Karen Peterman

Karen is an evaluator and researcher who studies both formal and informal STEM education programs. Her favorites are informal learning and science communication activities that are particularly tricky to study. Most recently, Karen and the Catalyst team have started providing strategic planning and capacity building support for communities or practice, Alliances, and Institutes who aim to broaden those who participate in the sciences. Karen received fantastic Ph.D. training in the psych department at Duke, and has applied those skills to the field of education since 2002. She started doing independent consulting work in 2007 and founded Karen Peterman Consulting, Co. (KPC) in 2010, with a focus on STEM education. KPC became Catalyst Consulting Group in 2022. Karen’s work has been published in academic journals that span several literatures, including evaluation, informal science, K12 education, public engagement with science, and science communication.