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Roland (Rollie) J. Otto
Roland J. Otto 925-451-5530 (Cell)
Dr. Otto is Acting Teacher Academy Director for the Berkeley Center for Cosmological Physics at UC Berkeley. Rollie retired as a scientist and educator from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory where he was director of the Center for Science and Engineering Education (1988 – 2006). He was the Executive Director of the University of California statewide teacher professional development program – the California Science Project (1995-1998) and Assistant Director of the Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California, Berkeley (1986-1988). He held a variety of research and management positions at Berkeley Lab, including Staff Scientist and Assistant Division Head of the Energy and Environment Division. While at Berkeley Lab, he developed and managed programs that included K-12 science education partnerships with local school districts, summer internships for high school and undergraduate students and for college faculty; a model research partnership with minority-serving institutions; and he established a summer research internship program for secondary science and math teachers that became a national “teacher as scientist” program supported by the Department of Energy. Dr. Otto has been the PI and Co-PI on multiple Department of Energy, NSF and State Funded grants totaling over $30M during his career. Dr. Otto was a member of the Science Subject Matter Committee, California Commission for Teacher Credentialing (2001-2002) establishing subject matter content standards for science teachers. He was a consultant to the Academic Standards Committee for drafting California’s science standards for K–12 public schools; a principal writer and advisor for the California Science Framework Committee (1999–2001); a consultant and editor for the Science Framework for California Public Schools, and chaired the Content Review Panel for California’s Science Instructional Materials Adoption Process (1999). He recently served on a National Academy of Engineering panel to review and report on K-12 engineering education in the U.S. (2007-2009). Dr. Otto has a Ph.D. in nuclear/physical chemistry from Purdue University, and a B.S. in chemistry from Valparaiso University. He did his postgraduate work at Berkeley Lab with Nobelist Glenn T. Seaborg which began a close working relationship for the next 25 years. He has published research in the field of heavy ion nuclear reactions. Most recently he has developed successful high school outreach courses that utilize project based learning and hands-on science, engineering and technology. These courses include Physics for Building Science and Physics In and Through Cosmology, and have become the content basis for teacher professional development for emerging green building energy technologies and for the BCCP Teacher Academy. Dr. Otto is President of SEEd Labs - a nonprofit start-up company dedicated to preparing students for leadership in science and engineering careers through project based, hands-on learning. He is also active as a consultant for STEM education and on advisory boards for Industry Initiatives for Science and Math Education (IISME), PROM/SE a large NSF science education district reform program lead by Michigan State University, and INSPIRE (K-12 engineering outreach) at Purdue University.
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