Peggy J. Trygstad, Senior Researcher at Horizon Research, Inc. (HRI), received a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. She received both a Master’s Degree and Ph.D. in Education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to joining HRI in 2010, Dr. Trygstad taught at the high school and college levels.

At HRI, Dr. Trygstad was a co-Principal Investigator of two NSF-funded projects: Operationalizing the Science and Engineering Practices (SCIOPS) and Responding to a Global Pandemic–The Role of K-12 Science Teachers (COVID K-12). She also served as the lead researcher on studies of the impacts of the Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship Program, Knowles Science Teaching Foundation Teaching Fellows Program, and National Science Teaching Association e-Books Project. In addition, she was a member of the research team for Principles and Resources for Integrating Computational Thinking into High School Science Courses (PREDICTS) and the 2018 National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education (NSSME+). Dr. Trygstad has also served as the lead evaluator for numerous NSF-funded projects, including Change at the Core: A Collaborative Model for Undergraduate STEM Education Reform (C-Core), University of Florida Unites Teachers to Reform Education in Science (U-Futures), PlantingScience: Digging Deeper Together – A Model for Collaborative Teacher/Scientist Professional Development (DIG), and Systematic Transformation of Education Through Evidence-Based Reforms (STEER). She is currently Principal Investigator for the NSF-funded Science Teachers as Public Health Educators (PHEds) project.