Mark McDermott

Mark McDermott started his career in STEM by graduating from Cornell College with a double major in secondary education and Biology. He then went on to earn his Masters in Science Education from Iowa State University. Mark taught secondary science at New Hampton High school, Roland-Story High School and Iowa City West High School for over a decade before earning his Ph.D. in Science Education from the University of Iowa in 2009. He has taught science or Science Education courses at a number of higher education institutions including Hawkeye Community College, Kirkwood Community College, Wartburg College, University of Northern Iowa, and the University of Iowa. He has also had experience in linking instructional practices to assessment strategies as a Senior Test Development Associate at ACT.

Mark is currently a Clinical Associate Professor in Science Education in the College of Education, where he designs instruction and teaches biology courses for elementary education pre-service teachers as well as methods courses for pre-service secondary science teachers. His research focus is STEM teaching and learning as well as the use of multimodal writing tasks as a part of science instruction. As the STEM coordinator for the College of Education and in his role coordinating STEM outreach activities at the University of Iowa, Mark works with STEM activities across the entire university and serves as liaison from the University of Iowa to the Kirkwood Regional STEM Center. He also serves as a council member for the Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council.