Curtis O'Dwyer

Curtis O’Dwyer, a doctoral candidate in the department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, is an interdisciplinary scholar and educator with a decade of experience in secondary and post-secondary education. His work is characterized by his commitment to advancing equitable, justice-centered, and innovative approaches to science teaching and learning. His scholarly interests lie at the intersection of science education, teacher education, science and technology studies, and Black studies. His research investigates how the teaching philosophies and practices of Black science educators—past and present—foster otherwise possibilities for Black liveliness by unsettling norms within the profession that are productive of antiblackness. Curtis’s project, in addition to receiving the Education Graduate Research Scholars fellowship, has been supported by the NAEd/Spencer Dissertation fellowship, University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Milton Pella Science Education fellowship, and the Black Teacher Archive. His scholarship appears in the recent book compilation, Science Education and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies, and the St. Louis American newspaper. He holds a B.S. in Biology with a minor in Mathematics from Roosevelt University and a Master of Arts in Teaching from Washington University in St. Louis. Beyond his research, Curtis continues advancing educational possibilities through his service as a graduate representative for AERA’s Division B–Curriculum Studies and as a board member for a local school in Madison, WI.

Awards and Honors

NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship (September 2026 – May 2027).

Pella Science Education Fellowship, September 2025 – May 2026.

Graduate Student Researcher Travel Fund, AERA Science Teaching & Learning—Special Interest Group, 2025.

Student Research Grants Competition—Conference Presentation Fund Wisconsin Scholarship HUB, 2024.

UW-Madison School of Education Graduate Research Scholar (Ed-GRS) Fellow, September 2022 – May 2027.

Washington University in St. Louis Student Marshall of Arts & Sciences, 2016.

Publications / Presentations

O’Dwyer, C. (2026). Unsettling the overrepresentation of the normative science teacher: The entangled history of a pedagogical ‘Other’. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting. Los Ángeles, CA.; presentation.

O’Dwyer, C. (2026). “Unsuited for the times:” Edward K. Weaver’s (1913-1984) conceptual personae and Black liberatory science education. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting. Los Ángeles, CA.; presentation.

O’Dwyer, C., Wells, L., and Berland, L. (2026). Reconciling differences: Historical considerations to ongoing tensions between science education and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting. Los Ángeles, CA.; presentation.

Kirchgasler, K. and O’Dwyer, C. (2026). “Sleeping police in teacher education: The politics of techniques for sensitizing science teachers to ‘diversity’. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting. Los Ángeles, CA.; presentation.

Granberry, G. & O’Dwyer, C. (2026). Rebellious Storytelling: Black Liberatory Placemaking Practices in Traditional and Go-Along Interviews. University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of African American Studies 2026 Student Symposium., Madison, WI.; presentation.

O’Dwyer, C., Wells, L. B., & Berland, L. G. (2026). The Difficult Relationship Between Science Education and CSP: Are We Heading Towards Separation? In D. Silva Pimentel & K. Terrell (Eds.), Science Education and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies: Research, Practices, and Critical Reflections (pp. 1-42). IGI Global Scientific Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3373-5342-5.ch001.

O’Dwyer, C. (2025). “Efficiency isn’t the only important thing:” Racialized contours of justice in an NGSS case study. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting. Denver, CO., presenter.

O’Dwyer, C (2025). A 20th-Century Moral Evolution: Racialized Sociopolitical Strategies in an NGSS Case Study. National Association for Research in Science Teaching Annual International Conference. Washington D.C.

DelaRosa, T., & O’Dwyer, C. (forthcoming). #SquadGoals 2.0: Doctoral student fathers of color, friendtorship for homeplace. Critical Storytelling: Doctoral Students’ Journeys of Becoming Critical Scholars. Franklin, J., Johnson-Yates, K., Cleveland, H. Teachers College Press.

Wells, L. and O’Dwyer, C. (2024). Examining the role of supervisors in supporting pre-service teachers towards authentic engagement with critical pedagogies. Mary T. Kellner Teacher Education Colloquium. Madison, WI.

O’Dwyer, C. and Hassemer, R. (April 2024). The color-line in U.S. science education reforms: Implications of liberalism and hope for emancipation. Paper to be presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting. Philadelphia, PA.

O’Dwyer, C. (2024). Appropriation of culturally relevant teaching: Demystifying whiteness in science education. Paper to be presented at the Science Educators for Equity, Diversity, and Social Justice Conference. Tucson, AZ.

Banks, A., Fields, L., O’Dwyer, C., Scott, M. L., & Joe, S. (2018). Treating mental illness among diabetic black male adolescents: A review. Research on Social Work Practice, 28(3), 330–339.

Teaching / Service

Junior Graduate Representative for AERA Division B: Curriculum Studies.

Teaching Assistant:  Curriculum & Instruction 590: Advanced Practices in the Teaching of Science (Spring 2026)