Fisher College's Sonali Raje earns Fulbright award

By Megan Bradshaw on February 24, 2017

Jess & Mildred Fisher College of Science and Mathematics chemistry associate professor Sonali Raje has received a 2017-18 Fulbright US Scholar grant, which she will undertake at the Homi Bhabha Center for Science Education (NBCSE) in Mumbai as part of her sabbatical.

"The overarching goal is to develop assessment materials — specifically a conceptual question bank in chemistry that is aligned with the course sequence in India," said Raje. "I will be working with faculty from the science education center and HBCSE chemistry education faculty, and I will lead and mentor Chemistry Olympiad teams for undergraduate students. I am hoping to gain an understanding of how they prepare students for it — to be able to translate that experience to my chemistry content teaching and mentoring student teachers at TU."

For the past six years she has served on the International Activities Committee of the American Chemical Society (ACS) and organized a symposium entitled "Multicultural and International perspectives in chemistry education" at national ACS meetings where scientists and chemistry educators from all over the world discuss issues relevant to chemistry education. The end goal is to continue to foster international collaborations and exchange ideas of instructional modality, curriculum and assessment issues in chemistry education that are common across borders.

Raje chose to work at HBCSE after meeting some of the faculty at international conferences.

"They have several faculty working on diverse research interests—from developing science education materials for special needs populations to integrating interdisciplinary approaches in mathematics and science," she said. "They also have a well-developed chemistry teacher education coalition with local high schools, and I would like to be able to replicate all of these aspects at TU."