David Drew

Emeritus professor David E. Drew is a social scientist and an information scientist.  Previously he held the Joseph B. Platt Chair in the Management of Technology. His teaching focused on data analytics, statistical analysis, and model building. For 10 years Drew served as dean of the School of Educational Studies.

Prior to joining the CGU faculty, he was a senior information scientist at the RAND corporation. Prior to that, he held senior research positions at the National Research Council and the American Council on Education. Earlier he held a research faculty position at Harvard University, from which he received his PhD, and served as head applications programmer at the Harvard Computing Center.

He is the author of more than 200 publications, including eleven books, about a) the improvement of mathematics and science instruction at all levels of education, b) the development and evaluation of effective undergraduate programs, c) building strong university research programs, and d) health education. These publications include a book reporting an evaluation he directed of a two-billion-dollar National Science Foundation program, a RAND report for the White House about federal funding of biomedical research, and a book about how to increase research productivity in the nation’s universities.

Drew’s research interests focus on social justice and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). He has identified multiple barriers that prevent many marginalized students from accessing STEM courses, and has worked with school districts, colleges, and universities on programs that remove those barriers and facilitate both student access and student success. His book STEM the Tide: Reforming Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Education in America is published by the Johns Hopkins University Press.

He presently is writing three books. The first, based on more than a half century of experience, contains his reflections and advice about teaching statistics.  The second, tentatively titled Staying Human in a World of Bits, Bytes, and Bots, draws upon his background in computer science and in sociology. He discusses both the positive and the negative transformational changes in society brought by digital technology and argues that we must preserve and strengthen the essential qualities that make us human. The third, tentatively titled Our Days Are Numbered, is a novel set in academia about the forces reshaping higher education and about the nature and meaning of time.