Joel C. Corbo2021 National Board of Directors Election Candidate for Treasurer

Joel C. Corbo

Center for STEM Learning, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309
joel.corbo@colorado.edu

Education

B.S. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2004; M.A. University of California, Berkeley, 2006; Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley, 2013.

Honors

  • UC Berkeley's Everyday Heroes, 2006
  • Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor, UC Berkeley Physics Department, 2007
  • APS Award for Improving Undergraduate Physics Education, 2012
  • Student Service Award, UC Berkeley Physics Department, 2013

Membership

  • American Association of Physics Teachers
  • American Physical Society
  • Professional and Organizational Development Network

National AAPT Activities

Physics Education Research Leadership Organizing Council (PERLOC) council member and chair of the Physics Education Research Conference (PERC) Organizing Committee, 2016-2019.

Commentary

I’m pleased to be nominated for AAPT Treasurer. In my time as a member of PERLOC, I learned how to interpret AAPT financial reports, allowing PERLOC to get a better understanding of its finances than it had had in several years. I’ve also managed the finances for 6 grant-funded projects, ranging from $100k to $2M each. I know my way around a spreadsheet, and I am confident that I can successfully execute the role of Treasure for the AAPT board.

Professionally, I’m a Senior Research Associate in the Center for STEM Learning at the university of Colorado Boulder. My work focuses on interventions to support departmental cultural change, with the goal of creating cultures that value evidence-based, student-centered, equity-oriented, and collaborative practices and decision-making. I am also a co-founder of the Access Network, an NSF-funded national network of student-driven equity programs designed to support students from marginalized backgrounds in succeeding in STEM and creating more humane STEM culture. Overall, my professional activities have centered on how to leverage community and collaboration to support cultural change so that academia can better value quality education, student voice, and equity.  If elected to the AAPT board, I would bring these values with me in my advocacy, decision-making, and other board responsibilities.