Speaker Profile

Dr. Sandra Richardson

Dr. Sandra Richardson

Section Head, Research Capacity and Competitiveness Section, NSF Office of Integrated Activities

Dr. Sandra Richardson is the Section Head for the Research Capacity and Competitiveness (RCC) Section in the Office of Integrative Activities (OIA) at the U.S. National Science Foundation. In this role, she serves as a member of the OIA senior leadership team in the Office of the NSF Director and is responsible for carrying out of RCC's mission to support the development and enhancement of STEM research capacity and competitiveness of individuals, institutions, states, territories, and regions historically underserved by NSF research and development funding. Dr. Richardson joined OIA after serving as the Acting Deputy Division Director in the Division of Undergraduate Education in the NSF Directorate for STEM Education and Program Lead for the NSF Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program. While serving as a NSF Program Director, she planned and administered programs aimed at advancing research and training in undergraduate education, including managing hundreds of grants to comprehensive, primarily undergraduate, minority-serving, research-intensive, and two-year institutions across the Nation.

Her research and scholarly interests have been motivated by the intersection of her personal, professional, and scholarly experiences as a student, teacher, research professor, and academic. In addition to STEM education, her research includes examining effective tools for undergraduate mathematics curricula, mathematics teacher education, and broadening the participation in undergraduate and graduate STEM majors and STEM careers.

Dr. Richardson has been recognized nationally for her mentoring, teaching, leadership, and service to the STEM and STEM education communities, including being the recipient of several NSF Special Act awards, a 2022 National Honoree of Mathematically, Gifted & Black, a recipient of a University Excellence in Teaching and Research Merit Award, and a graduate of the Federal Executive Institute. She is Chair of the Federal EPSCoR Interagency Coordinating Committee.

Dr. Richardson enjoys family time, traveling, board and card games, sports, and participating in community service with her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.