Judy Diamond

Enduring Achievement Award

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Dr. Judy Diamond is professor and curator of informal science education at the University of Nebraska State Museum and professor in the University Libraries at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She has devoted her career to informal science education, broadening participation, increasing public science literacy, and advancing innovative approaches to realize the broader impacts of science and scientific research. Over the course of her career, Judy has developed and refined a framework to produce large-scale informal science education projects that routinely achieve significant audience impacts and reach hundreds, thousands, and sometimes millions of informal science learners. While Judy’s body of work spans multiple funding agencies and programs, her portfolio is a veritable “how-to” guide for addressing NSF’s target outcomes for broader impacts. Enhancing public engagement with and knowledge of STEM research is the major thrust of Judy’s life and work.

She has led successful initiatives to make the latest research in evolution, climate science, geology, and virology accessible and meaningful to youth and to the public locally, across the U.S., and indeed, around the world. She has catalyzed impactful partnerships within and across sectors, spearheading and sustaining collaborations among academic research institutions, school districts, museums, regional and national library organizations, public television and radio affiliates, 4-H programs, Tribal communities, and more. During 2015, Judy was named to the AAAS Committee on Science and Technology Engagement with the Public. Through her work on this committee, Judy lent her voice and provided national-level leadership to help strengthen the links among STEM researchers, the public, and the working media. She continues to engage in field research on the behavior of wild parrots.