Mindy Maris, PhD, a member of the inaugural class of Emory University’s 40 Under Forty, is an award-winning educator and scientist whose work is transforming teaching and learning. Described as “a brilliant new contributor to the international dialogue on teaching and learning,” she is a pioneer in teaching and learning using evidence-based methods and has quickly established herself as one of the rising stars using research to improve student learning. Dr. Maris is passionate about creating student-centered learning environments grounded in research on how people learn. She has a proven record of successfully launching new academic initiatives, having established nine teaching and learning support centers at different institutions over the course of her career thus far.
Dr. Maris earned her B.S. in biology from the College of William and Mary and her Ph.D. in genetics and molecular biology from Emory University, and she completed her post-doctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Maris has held faculty positions, faculty development positions, and student support positions at a wide range of institutions around the world, from K-12 organizations to community colleges to liberal arts universities to medical schools, providing her with insight into diverse learning environments. In these roles, she has enhanced academic quality by creating improved student-centered learning environments and promoted a culture of excellence and innovation in teaching and learning. She is Dean of Academic Programs and a faculty member with the Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences at the NIH. In addition to being named to the inaugural class of Emory University’s 40 Under Forty for her contributions to higher education, some of her additional honors include being named a Biology Scholar by the National Science Foundation and the American Society for Microbiology, a Georgia Governor’s Teaching Fellow, and a National Endowment for the Humanities / Arthur Blank Teaching Fellow.