Roxana A. Moreno has received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the nation’s highest honor for professionals at the outset of their independent research careers. Moreno and others were honored Sept. 9 at a White House ceremony.
A College of Education assistant professor with the Educational Psychology Program, Moreno was one of 20 recipients nominated by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Moreno was the only person to be chosen in the field of education and human resources and was one of 12 women honored as an NSF-supported researcher.
An NSF press release cited Moreno as an innovative researcher on how teachers learn to apply educational psychology to their classroom experiences through new technology tools. Her work addresses complex problems in classrooms attended primarily by Native American and Hispanic students.
“In New Mexico, 60 percent of school children are identified as minorities, 17 percent are special education children and 28 percent live in poverty,” Moreno said. “This means that teaching in diversity requires not only being knowledgeable in the subject matter and instructional methods, but also being able to simultaneously process many variables for each student. The complexity of the classroom environment constantly threatens to overwhelm teachers,” she adds.
Moreno hopes that better preparing teachers for the reality of the classroom will lead to high-quality teaching and a higher retention rate.
Contact: Greg Johnston, (505) 277-1816