Dr. Gary William Wright III was selected to receive the NARST 2023 Outstanding Doctoral Research Award (ODRA) for his dissertation titled “Queering Science Teacher Education: Exploring Changes in Pre-Service Teachers’ Attitudes and Beliefs about Gender and Sexual Diversity-Inclusive Science Teaching.”

This honor recognizes that Dr. Wright’s dissertation was judged by his NARST colleagues on the Outstanding Doctoral Research Award Selection Subcommittee to have the greatest merit and significance in the field of Science Education from among all dissertations nominated for the award this year. Dr. Gary W. Wright III completed his dissertation at North Carolina State University on May 3, 2022, under the direction of Dr. Cesar Delgado of North Carolina State University.

Dr. Wright’s dissertation aims to explore preservice science teachers’ attitudes and beliefs about gender and sexual diversity-inclusive science teaching (GSDST), then develop and implement an intervention to influence attitudes and beliefs that embrace GSDST. Using a convergent mixed methods design, Dr. Wright engaged participating preservice science teachers with surveys, written prompts, and semistructured interviews to understand their views of gender and sexual diversity (GSD) generally and the application of GSDST in their field and future classrooms specifically. Through this work, Dr. Wright illustrated how GSD topics can be integrated in science teacher preparation, including a proposal of steps that science teacher education programs can adopt to prepare science teachers to support and affirm GSD. This contribution addresses a gap in research, theory, and practice concerning GSD inclusivity in science teacher education.