Richard Cox

Richard Cox Jr. is a STEM program coordinator at Advocate Health in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he supports STE(A)M education initiatives for K–8 learners through programming connected to The Pearl Innovation District in Charlotte and Innovation Quarter in Winston-Salem. He has more than 15 years of experience in transdisciplinary and integrated learning and has worked across multiple regions, including Kentucky, Chicago, and the Carolinas, engaging learners of all ages in STEAM-focused education.

Cox holds a Doctorate in Education and Social Change, specializing in mathematics, science, and transdisciplinary STEAM approaches, and has served as an assistant professor at Winthrop University, contributing to teacher preparation and curriculum development. His background also includes roles as a classroom teacher, K–12 instructional coach, and STEAM lab coordinator. He is coauthor of Sparking Innovation in Children Through STEM Exploration: A K–8 Teacher’s Guide to Inspiring Future Problem Solvers (Corwin, 2026), written with Brandy Howard, which introduces the Innov8 Framework to help educators build classroom ecosystems that foster creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking in STEM learning.