Faculty Profile for Dr. Alice R Olmstead

profile photo for Dr. Alice R Olmstead
Dr. Alice R Olmstead
Associate Professor — Physics
RFM 3240
phone: (512) 245-2131
Scholarly/Creative Work
Awards
Grants
Service

Biography Section

Teaching Interests

 astronomy; physics; pedagogy; science and society

Research Interests

 instructional change; institutional change; faculty development

Selected Scholarly/Creative Work

  • Sachmpazidi, D., Olmstead, A. R., Thompson, A. N., Henderson, C., & Beach, A. (2020). Team-based instructional change in undergraduate STEM: Characterizing effective faculty collaboration. International Journal of STEM Education, 8(15). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-021-00273-4
  • Olmstead, A. R., Beach, A., & Henderson, C. (2019). Supporting improvements to undergraduate STEM instruction: An emerging model for understanding instructional change teams. International Journal of STEM Education, 6(20).
  • Olmstead, A. R., Gutmann, B., Ochoa-Madrid, E., Vasquez, A., Pike, C., & Barringer, D. F. (2023). How can we design instruction to support student reasoning about physicists’ ethical responsibilities in society? The Physics Teacher, 61(5), 343–350. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1119/5.0087490
  • Abdurrahman, F., & Olmstead, A. R. (2021). Objectivity, culturelessness, and apoliticism: how cultural beliefs prevent the advancement of equity in astronomy graduate programs. https://doi.org/10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Abdurrahman
  • Gutmann, B. N., Ochoa-Madrid, E. K., & Olmstead, A. R. (2020). “I’m not that important”: Barriers and bolsters to student agency during conversations about the intersections of physics and ethics (pp. 191–197).

Selected Awards

  • Award / Honor Recipient: Presidential Distinction Award for Excellence in Service, Texas State University. August 21, 2020
  • Award / Honor Recipient: Presidential Distinction Award for Excellence in Service, Texas State University. August 2022
  • Award / Honor Recipient: College Achievement Award for Excellence in Service, College of Science and Engineering, Texas State University. August 2021

Selected Grants

  • Olmstead, Alice R (Principal). Collaborative Research: Furthering the Work of STEM Undergraduate Transformation: Modeling Instructional Change Teams, National Science Foundation, Federal, $464671. (Submitted: December 11, 2018, Funded: January 1, 2020 - December 31, 2022). Grant.
  • Close, Eleanor W (Principal), Olmstead, Alice R (Co-Principal). Learning Assistant Professional Development for Facilitation Practices in Active Learning STEM Courses, NSF, Federal, $28756. (Funded: October 1, 2024 - September 20, 2027). Grant.
  • Olmstead, Alice R. Supplement to Furthering the Work of STEM Undergraduate Transformation: Modeling Instructional Change Teams, NSF, Federal, $99947. (Submitted: November 2020, Funded: January 1, 2020 - December 31, 2023). Grant.
  • Galloway, Heather C, Close, Eleanor W, Olmstead, Alice R, Luxford, Cynthia J, Feng, Li. Building Capacity: Creating Faculty-Student Communities for Culturally Relevant Institutional Change, National Science Foundation Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), Federal, $2499933. (Submitted: March 6, 2019, Funded: October 1, 2019 - September 30, 2024). Grant.

Selected Service Activities

Member
Faculty Hiring Committee
November 1, 2018-March 2019
Participant
Student Service Fee Committee
January 2024-Present
Officer
American Physical Society-Group on Physics Education Research Executive Committee (APS GPER-EC)
January 2022-Present
Co-Director
Physics / STEM Communities Learning Assistant Activities
January 2020-Present
Reviewer / Referee
International Journal of STEM Education
March 2019-Present