| Leonardo/ISASTwith Arizona State University

John Pollock

Full Professorat Duquesne University
Pittsburgh,
United States
Focus area: Biology, Games, Game Design, Gaming, STEAM, Pedagogy, Education

John Archie Pollock is a Full Professor of Biology at Duquesne University. As an educator, he teaches courses in his expertise including neuroscience, microscopy, molecular and cellular biology. His outreach teaching has included working with informal science education in museums and for broadcast television. As a scientist, Dr. Pollock has spent over 30 years as a principal investigator directing a continuously funded research program in basic science investigating the development of the nervous system. Currently studying chronic pain and associated changes in gene expression. He received his Bachelor of Science in physics and also completed a major in philosophy at Syracuse University. He then earned a M.S. in physics, and Ph.D. in biophysics, also from Syracuse University. In order to study in the laboratory of Prof. Seymour Benzer, a pioneer in neuro-genetic and behavioral research, Dr. Pollock moved to Caltech in Pasadena, California. From Caltech, he moved to Carnegie Mellon University to serve as Assistant and then Associate Professor of Biology for 12 years before joining Duquesne University in 2001.
Dr. Pollock is co-director and partnering principal investigator for the Chronic Pain Research Consortium at Duquesne University. This research collaborative is engaging faculty distributed between several colleges to focus on the study of chronic pain from fundamental biology to clinical training.
In addition, Dr. Pollock has served as founding director for the Partnership in Education, which produces multimedia based informal science education projects that are artistically rich STEM learning resources including videos, Emmy Award® winning TV shows, award winning Apps, videogames and teaching resources for young people and the general public.
He has received national recognition and was honored with the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics & Engineering Mentoring by the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy and the National Science Foundation class of 2015. Among other recognitions, Dr. Pollock was selected as an Apple Distinguished Educator by the Apple Corporation (2017) and elected to rank of Fellow by the Council of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS, 2018).
Significant funding for his work has come from Science Education Partnership Awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIGMS), as well as the National Science Foundation, US Department of Education, among other foundations.