Monya Ruffin

Dr. Ruffin joined NSF in 2008 as a Science Education Administrator in the former Directorate for Education and Human Resources after serving as Deputy Director of Research and Evaluation at The McKenzie Group and Project Director and Senior Research Analyst at the American Institutes for Research. In this NSF role, she provided scientific and technical expertise to the Directorate and agency in biology education and STEM education research and evaluation. She served as a managing program officer for the Discovery Research K-12 program, Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers program, Advancing Informal STEM Learning program, and Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water Systems program. Dr. Ruffin also co-led an Interagency Informal Science Education Group comprised of 15 federal agencies. In 2013, she returned to academia to serve as Director of Education, Outreach, and Diversity and Senior Scientist in the Center for Selective C-H Functionalization at Emory University, where she oversaw efforts spanning 23 research labs and 15 partner institutions and industries across the country. Dr. Ruffin returned to NSF in 2016 as a Program Officer in DRL, assuming leadership roles across the agency, including Program Lead for the NSF INCLUDES Implementation Team and Advancing Informal STEM Learning Program.

Dr. Ruffin was selected to serve as Acting Deputy Division Director for DRL in August 2021, where she served for a year and received a 2022 NSF Director’s Award for Superior Individual Accomplishment. After a brief return to her roles as Program Lead and Program Officer, Dr. Ruffin was appointed to the Deputy Divion Director position in May 2023 until her recent appointment as Acting Division Director in December.

Dr. Ruffin has a B.S. in Biology from the University of Georgia, an M.Ed. in Science Education from the University of Georgia, and a Ph.D. in Teaching and Learning, with emphases in Instructional Technology and Biology from the University of Missouri-St. Louis.