Oct 30th, 2019 — Roseville, CA

PASCO Scientific Announces Richard Briscoe as President and CEO

ROSEVILLE, Calif., Oct. 30, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- PASCO Scientific and founder Paul Stokstad are pleased to present Richard Briscoe as the company's President and CEO. Richard has a long history of success at PASCO and plans to use his expertise to advance STEM education in both the domestic and international markets.

With eighteen years of PASCO experience, Richard is uniquely suited to lead the company into the future of science education. Before joining PASCO, Richard earned a Bachelor of Science and Masters in Education from the University of Florida. He taught high school physics and chemistry for ten years, winning a series of awards including Teacher of the Year while teaching in Florida. In 2001, Richard joined PASCO as the Southeast U.S. Education Consultant, and in 2008 was named National Partnership Manager. Richard played a central role in launching PASCO's SPARK Science Learning System, which was the first touch-screen datalogger in education. Richard was named vice president of domestic sales in 2017, and became President and CEO in September 2018.

As an educator at heart, Richard understands the complexity of STEM, science education, and NGSS. "When we look at what's happening in education right now, we see a lot of hype-based changes. Educational technology is growing exponentially, and educators seem stressed by the constant changes to technology, curriculum, and standards. When I was in the classroom, I used PASCO equipment, and I joined this company because I saw that it was run by people just like me. They're educators, scientists, and engineers who are changing science education. As I take the lead, I look forward to advancing STEM education globally through innovative products and impactful partnerships."

Richard is excited about PASCO's future, and continues to develop initiatives. His current project aims to advance coding and computational thinking in the classroom. PASCO will be integrating the coding program Blockly into both SPARKvue and Capstone software, which allows students to program their own experiments using block-based coding and PASCO sensors.  

"STEM has seen massive growth since I was a teacher, but reports like the one outlined by the Committee on STEM Education and the National Science and Technology Council are showing us that we aren't doing enough. PASCO technology not only improves the lives of educators, it inspires our next generation of STEM leaders. With our newest products, including curriculum, we're facilitating the development of hands-on, discovery-based learning that enables students to engage with STEM phenomena like never before."

At its core, PASCO is a company that is passionate about advancing science education. From product development to customer support, many of our employees are former teachers who provide valuable, firsthand experience from the science classroom. Given its diverse history, the company is uniquely qualified to expand STEM and innovate science education. Following Richard's lead, PASCO is set to release STEM coding solutions in 2020 to help schools achieve their goals as outlined in the U.S. government's 2018 report, "Charting a Course for Success: America's Strategy for STEM Education."

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