Janet Coffey

Janet Coffey has spent her professional career in science education, with a longstanding interest in science learning and public engagement in science.

Janet’s work at the Moore Foundation spans both the science and San Francisco Bay Area programs. She leads the foundation’s Curiosity-Driven Science Initiative, a multi-year effort that seeks to engage youth and community members in meaningful science experiences to strengthen interest in, appreciation for, and understanding of science. She also oversees the informal science education portfolio in the San Francisco Bay Area Program. She has been involved in cross-foundation working groups and helped launch the Moore Inventor Fellows, an effort that provides support to early-career scientists- and engineer-inventors.

Before joining the foundation, Janet was on the faculty at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her research sat at the intersection of learning and assessment and spanned the study of younger children to college students including in- and out-of-school contexts. She began her career in education at the National Academy of Sciences National Research Council before teaching and coaching middle school in Washington, D.C.

Janet received her undergraduate degree in human biology from Stanford University, where she also earned a doctorate in science education.