Bill Penuel

William R. Penuel is Distinguished Professor of Learning Sciences and Human Development in the School of Education and Institute of Cognitive Science at the University of Colorado Boulder. He is also the founding Principal Investigator for the Center for Reimagining Education Research (formerly the National Center for Research in Policy and Practice). His research sits at the intersection of learning sciences and policy. He designs and studies curriculum materials, assessments, and professional learning experiences for teachers in STEM education, primarily in science. He also studies how contemplative practices and critical inquiry can support educators in cultivating more compassionate learning environments and schools. A third line of his research focuses on how long-term research-practice partnerships can be organized to address systemic inequities in education systems linked to race, gender and sexual diversity, and language.

He has authored two books on research-practice partnerships, Creating Research-Practice Partnerships in Education (Harvard Education Press, 2017), and Connecting Research and Practice for Educational Improvement (Routledge,2018) and co-edited a book on improvement research, The Foundational Handbook on Improvement Research in Education (Rowman & Littlefield, 2022).