The Afterschool Alliance has named Anita Krishnamurthi to its newly created post of director of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) policy. She will work to advance policies that grow STEM curriculum in after-school programs.
Krishnamurthi served most recently as the John Bahcall Public Policy Fellow at the American Astronomical Society. Prior to that, she worked at NASA for six years, first as an education-and-public-outreach-program planning specialist at NASA headquarters and later as lead for education and public outreach in the Astrophysics Science Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Her formal training is in astrophysics.
“After-school programs make a huge difference in the lives of our children, families, and communities,” Krishnamurthi said in an Afterschool Alliance news release. “They keep kids safe, inspire them to learn and help working families. After-school programs are a fabulous place to spark children’s interest in STEM topics in a setting that’s often more hands-on, and usually more focused on applied learning, than the regular-day classroom.”
The Alliance noted that the new STEM position was created with support from the Noyce Foundation and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund.