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As Director of the Discovery and Ohio's Evaluation & Assessment (E&A) Center for Mathematics and Science Education Centers, Dr. Sarah B. Woodruff provides leadership in research design, data analysis, instrument development, and all aspects of evaluation and assessment for large-scale, externally-funded education programs and projects across the nation. Under Dr. Woodruff's direction, the E & A Center is recognized nationwide for providing superior evaluation, assessment, and research services to improve teaching and learning and to promote equity in opportunity, access, and outcomes for all learners. Dr. Woodruff has a broad understanding of education, having served as a P-12 teacher and an administrator and as an assistant director and program administrator with the Ohio Department of Education. She holds appointments in the departments of Teacher Education and Educational Leadership at Miami University, where she teaches doctoral courses in educational policy. Dr. Woodruff has also served as co-chair of Miami's Institutional Review Board (IRB) for Human Subject Research. She brings to her work expertise in quantitative methods, instrument design, and observational fieldwork, as well as extensive experience working in educational settings with teachers, faculty, and P-20+ students.

Dr. Woodruff demonstrates commitment to three principles—collaboration, advocacy, and continuous improvement—that have resulted in the broad, positive impact of her work. Her primary research interests include gender and equity issues in science education, science teacher preparation and licensing policy, and teacher professional development related to inquiry teaching and learning. Her evaluation work informs changes in local practice, as well as in state and federal policies. Through dissemination of research and evaluation findings, Dr. Woodruff has contributed to the knowledge base regarding teaching and learning and informed public policy debates in Ohio and nationally. She routinely produces refereed presentations, invited chapters, journal articles, and thorough and thoughtful evaluation reports.

As part of the BioXFEL Center, Dr. Woodruff and Ohio's Evaluation & Assessment Center for Mathematics and Science Education (Miami University, Oxford, OH) provide services related to the NSF-required external evaluation of the project. Evaluation activities for the project include assessment of education and diversity activities deployed at each site. The evaluation monitors program implementation and provides opportunities for program and component activity intervention and improvement. Summative evaluation activities focus on assessment of the Center's education and diversity programs' impact on the range of participants who are expected to benefit from the synergy that the Center and its strategic partnerships bring to their educational experiences. The E & A Center's evaluation of the BioXFEL education and diversity programs includes the following:

• Facilitating (for the Education team) development of a logic model which will clearly align resources with strategies, activities, and measureable intermediate and longer-term outcomes.
• Assisting the Education team to identify goals, associated measures, and anticipated outcomes for each Center subgroup including: (1) K-12 students, (2) K-12 teachers, (3) undergraduate students, (4) graduate students, and (5) post-doctoral fellows.
• Assisting the Education team to identify goals, associated measures, and anticipated outcomes for each activity including: (1) 10-week summer research sessions, (2) workshops, (3) short courses, (4) XFEL cross-training, and (5) K-12 student/teacher "villages."
• Recommending, developing, or modifying existing instruments to measure participant outcomes which may include, interest in STEM careers, persistence in STEM courses/career trajectory, general attitudes toward science or specifically in fields relevant to XFEL, skill and knowledge acquisition, and relevant aspects of self-efficacy.
• Administration of secure web-based questionnaires to collect project data across sites.
• Conducting undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral participant focus groups either face-to-face or virtually.
• Utilizing tracking tool data entered at all Center sites for the collection of quantitative data regarding participation of Center subgroups.