New Director at Science House

Jason Painter, executive director of the North Carolina Science Olympiad, joins the Science House today as its new director.

Painter will lead the Science House into a new relationship with the Nature Research Center, the new wing of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.

Painter has received the National Outstanding Leadership in Science Education Award and the Herman Gatling Award for Outstanding Science Leadership in North Carolina. He holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s degree in science education from East Carolina University and a doctoral degree in educational psychology from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Painter began his career in Pitt County as a high school science teacher. He went on to serve as the interim director of the Center for Science, Mathematics and Technology Education at East Carolina University and then as assistant director of the Center for Mathematics and Science Education at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Under his leadership for the past six years, the North Carolina Science Olympiad has grown by more than 80 percent to become the largest K-12 science competition in the state, reaching more than 12,000 students and 600 schools annually.

Established at NC State in 1991, the Science House works to improve the quality of teaching and learning in STEM education. For more information, visit http://science-house.org/.