Rita Karl

Background

About Rita Karl

Award-winning director of multi-million-dollar grant-funded education projects for NASA, the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health, USAID and PBS focused on equitable access, gender equity and improved learning outcomes. Supervised producers, educators, evaluators, technical and administrative staff. Led a team that re-envisioned a traditional science media initiative elevating the voices of Latino, Black and Indigenous youth while furthering research on equitable, anti-racist and culturally responsive strategies to address systemic inequities in science and technology. As Executive Producer of four seasons of PBS’ SciGirls television and outreach initiatives, led a network of 5,600 educators trained in research-based strategies for engaging youth in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), resulting in outreach programs reaching over youth. Garnered two national Daytime Emmy Award nominations for Best Educational TV Series, won a Gracie Award for Best Family TV Show and a Regional Emmy Award for Best Teen Show. Led a team that raised $110M in grants. As Principal Investigator of a $20M portfolio, my research projects include Latina SciGirls (in Spanish), Code SciGirls, SciGirls in Space, SciGirls in the National Parks and Black SciGirls. As Education Director at the Challenger Center for Space Science Education, led STEM education programs for an international network of educators including the U.S, South Korea, Canada and the U.K, reaching over teachers and students annually. As Director of the USAID project, Educational Technology in Schools, focused on educational reform and capacity building, trained over 2,500 educators and administrators reaching students across Egypt. USAID awarded the program the highest possible score of “outstanding” and “found the program to be the best in USAID” and was replicated in 300 schools. As the Education Manager at NASA's Johnson Space Center, created the award-winning Texas Aerospace Scholars program. Skills: • Strategic planning, project design, implementation and budget management • Hiring, supervision and evaluation of staff • Fund-raising, grant writing, public relations • Development of public and private sector partnerships • Design of professional development and educational curricula • Implementation of monitoring, evaluation and quality assurance processes • Leading large-scale educational networks of trainers, formal and informal educators • Design of museum exhibits, interpretive galleries and publications