The Ohio State University College of Arts and Sciences has appointed Christopher Andersen director of its Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education Initiatives.
Andersen will be responsible for coordinating and promoting STEM-related education and outreach activities across Ohio State’s College of Arts and Sciences and building collaborations with other colleges throughout the university community. He will also serve as liaison to external communities for STEM activities and promote recruitment and retention of students in STEM fields.

Andersen currently serves as director of Ohio State’s Project to Support Grants for Research Outreach (Project GRO), an initiative within the university's Offices of Research and Outreach and Engagement to create a resource for faculty who include an outreach/engagement component in their grant proposals for research funding. In addition, he is working with two NSF-funded projects at Ohio State: the Center for Emergent Materials, an NSF Materials Science Research and Engineering Center (MRSEC); and It's About Discovery, a STEM curriculum project in Ohio and North Carolina.

"Chris Andersen is extraordinarily effective at facilitating partnerships between researchers and those who provide outreach to the communities we serve,” said Joseph Steinmetz, executive dean and vice provost, College of Arts and Sciences. “His demonstrated leadership in fostering interdisciplinary collaborations makes him exactly the right person to strengthen and broaden the impact of the STEM efforts in the Arts and Sciences.”

Andersen earned his MA and PhD in developmental psychology from Columbia University.