Dr. O’Connell joined the Oregon State University STEM Research Center in 2016 as a Senior Researcher. She also holds affiliate faculty appointments in the College of Education, and the Environmental Arts and Humanities Program at OSU. Before coming to the STEM Research Center, she worked in the College of Forestry at OSU in multiple capacities, first as a Postdoctoral Research Associate studying long-term forest carbon dynamics, next as Director of the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest where she coordinated the research and education programs, and then with a staff position in Forestry and Natural Resources Extension which focused on professional development for middle and high school teachers. Kari’s research interests include equity, access, and inclusion in undergraduate field education, collaborative STEM education networks, public engagement in science, ecological data literacy of K-12 teachers and students, and art-science collaborations to science engagement.

Kari has a Ph.D. in Forestry with a minor in soils from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a B.A. degree in Biology from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN.

Projects:

• Advancing Public Engagement at LTERs (APEAL)
• Authentic Research Experience for Teachers at LTERs
• Authentic Research through Collaborative Learning (ARC-Learn): Undergraduate Research Experiences in Data Rich Arctic Science
• On-the-Spot Assessment to Improve Scientist Engagement with the Public (OTS)
• Research and Development on Understanding STEM Identity Using Live Experiences
• Schoolyard LTER partner with the Andrews Forest Long-Term Ecological Research program
• Sense of Belonging in Undergraduate Field Education: Implications for the Design of Inclusive STEM Learning Experiences
• U-FERN: Undergraduate Field Experiences Network

Past Projects:

• Oregon STEM Hub Evaluation (2016-2019)
• Numbers in Nature, Math on the Mountain (2015-2017)
• STEM Beyond School (2016-2021)
• The Virtual Field: A Mitigation Strategy for the COVID-19 Pandemic