Diane Ebert-May, University Distinguish Professor in the Department of Plant Biology at Michigan State University and Adjunct Professor in Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution at University of California, San Diego, is an international pioneer in discipline-based biology education research that studies fundamental questions about teaching and learning. As leaders in efforts to innovate and improve undergraduate STEM education, her lab group developed and tested a model for professional development using science-practice based, learner-centered teaching. They continue to investigate the longitudinal impact of transformed biology courses on faculty teaching and student learning.
Ebert-May received her B.S. in botany from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and M.A. and Ph.D. in biology from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She served as the director of Northern Arizona University’s Science and Mathematics Learning Center and professor of biological science for 10 years before joining MSU in 1998 as director of Lyman Briggs School of Science. Her focus on discipline-based biology education research has involved more than 500 postdoctoral fellows and led to over 50 publications that focus on teaching and learning in undergraduate biology. Volume One of her book, Pathways to Scientific is based on inquiry-based, learner-centered classrooms, science practice-based instructional strategies, and assessment of learning for introductory biology courses. Volume Two is in press for release at the end of 2025.
Ebert‐May is a AAAS Fellow in the Biological Sciences and her awards include the College of Natural Science (MSU) Postdoctoral Mentoring Award (2022), Eugene Odum Ecology Education Award from ESA (2018), US Professor of the Year Award for Michigan from the Carnegie Foundation/CASE (2011), the Education Award from American Institute for Biological Science (2012), and University Distinguished Faculty (MSU 2012). Ebert-May’s plant ecology research continues on Niwot Ridge, Colo., where she has conducted long‐term ecological research on alpine tundra plant communities since 1971.