Mary Pat Wenderoth, Ph.D.
University of Washington, Seattle
Mary Pat Wenderoth, Ph.D. is Principal Lecturer in the Biology Department at the University of Washington, Seattle (UW), where she teaches animal physiology and conducts research on how students learn biology.
Her main research interests focus on assessing the implementation of cognitive science principles in the classroom, particularly those associated with conceptual change, use of first principles in constructing conceptual frameworks in physiology and student metacognition. She also researches academic achievement gaps in STEM and the effectiveness of professional development efforts to close those gaps.
Wenderoth received the UW Distinguished Teaching Award in 2001 and has served as the co-director of the UW Teaching Academy. She was recognized by the National Association of Biology Teachers as the Biology Education Researcher of 2017. She received the Claude Bernard Distinguished Lectureship of the American Physiology Society Teaching of Physiology Section in 2019. She is the co-founder of the UW Biology Education Research Group (UW BERG) and the National Society for the Advancement of Biology Education Research (SABER). She served as a facilitator at the HHMI Summer Institute for Undergraduate Biology Education from 2007-2011.
Wenderoth earned her B.S. in Biology from the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C., an M.S. in Women’s Studies from George Washington University, an M.S. in Exercise Physiology from Purdue University and her Ph.D. in Physiology from Rush University in Chicago.
Her main research interests focus on assessing the implementation of cognitive science principles in the classroom, particularly those associated with conceptual change, use of first principles in constructing conceptual frameworks in physiology and student metacognition. She also researches academic achievement gaps in STEM and the effectiveness of professional development efforts to close those gaps.
Wenderoth received the UW Distinguished Teaching Award in 2001 and has served as the co-director of the UW Teaching Academy. She was recognized by the National Association of Biology Teachers as the Biology Education Researcher of 2017. She received the Claude Bernard Distinguished Lectureship of the American Physiology Society Teaching of Physiology Section in 2019. She is the co-founder of the UW Biology Education Research Group (UW BERG) and the National Society for the Advancement of Biology Education Research (SABER). She served as a facilitator at the HHMI Summer Institute for Undergraduate Biology Education from 2007-2011.
Wenderoth earned her B.S. in Biology from the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C., an M.S. in Women’s Studies from George Washington University, an M.S. in Exercise Physiology from Purdue University and her Ph.D. in Physiology from Rush University in Chicago.