Founding Executive Director, SEIRI
When Pratibha Varma-Nelson joined the IU Indianapolis faculty in 2008 she already had a wealth of experience teaching chemistry as a tenured professor, chairing a chemistry department, and developing a model of teaching that received funding from the National Science Foundation. She has been involved in the development and implementation of “Peer-Led Team Learning “ since 1995 and was Co-PI of two NSF funded National Dissemination Grants awarded to the PTL project. She has co-authored many books and articles on the Peer-Led Team Learning model of teaching Organic Chemistry and GOB courses, and is currently studying the use of pedagogies developed in chemistry for humanities disciplines.
As Founding Executive Director of SEIRI, Varma-Nelson and her team are working to develop and implement a program in cyber Peer-Led Team learning for general chemistry and organic chemistry. SEIRI provides leadership on campus for advancements in STEM education and research.
Since joining CTL she has focused the mission of the center on the discipline-based professional development programming for faculty. To this end, the CTL received a NSF grant to do a national workshop studying the roles of centers of teaching and learning in undergraduate engineering education. Most recently, CTL received a $250,000 grant from Next Generation Learning Challenges to work with Purdue University and Florida International University on the “Cyber Peer-Led Team Learning” initiative.
Varma-Nelson is a member of the Long Range Planning Committee of the American Chemical Society division of CHED and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Science Education and Technology. She served as a Program Director of the National Science Foundation Division of Undergraduate Education and as a Founding Chair of the New Member Committee of the American Chemical Society Division of Chemical Education.
In 2011, Varma-Nelson was awarded the Stanley C. Israel Award for Advancing Diversity in the Chemical Sciences, awarded by the Committee on Minority Affairs of the American Chemical Society. She is also a 2008 winner of the James Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement in Teaching Chemistry.
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