Heather Johnston Nicholson, Ph.D.
Director of Research
Girls Incorporated

Heather Johnston Nicholson is Director of Research for Girls Incorporated^®, the national nonprofit organization that “inspires all girls to be strong, smart and bold^®.” 

Dr. Nicholson has been with Girls Inc. for twenty-five years, directing research and evaluation and contributing to program development and advocacy.  A principal field of interest is girls and science, math, engineering and technology through the Girls Inc. program Operation SMART^®. 

Nicholson is coauthor of The Explorer’s Pass: Case Studies of Girls and Math, Science and Technology (Girls Inc., 1991), Evaluation in Informal Science Education: Community Based Programs, in Informal Science Learning (Research Communications Ltd., 1994), and Strong, Smart and Bold Girls: the Girls Incorporated approach to education, Fordham Urban Law Journal 30:2 (December 2001). She has been principal or coprincipal investigator for several NSF grants to Girls Inc. since the mid-1980s. 

Nicholson also is board member and past chair of the board of the National Council for Research on Women, which in 2001 published Balancing the Equation: Where are women and girls in science, engineering and technology?  Prior to joining Girls Inc., Nicholson taught science, technology, and public policy at Purdue University.