Professor edits two-volume handbook
Mary M. Atwater, professor in the Mary Frances Early College of Education’s Department of Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies Education, recently edited a two-volume handbook entitled the “International Handbook of Research on Multicultural Science Education.”
The handbook, published by Springer Nature, includes 61 chapters written by authors from around the world.
Atwater spoke with Springer Nature about the editing process for the handbook. She said the most challenging aspect of the process was keeping track of chapter progress, but that a group effort helped keep it on track.
“That is the reason that there is an assistant to the editor. This person brought organization to my life as an editor; she arranged Zoom meetings, took notes at the Zoom meeting, and kept me informed on the status of the book chapters early in the process when it was necessary to meet the page requirement for the handbook to be considered an international handbook,” Atwater told Springer Nature.
“Another challenge was I knew I could not read all of the chapters required for an international handbook and make decisions regarding them. Hence, I made the decision early on that there would need to be section editors,” she said. “These section editors would be responsible for working with the chapter authors/co-authors and approve all chapters to be sent to Springer Nature for publication consideration. Of course, I would be one of the section editors.”
Four College alumni in the science education doctoral program participated in the creation of the handbook through the roles of assistant to the editor, section editor, and chapter author:
- Jordan Henley (Ph.D. ’22), assistant to the editor and single chapter author
- Nam-Hwa Kang (Ph.D. ’02), single chapter author
- Melody Russell (Ph.D. ’00), section editor, chapter author, and lead chapter co-author
- Regina L. Suriel (Ph.D. ’11), single chapter author