Heather F. Lavender joined the Syracuse University School of Education in August 2024 as Assistant Professor of Inclusive STEM Education. She was most recently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies Department of the University of Georgia Mary Frances Early College of Education.
Trained as a microbiologist, Lavender moved from the laboratory to the classroom after she began volunteering to educate K-12 schools about activities in her research lab and questioned how children receive science in the classroom.
She then taught in the Clarke County (GA) School District and worked as an education and outreach manager in the Louisiana State University Office of Strategic Initiatives. Before those appointments, she was a research associate in the Louisiana State University (LSU) Department of Biological Sciences, at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), and at University of Iowa Department of Microbiology and Immunology.
Lavender’s primary research interests in science education include the awareness and participation of under-served youth—such as Black girls and visually impaired students—in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); sociocultural practices in science classrooms; antiracist and equitable science learning; professional development of in-service teachers; the content knowledge of pre-service teachers; and women of color in technology.
Among Lavender's book chapters and articles are "Broccoli, Bones, and Inquiry’s Plight" in Navigating the Challenges of Elementary Science Teaching and Learning: Using Case-based Pedagogy to Understand Dilemmas of Practice (Springer, 2023) and "Elementary Science Teacher Educators Learning Together: Catalyzing Change with Educative Curriculum Materials and Vignette Writing" in Innovations in Science Teacher Education (2023).
Lavender has been Principal Investigator (PI) for a National Science Foundation Division of Graduate Education funded research project on "The Young Black Girl: Influencing Science Interest and Commitment to STEM through the Merging of Lived Experiences of Learners in an Out-of-School Program" and a co-PI for LSU's Engineering is Elementary Teacher Educator Institute. She has consulted on two national reports: “Transforming Trajectories for Women of Color in Tech” (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2021) and “Investing in Diverse Community Voices” (National Science Foundation Biennial Report to Congress, 2018).
As a doctoral student, Lavender received the LSU College of Human Sciences and Education Distinguished Dissertation Award and Southeastern Conference Emerging Scholar (Graduate Student) Award. Since 2021, she has chaired the Methods for Methods Forum for the Association of Science Teacher Education, and she is a manuscript reviewer for the Electronic Journal for Research in Science and Mathematics Education.