2020 Environmental & Community Impact Honoree

Penny Noyce

Science Education Advocate and Author

CitySprouts is delighted to announce that we will honor Pendred (Penny) Noyce with our 2020 Environmental & Community Impact award. Dr. Noyce’s life work reflects a deep commitment to equitable access to science learning. She has been an unflagging advocate for high quality science education at both the state and national level. She has raised awareness of the role of after school and summer science learning in closing opportunity gaps. She has enriched children’s science literature as the author of numerous fiction and non-fiction books for kids and adults. We are grateful for Dr. Noyce’s contributions to making engaging, real world science learning more accessible to all children. We are inspired by her leadership.

Dr. Penny Noyce grew up in California and moved to the Boston area to practice medicine at a community health center. She gradually withdrew from medical practice to focus on her education work and on raising her five children. For 25 years she helped run the Noyce Foundation supporting math and science education nationwide. She has served on the boards of numerous non-profits and helped lead PALMS, a statewide math and science improvement effort in Massachusetts. With three friends in 2011, Penny founded Tumblehome, Inc, a nonprofit focused on creating science-based biographies, mysteries and adventure books for kids. She is herself the author of twelve books for kids ages 9 through adult that feature science.