Rate My Professor Mary Urquhart

Mary Urquhart serves as Department Head and Associate Professor in the Department of Science and Mathematics Education at The University of Texas at Dallas, where she also directs UTeach Dallas, the secondary STEM teacher preparation program, a role she has held since 2007. She has been department head since 2011 and serves as an affiliate Associate Professor in the Department of Physics. As the physics and space science content expert for the department's Master of Arts in Teaching programs, Urquhart joined the UT Dallas faculty in 2002. Her academic preparation includes a PhD in Astrophysical, Planetary, and Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1999, an MS in the same field from the same institution in 1995, and a BS in Physics with Astrophysics Option and Geophysics from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in 1992. Earlier in her career, she held a Caltech Postdoctoral Scholar position at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the Mars Microprobe mission and a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship at NASA Ames Research Center's Mars Exploration Center.

A planetary scientist by training, Urquhart's research specializations encompass thermal properties of planetary regoliths on the Moon, Mars, icy Galilean satellites, and asteroids, astrobiology, integrated science, curriculum design, professional development, and assessment in STEM education. She led Education and Public Outreach for the UT Dallas-built NASA Coupled Ion Neutral Dynamics Investigation (CINDI) mission from 2003 to 2011 and served on the NASA Mars Education Panel in 2004 to develop lesson plans for Mars Exploration Rovers. Key publications include "Google Earth Geoscience Video Library (GEGVL): Organizing Geoscience Videos in a Google Earth Environment to Support Fieldwork Teaching Methodology in Earth Science" (2022), "Scaffolding, State-Based Modeling, and Multiple Representation: User Interface Concepts Implemented in an Interactive Online Learning Environment for Synergistic Learning of Physics and Computational Thinking" (2022), "A usability study of classical mechanics education based on hybrid modeling: Implications for sustainability in learning" (2021), "VIGOR: Virtual Interaction with Gravitational waves to observe relativity" (2017), and the precollege curriculum "Reaching for the Red Planet" (1997), which received the National Eisenhower Clearinghouse for Mathematics and Science Education Digital Dozen award. She developed the NASA-funded "Stars and Planets" middle school curriculum, authored CINDI comic books for teens, and contributed Mars resources for National Geographic. Additional honors include selection as the first graduate student for NASA's Precollege Education Workshop for Space Scientists (1997). Urquhart has presented public lectures such as "Understanding Scale in the Solar System" (2005), served as Texas Space Grant representative for UT Dallas, and provided content expertise for the Perot Museum's Expanding Universe Gallery, influencing K-12 teacher preparation and public science outreach.