About

Lisa Armstrong is an award-winning journalist and an Assistant Professor at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism. Her reporting has appeared in outlets such as The Guardian, The Texas Tribune, The New Yorker, and The Marshall Project. She has focused primarily on issues related to incarceration over the past decade and is currently reporting on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention and deportations. Armstrong has reported from several countries including Sierra Leone, Kenya, Jamaica, and the Philippines, and has previously reported from Haiti through grants from The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and NYU. Her work has been featured on NPR and the BBC, discussing topics such as rape in Haitian camps and HIV/AIDS post-earthquake. She has received multiple awards, including the National Press Club’s Joan Friedenberg Award for Online Journalism and an investigative reporting award for her article on sterilization of African American women by North Carolina's state. Armstrong has also produced documentaries for CBS News on mental health care in prisons and incarceration of minors, with her work featured at SXSW. She has used audio reporting in collaborations with musicians and artists for live performances at notable venues. Prior to her current role, she was an associate professor at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism for 12 years and teaches journalism at the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center. She serves on the boards of several organizations, including the National Association of Black Journalists and Type Investigations, and is involved in various fellowships and training programs related to journalism and mental health.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Mathematics education
• Chemistry
• Organic chemistry
• Psychology
• Pedagogy
• Computer Science
• Engineering ethics
• Physics
• Engineering
• Mathematics

Selected publications

• The Tangible Benefits of Disability and Accessibility Awareness in Evolutionary Biology College Courses Centered in Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

  CBE—Life Sciences Education · 2025-08-06 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is one method for implementing inclusive education that can have tangible benefits for all learners, increasing educational accessibility. Furthermore, UDL can be used as a vehicle to train majority nondisabled students in methods of inclusive education. We implemented an inclusive education pedagogical framework centered in UDL and tasked undergraduate evolutionary biology students with creating digital science media products throughout semester-long science communication projects. Our goal was to assess student perceptions of accessibility and disability, within the context of science products such as digital media. Student pre-post survey comparisons indicate an increase in ability to define accessibility, consider accessibility in science media, and advocate for access in science. Additionally, postsurvey results suggest that students experience a greater sense of classroom community, inclusion in science, and awareness of disability as diversity. We centered our study in Critical Disability Theory, and we draw on universal design literature and our lived experiences. Evolutionary biology courses inherit a long and troubling history of exclusion and othering through problematic science communication and debunked concepts of human categorization. As biology educators and education researchers, we wish to enact change in our evolutionary biology college classrooms to center our pedagogy in social justice, challenging this history. We encourage future UDL implementation in evolutionary biology and other science courses, where future practitioners of science, medicine, engineering, and other fields can feel empowered by inclusive practices and community experience.

  PublisherDOI

• Behind the Scenes of Teaching Green: An Iterative Approach to Curriculum Design and Implementation in the General Chemistry Laboratory

  Journal of Chemical Education · 2024 · 11 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Computer Science
  • Sociology
  • Chemistry

  As the 21st century progresses, we are increasingly reminded of the importance of and need for green chemistry, which also leads to the corresponding need for green chemistry education. The UC Berkeley Department of Chemistry developed a green chemistry laboratory curriculum─the General Chemistry Green Curriculum (GC2)─recognizing general chemistry as a keystone course for introducing green chemistry to STEM professionals. This initiative focused both on what green chemistry content was taught and how that green chemistry content was delivered using the Knowledge Integration framework to design a curriculum that provided students with opportunities to integrate normative green chemistry concepts and practices into their existing knowledge schema. This initiative also used a utilization-focused evaluation framework to guide iterative improvements in the curriculum over three semesters. Ultimately, this process allowed us, in collaboration with instructors and students, to develop and refine over 50 new green chemistry postlab questions, 25 new green chemistry prelab questions, and 47 green chemistry in-lab prompts for the final version of GC2. We found that it is important to integrate green chemistry into both curriculum and pedagogy to signal to students that it is a valued practice. We also found that a successful curriculum implementation necessitates the buy-in from and support of the graduate teaching assistants since they do not always have prior knowledge of green chemistry. We hope that this study can provide a guide for institutions aiming to embed green chemistry into their courses or curricula─emphasizing stakeholder collaboration, continuous iteration, and a comprehensive pedagogical framework.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• What's in a word? Student beliefs and understanding about green chemistry

  Chemistry Education Research and Practice · 2023 · 17 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Chemistry
  • Mathematics education
  • Psychology

  For the past decade, the College of Chemistry at UC Berkeley has iteratively redesigned general chemistry laboratory courses to introduce students to green chemistry concepts, while simultaneously using green chemistry as a relevant context to learn chemistry. To investigate the effectiveness of this curriculum we developed approaches to investigate student understanding of green chemistry. We adapted a constructivist educational framework to iteratively design fixed and free response items appropriate for large enrollment courses that probe student knowledge of green chemistry concepts and practices. Two free response items were designed to probe students’ ability to define green chemistry and make green chemistry decisions in the context of a case study. A set of fixed response items were designed to probe particular aspects of green chemistry knowledge that were included in the course. Together, we used these items to characterize (1) changes in student understanding of green chemistry and (2) how prior “green” knowledge impacts student learning of new green chemistry principles in the general chemistry laboratory course. Analysis of student responses indicated that, on average, students demonstrated increased green chemistry understanding after completing this green chemistry aligned laboratory course. Students were able to integrate more normative green chemistry principles in their answers and began to indicate awareness of complex interconnected systems. Because the items focused on assessing student knowledge of green chemistry, rather than their self-assessment of knowledge, they provided valuable insight regarding students’ prior green chemistry knowledge that will be used to develop future versions of the curriculum.

  PublisherDOI

• The Green (Chemistry) Environment: Developing and Assessing Green Chemistry Curricula and Student Outcomes in the General Chemistry Laboratory

  2021 · 2 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Chemistry
  • Engineering ethics

  Climate change and the resulting and related environmental and humanitarian outcomes are some of the fundamental challenges of the 21st century. Green chemistry, a relatively recent addition to the chemistry family, aims to reframe chemistry so that chemistry ethically and responsibly attends to its own environmental and human health impacts and becomes a contributor to sustainable development and innovation within and outside of chemistry. Integrating green chemistry in undergraduate education provides students with an ethical framework for doing chemistry, gives more meaning and relevance to chemical learning, showcases new ways of approaching chemical problems, and allows students to participate in more authentic problem solving and inquiry. The general chemistry classroom is an ideal yet often underused course for introducing students to green chemistry – especially for non-chemistry majors who may not take any further chemistry courses. One major goal of this dissertation was to develop a robust green chemistry curriculum for the wide-reaching non-chemistry majors’ general chemistry laboratory course at UC Berkeley. This was an opportunity to introduce more explicit green chemistry content and practices into the general chemistry laboratory all while utilizing a constructivist learning science framework – knowledge integration – to design a green chemistry curriculum that attended to both content and pedagogy. Additionally, this curriculum work leveraged the Berkeley general chemistry laboratory structure to engage in iterative curricular revision through a utilization-focused evaluation design. Together, this work contributes to a larger understanding of how to develop coherent green chemistry curricular materials and efficiently assess and revise the curriculum by carefully evaluating the implementation process and resulting student outcomes.The second focus of this dissertation was to develop a series of fixed and free-response items to probe different facets of green chemistry ability (both green chemistry content knowledge and practices) that could be administered and analyzed for thousands of students. While many green chemistry courses do assess student attitudes and self-reported learning more work is needed to measure demonstrated understanding of green chemistry. Even when methods other than self-reported items are used (e.g., achievement tests, course assignments) they often do not focus on green chemistry outcomes but rather general science or lab technique/skill outcomes. Especially for large enrollment courses, alternative modes of assessment, such as short answer and multiple-choice content questions, are needed to assess green chemistry student learning outcomes more fully. Thus, nearly a dozen fixed and free-response green chemistry items were created to examine how students were able to define and use green chemistry and make green chemistry decisions. Additionally, additional Likert and Guttman items were iteratively designed to measure students’ self-reported green chemistry ability, and several open-ended reflection items were used to examine how students valued green chemistry. Overall, the results of this analysis showed an increased ability to define green chemistry and apply green chemistry concepts to a novel scenario after completing the green general chemistry laboratory course at UC Berkeley. Students reported that their ability to define green chemistry and green chemistry principles, identify and reduce hazards and waste, and identify factors that make a reaction green all increased significantly after completing the general chemistry laboratory course. Many students also reported that green chemistry was the most valuable component and most meaningful connection of this introductory course. However, not all green chemistry terms were equally easy for students to integrate into their existing knowledge schema. More targeted instruction is needed for green concepts that already have usage or meaning in general discourse. Additionally, while students entered the general chemistry course with various levels of prior green chemistry understanding, almost all students made gains in green chemistry understanding after completing the course. These gains were even across gender, underrepresented minority status, and first-generation college status. Finally, this research showed that both general and organic chemistry students engaged in sophisticated green chemistry reasoning when provided with traditional and green data and metrics. When asked to decide between two alternative methods students used the given data to justify their choice in ways that showed their green chemistry knowledge and modes of reasoning. Overall, both general and organic chemistry students’ overwhelmingly chose and correctly justified the ‘greener’ method choice – showing similar value for and ability in making green chemistry decisions. This was especially impressive given that organic chemistry students received no additional green chemistry instruction through their chemistry courses after general chemistry. The fact that organic chemistry students would choose the green chemistry option on a high-stake summative exam indicated the value they still held for green chemistry and the confidence they had in their understanding of green chemistry principles and practices even two or more semesters after learning about green chemistry.

  Publisher

• Developing a Green Chemistry Focused General Chemistry Laboratory Curriculum: What Do Students Understand and Value about Green Chemistry?

  Journal of Chemical Education · 2019-10-02 · 71 citations

  article1st author

  Over the past several decades, green chemistry has gained prominence in chemistry education. However, the development of green chemistry curricula has not reached all levels of education equally, focusing mainly on elective and upper division courses. We deliberately focused our green chemistry curriculum redesign on a high enrollment introductory general chemistry laboratory course at the University of California, Berkeley. We developed over 30 new experiments that introduced students to green chemistry concepts and applications, while maintaining canonical general chemistry learning goals. The context of the curriculum and required course assignments encouraged students to use green chemistry principles to explore and solve real-world problems. After completing this redesigned course, we hypothesized that students would value green chemistry and feel more confident in their green chemistry knowledge. We developed new methods to measure students’ attitudes toward and understanding of green chemistry as a system instead of isolated reactions or processes. These assessments allowed us to better understand both the progression and limitations in student green chemistry and systems-thinking. Since over 2000 students complete the laboratory course each year, we used a combination of fixed response items and free response items from online surveys and in-class assignments and exams. This approach allowed efficient assessment of thousands of students, while still gaining valuable and nuanced views of student understanding and attitudes. These assessments indicated that the new general chemistry laboratory curriculum succeeded in providing an environment in which students learned green chemistry concepts and realized that chemistry has connections to their future courses and professions.

  PublisherDOI

• Teaching students the complexity of green chemistry and assessing growth in attitudes and understanding

  Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry · 2018-04-11 · 45 citations

  article1st author
  PublisherDOI

• Extraction and Antibacterial Properties of Thyme Leaf Extracts: Authentic Practice of Green Chemistry

  Journal of Chemical Education · 2016-06-09 · 51 citations

  article

  In this undergraduate analytical chemistry experiment, students quantitatively assess the antibacterial activity of essential oils found in thyme leaves (Thymus vulgaris) in an authentic, research-like environment. This multiweek experiment aims to instill green chemistry principles as intrinsic to chemical problem solving. Students progress through various techniques including extraction, chromatography (TLC and HPLC), culturing bacteria, and disk diffusion via a process of guided exploration that emphasizes green experimental design. Approximately 600 undergraduate students carried out the experiment and self-reported substantial learning gains.

  PublisherDOI

• Determination of nitroxynil residues in tissues and bovine milk by immunobiosensor

  Food Additives & Contaminants Part A · 2013-03-15 · 14 citations

  article

  Nitroxynil is an anthelmintic drug mainly used for the control of liver fluke in sheep and cattle. The European Commission has established maximum residue limits in bovine and ovine muscle (400 µg kg(-1)), fat (200 µg kg(-1)), liver (20 µg kg(-1)) and kidney (400 µg kg(-1)), and more recently in bovine and ovine milk (20 µg kg(-1)). To ensure that these limits are not exceeded through incorrect use of the drug, it is necessary to monitor samples using robust and reliable methods capable of low-level detection. An inexpensive and rapid immunobiosensor-based screening procedure, capable of high sample throughput, was developed that is capable of detecting nitroxynil at <10 µg kg(-1) in bovine milk, at <10 µg kg(-1) in bovine liver, and at <200 µg kg(-1) in bovine and ovine muscle. The methods were fully validated and the milk assay was utilised in a comparison study of nitroxynil-incurred samples.

  PublisherDOI

• Determination of imidocarb residues in bovine and ovine liver and milk by immunobiosensor

  Food Additives & Contaminants Part A · 2013-03-15 · 10 citations

  article

  Imidocarb (IMD) is a veterinary drug that has been used for more than 30 years to treat and prevent parasitic diseases. Pharmacokinetic studies have shown that substantial levels of IMD residues are retained in the edible tissues and milk of cattle and sheep for up to 6 months after administration. This has led to concern regarding the potential adverse effects posed through human consumption of edible tissue or milk from treated animals if the recommended withdrawal periods for the drug are not properly implemented. While MRLs have been established by the European Union, it is important that analytical methods are available to monitor food samples for potentially violative levels of IMD residues. A qualitative biosensor-based immunoassay was developed to allow the detection of IMD at less than the European Union MRLs of 50 μg kg(-1) for milk and 2 mg kg(-1) for bovine and ovine liver. Validation of the developed methods provided a detection capability of <25 μg kg(-1) in milk and <0.75 mg kg(-1) in liver. A comparison study was undertaken, with IMD incurred milk and ovine liver samples analysed by the newly developed procedures and results compared with those obtained by LC-MS/MS. The newly developed screening method was applied to both incurred milk and liver samples. This faster, cheaper and reliable screening method has potential use in sample analysis to ensure compliance with legislative requirements.

  PublisherDOI

• Determination of nitroxynil residues in bovine liver and milk by immunobiosensor. [Conference poster].

  2012-01-01

  article
  Publisher

Frequent coauthors

• Anne M. Baranger

  University of California, Berkeley

  5 shared

• Michelle C. Douskey

  University of California, Berkeley

  5 shared

• Imelda M. Traynor

  Agri Food and Biosciences Institute

  4 shared

• Steven R. H. Crooks

  Agri Food and Biosciences Institute

  4 shared

• Martin Danaher

  4 shared

• Mariana C. Rivas

  University of California, Berkeley

  4 shared

• Terence L. Fodey

  Agri Food and Biosciences Institute

  3 shared

• Kieran Jordan

  2 shared

Education

• MS, Chemistry

  University of California, Berkeley

• PhD, Science and Math Education

  University of California, Berkeley

Awards & honors

• National Press Club’s Joan Friedenberg Award for Online Jour…
• an award for investigative reporting for an article about Af…
• 2018 Justice Reporting Fellow for the John Jay/Langeloth Fou…
• 2019 United States Artists Fellow in Writing
• 2020-2021 Knight-Wallace Reporting Fellow