Janet L Branchaw, PhD

Professor and Director of WISCIENCE

Professor and Director of WISCIENCE, University of Wisconsin - Madison

Janet is an Associate Professor of Kinesiology in the School of Education and the Faculty Director of the Wisconsin Institute for Science Education and Community Engagement (WISCIENCE) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison (UW–Madison). She earned her B.S. in Zoology from Iowa State University and her Ph.D. in Physiology with a focus on cellular neurophysiology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. After completing postdoctoral training and a lectureship in undergraduate and medical physiology at the UW–Madison’s School of Medicine, she joined the University’s then Center for Biology Education, which she now directs as WISCIENCE. Her research and educational programs focus on the development, implementation, and evaluation of innovative approaches to science education at the undergraduate and graduate levels, with special emphasis on research training in STEM, assessment of student learning, and broadening participation in science. She has been working with undergraduate and graduate research trainees in STEM for over 20 years and is an author of the Entering Research and Entering Mentoring curricula. She teaches courses in physiology and science teaching methods.