Christopher Emdin


Dr. Christopher Emdin is an Associate Professor of Science Education at the Teachers College, Columbia University where he also serves as Director of Science Education at the Center for Health Equity and Urban Science Education. Along with co-director Dr. Barbara C. Wallace, Dr. Emdin introduced CHEUSE during the Fifth Annual Health Disparities Conference at Teachers College, Columbia University. In 2013/2014 he was one of six Black fellows at the W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute at the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, Harvard University. He was a noted author of the Obama White House and regular contributor to HuffPost. Commentary on his work on race, culture, inequality, and education has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Forbes, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He developed and partnered with the rapper GZA and the website Rap Genius to develop the Science Genius B.A.T.T.L.E.S, which engages students in science through the creation of raps and a final rap battle competition.
Dr. Emdin is founder of the popular #HipHopEd web chat and social movement.

Books

Dr. Emdin is the author of several books including: Urban Science Education for the Hip-Hop Generation, 2010; New York Times bestseller, For White Folks Who Teach In the Hood...and the Rest of Y'all Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education, 2017; Between the World and the Urban Classroom, 2017, with George Sirrakos; and #HipHopEd: The Compilation on Hip-Hop Education, 2018, with Edmund Adjapong. His next book, Ratchedemic, is slated for release in 2021 from Beacon Press.

Academic background

Emdin holds a bachelor's degrees in Physical Anthropology, Biology, and Chemistry from Lehman College. He also holds a M.S. in Natural Sciences from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and a PhD in Urban Education from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York,.