Cary Sneider is currently Associate Research Professor at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon, where he teaches courses in research methodology for teachers in a Master of Science Teaching (MST) degree program. He is also the principal investigator for a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to develop a formative evaluation component to a new physics curriculum, and Co-Principal Investigator on an NSF grant to Stevens Institute of Technology to develop engineering activities to complement high school biology and chemistry courses. Dr. Sneider also serves as a Consultant on STEM Education for the Noyce Foundation, the Stephen D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation, and on several advisory boards.
Regarding standards and assessment, Dr. Sneider served on the Working Group for the National Science Education Standards (NRC 1996) and on the Planning Committee for the Science Framework for the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). He served as facilitator for the revision of the Washington State K–12 Science Standards in 2008–2009, as Technology and Engineering Lead for the Conceptual Framework for K–12 Science Education for the NRC in 2010, and as Co-Chair of the Planning Committee for the Technology and Engineering Literacy Framework for the 2014 NAEP. He is currently a member of the National Assessment Governing Board, which sets policy for NAEP in all subject areas.
From 1997 to 2007 Dr. Sneider was Vice President for Educator Programs at the Museum of Science in Boston, where he led development of a high school engineering curriculum, which is now published by It’s About Time. Prior to that, he served as Director of Astronomy and Physics Education at the Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California. Over his career he has served as the principal investigator or director of more than 20 grant projects involving curriculum development, teacher education, and science center exhibits and programs.
Dr. Sneider’s research interests have focused on helping students unravel their misconceptions in science and on new ways to link science centers and schools to promote student inquiry. He has taught science at the middle and high schools in Maine, California, Costa Rica, and Micronesia.
In 1997 he received the Distinguished Informal Science Education award from the National Science Teacher Association and in 2003 was named National Associate of the National Academy of Sciences.