BIO
Dr. Rommel J. Miranda
Department of Physics, Astronomy & Geosciences
Towson University
8000 York Road
Towson, Maryland 21252
Phone: 410.704.3014
Email: Rmiranda@towson.edu
Dr. Rommel J. Miranda is an Assistant Professor of Science Education in the department of Physics, Astronomy and Geosciences Department at Towson University. He directs the Blinded by the Light: Urban K-12 Portable Planetarium Outreach Program, and co-directs Towson's contribution to Project ASTRO. His research is comprised of four lines of work. These are a) the characteristics of high quality in science teaching in urban K-12 school settings, b) the characteristics of urban K-12 science classroom learning environments, c) the ways that teachers' beliefs about science learner characteristics may impact the science curricula in urban K-12 settings, and d) the efficacy of urban K-16 science outreach programs. Dr. Miranda has over eleven years of professional experience working in higher education and in urban, public, parochial and special education school settings, as well as with students identified as emotionally disturbed and at-risk. He also has extensive experience consulting, designing and facilitating professional development programs in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) for school systems and institutions of higher education in the Baltimore/Washington Metropolitan area. Prior to working at Towson University, Dr. Miranda served as the Director of Student Internships at Columbia Union College and provided oversight to all graduate and undergraduate pre-service teacher interns, mentor teachers, content area methodology faculty, supervisors, professional development school liaisons, and school of graduate and professional studies liaisons. Dr. Miranda has also served as the Program Facilitator for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's High School Internship Program (NASA-SHIP) from 1999-2002 at the Center for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Education at Morgan State University. Notably, Dr. Miranda was awarded "Best Doctoral Dissertation" in 2006 from Morgan State University for his thesis titled: Highly Qualified Does Not Equal High Quality: A Study of Urban Stakeholders' Perceptions of High Quality in Science Teaching. Dr. Miranda was also honored and recognized as "Teacher of the Year" in 2004 by the Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School in Maryland. Recently, Dr. Miranda was appointed to serve as chair of the American Heart Association's Logistics Committee for the 2007 Heart Walk in Baltimore. Moreover, Dr. Miranda aspires to combine his range of experiences, his passion for teaching and his research agenda, which focuses on science teaching and learning in urban settings, to make a positive contribution to Towson University and the community.