Mar 13, 2006 - Claremont, Calif. -

Daniel Goroff, vice president and dean of faculty at Harvey Mudd College, will testify Wednesday, Mar. 15, before the Committee on Science of the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C., on the importance of undergraduate science education and how to improve it. The hearing will be held in room 2318 of the Rayburn Building from 10 a.m. until noon EST.

His testimony will be part of the Research Subcommittee of the Committee on Science's inquiry into these overarching questions:

• What are the obstacles to recruiting and retaining science, mathematics and engineering majors and what actions are being taken to overcome them?
• What are the obstacles to implementing reforms in undergraduate science, mathematics and engineering education?
• What role have federal agencies, particularly the National Science Foundation (NSF), played in improving undergraduate science, mathematics and engineering education?
• What more should federal agencies be doing in this area?

Prior to joining Harvey Mudd College in July 2005, Goroff was professor of the practice of mathematics and the assistant director of the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard University. Goroff co-directs the Sloan Foundation Scientific and Engineering Workforce Project based at the National Bureau of Economic Research. As director of the Joint Policy Board for Mathematics from 1998 to 2001, Goroff was called to testify about educational and research priorities by the House and the Senate during the 106th Congress.

Goroff earned his B.A.-M.A. degree in mathematics summa cum laude at Harvard as a Borden Scholar, his M.Phil. in economics at Cambridge University as a Churchill Scholar, and his Ph.D. in mathematics at Princeton University as a Danforth Fellow.

Other witnesses at the hearings will be:

Elaine Seymour, the author of "Talking About Leaving: Why Undergraduates Leave the Sciences" and the former director of ethnography and evaluation research at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

John Burris, the president of Beloit College in Wisconsin. Prior to his appointment, Burris served for eight years as director of the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and he served for nine years as a professor of biology at the Pennsylvania State University.

Carl Wieman, professor of physics at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the recipient of the 2001 Nobel Prize in physics. Using his Nobel award money, Wieman has launched an effort to reform introductory physics. Wieman currently chairs the National Academy of Sciences Board on Science Education.

Margaret Collins, assistant dean of science, business and computer technology at Moraine Valley Community College in the southwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois.