Lisa Wills

Dr. Lisa Wills is the former Senior Director for Undergraduate STEM Education.

Before joining AAC&U, Dr. Wills was the acting manager for strategic performance assessment, evaluation, and data collection with the Office of Education at NASA headquarters. At NASA, Dr. Wills developed and implemented new STEM education evidence principles and policies to effectively evaluate the efficacy of projects and programs at both the headquarters and across all of NASA’s ten Centers of Education. Prior to working in that role, Dr. Wills served as the senior education research associate and education research manager for the NASA Office of Education. Dr. Wills was also a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Biology at the University of North Florida, where she taught microbiology and English literature and composition.

Dr. Wills earned a Ph.D. in educational psychology and research and an M.A. in comparative literature from the University of South Carolina Columbia, and a B.S. in microbiology from Howard University. She is also a member of the Sigma XI Scientific Research Honor Society and the International Academy for Intercultural Research, as well as an active conference contributor to the American Evaluation Association, the Mixed Methods International Research Association, and the American Educational Research Association.

Areas of Expertise

• Qualitative
• Quantitative
• and Mixed Research Methods; Cognitive
• Psychometric
• and Survey Instrument Development; STEM Higher Education Program Performance Assessment and Evaluation