Professor Rica S. French earned degrees in physics and astronomy, spending years doing astrophysical research on primarily star clusters and planetary nebulae until she realized she preferred other targets: college students and their instructors. As Associate Director of the Center for Astronomy Education (CAE), she and collaborators are members of the nation's largest college-level astronomy education research initiative. CAE conducts research on the teaching and learning of science, develops and field-tests curricula and assessments, and facilitates professional development experiences for educators.
Rica serves on two of NASA's Science Activation Teams as an Airborne Astronomy Ambassador and as part of the NASA Community College Network. She has taught physics, physical science, and astronomy at the college level since the 1990s and currently directs the Astronomy Program at MiraCosta College. Rica is an Agent and Career Advisor with the American Astronomical Society (AAS) and previously served on their Astronomy Education Board, as a panelist for the Committee on Employment, and as a columnist for Spark: The AAS Education Newsletter. She worked to facilitate the transition to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), partnering with the K-12 Alliance and WestEd as part of the NGSS Early Implementation Initiative Teacher Training, served on the board of the North County Higher Education Alliance, and coordinated the MiraCosta District's academic employees' Professional Development Program for the state Chancellor's office.
Passionate about education and public outreach, Rica is an active member of the AAS, the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP), and the International Astronomical Union (IAU), and was a consultant for preliminary educational materials for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory (formerly LSST) Education and Public Outreach Team. Her recent book chapter, "Everyone's Universe: Teaching Astronomy in Community Colleges," appears in Volume 1 of Astronomy Education: Evidence-based instruction for introductory courses. The initial publication on her work applying social semiotics to the teaching and learning of astronomy and physics appears in the special collection of Physical Review Physics Education Research "Curriculum Development: Theory into Design."
