Rate My Professor Bruce Palmquist

Palmquist has earned significant recognition for his contributions to teaching and science education, including the 2025 CWU Faculty Innovator of the Year award for 'The Who, What, Why, Where, When and How of Student-Created Audio Podcasts,' the 2019 College of the Sciences Faculty/Staff Member of the Year, the 2009 Professional Education Advisory Board Crystal Apple Award for outstanding teacher educator, the 2005 Washington Professor of the Year from the Carnegie Foundation and Council for Advancement and Support of Education, and the 2004 CWU Distinguished Professor–Public Service. He has secured major grants, such as NSF Project TEACH ($212,607 in 1999; $306,960 in 2001), NSF Teacher Professional Continuum ($299,845 in 2005), and Physics Teacher Education Coalition ($65,193 in 2012), supporting initiatives to improve physics and science teacher preparation. Key publications include 'Preservice Teachers' Views of the Nature of Science During a Postbaccalaureate Science Teaching Program' with Fred Finley (Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 1997), 'Juan’s Dilemma: A New Twist on the Old Lemon Battery' with Vanessa Hunt et al. (The Science Teacher, 2010), case studies 'The Itsy-Bitsy Spider' (2015) and 'Sorting Trash with Static Electricity' (2014) from the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science, and Instructor's Manual for Contemporary Activities in Astronomy, 3rd edition (Kendall/Hunt, 2006). He also authors the weekly astronomy column 'What's up in the Sky' for The Daily Record since 2001.