ABOUT/CONTACT

Bjorn Grigholm is the Owner and Creative Director of Visual Solutions Lab (VSL), the Platform and Educational Developer at the World Ocean Observatory (W2O), and an External Associate to the Climate Change Institute (CCI) at the University of Maine. His current focus is to advance science literacy by presenting complex materials in an approachable way. Frequently this takes the shape of multimedia content creation (educational gaming environments, interactive data visualizations, web and mobile app design, photo and video production, animation, simulations, virtual reality, etc…). His research interests are Science Literacy, Data Visualization, Immersive Educational Technologies, and Traditional and Multimedia Educational Outreach. Grigholm holds his Bachelor of Science in Geology from the University of Connecticut, his Masters from the University of Maine’s Climate Change Institute and his PhD from the University of Maine’s School of Earth and Climate Sciences. During his graduate studies he participated in 12 international climate related research expeditions to China, Tajikistan, Chile, Peru, Sweden, and the South Georgia Islands off the coast of Antarctica. Additionally he authored and co–authored over 20 subsequent peer–reviewed scientific publications. Grigholm’s formal teaching experience has involved both course design and lecturing. Bjorn is also experienced in guest lecturing, undergraduate and graduate advising, mentoring, and running workshops. Dedicated to making accurate research based information both engaging and accessible to classroom teachers, as part of a team of CCI colleagues he compiled climate educational resources for educators using Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Through his role at W20, working with Schmidt Ocean Institute, as the Chief Developer, he designed and developed an immersive, interactive educational gaming tool, World Ocean Explorer, which is based on NGSS and Ocean Literacy Standards. In his most recent role at his boutique multimedia educational design studio, VSL, Bjorn hopes to further help people of all ages to become and stay curious about science.