics Teachers, American Physical Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science. More information about her can be found at https://sites.google.com/site/professorsinghswebpage/

Faculty web-page:https://www.physicsandastronomy.pitt.edu/people/chandralekha-singh