Cathie M. Currie, Ph.D. is a cognitive social psychologist who specializes in medical and science education, problem solving and innovation skill development, authentic assessment, and minority access to higher education. As Executive Director of Currie Outcomes R&D, Inc. in New York, NY, she conducts policy and outcomes research in medical, health professions and science education. Dr. Currie is developing a software project to improve the quality of test items for secondary and higher education classroom tests so that they help students and instructors focus on learning opportunities. She also works with the TRIZ Education Consortium in their efforts to enhance problem solving and innovation instruction for science, technology, engineering and mathematics education and to expand the STEM workforce in the United States.

Dr. Currie received her Ph.D. in Applied Social Psychology from Columbia University’s School of Arts & Sciences in 1990. Her dissertation, mentored by Morton Deutsch, investigated conflict resolution attitudes and behaviors in field settings. Dr. Currie trained at Columbia’s medical school in epidemiology and child psychiatry research as a National Institute of Mental Health fellow.

Dr. Currie has designed and conducted clinical and basic science faculty development, advised curriculum and assessment committees, and counseled medical students who encountered academic difficulties for the City University of New York’s and Cornell’s medical schools. She taught in Cornell’s anatomy course and CUNY’s behavioral medicine course and has given numerous presentations on medical education for local medical schools and national conferences. Prior to her work in medicine, she taught experimental, abnormal, personality, adult development and introductory psychology courses at Hunter College and City College in the City University of New York. She has also been a statistician for AT&T research and for psychiatry research studies.

Before beginning graduate work at Columbia, Dr. Currie developed women’s soccer in New York and at the national level, coached teams, and was a sports writer. She co-founded the U.S. women’s national soccer team and edited a book, Soccer: Tips & Techniques for Teachers and Coaches for the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. She attained her baccalaureate degree in psychology at the Bernard M. Baruch College of The City University of New York, where she earned the Baruch Citizen Award.

As a Lake Wobegoner from Garrison Keillor’s hometown, Dr. Currie whole-heartedly embraces her fellow Wobegoners’ belief that all children are above average. She contends that the singular purpose of education is to identify and develop the unique combination of abilities and interests of each and every student so that they can maximize their contribution to our nation’s human capital. Her clinical experiences and observations of cognitive learning problems in medicine and psychology fostered an interest in improving assessment and problem solving to motivate learning, to help learners structure their knowledge, and to increase their pragmatic and creative abilities.