Carol O'Donnell directs the Smithsonian Science Education Center, an outreach center of the Smithsonian dedicated to transforming the teaching and learning of science. Carol serves on the InterAcademy Partnership Science Education Programme Global Council, a network of national academies of science and medicine, and is on the part-time faculty of the Physics Department at George Washington University, where she earned her doctorate. Prior to joining Smithsonian, Carol was a leader at the US Department of Education (ED) and oversaw the Cognition and Student Learning research grant program at ED's Institute of Education Sciences. She began her career as a science teacher, then served as a national curriculum developer, authoring 6 books for the Science & Technology Concepts (STC) project. Carol's work earned awards from NOAA, AERA, and the Smithsonian. Her passion is catalyzing critical conversations among youth on socio-scientific issues affecting the nation and world.