About Dr. Skateboard
Dr. Skateboard is Bill Robertson, a Ph.D. in Education and a skateboarder for over thirty-five years. Bill has done hundreds of demonstrations nationally and internationally in festivals, events and in academic settings. He has performed for thousands of students in elementary, middle, and high school levels throughout the United States, in Canada, Mexico and into South America. Bill has been an educator for over twenty years. His academic areas of expertise are science education, curriculum development and technology integration. He also teaches and does research in the areas of problem-based learning and action science.
Dr. Bill Robertson has 5 degrees from 5 different institutions. Bill completed his Ph.D. in Multicultural Teacher and Childhood Education with an emphasis in science and technology at the University of New Mexico in 2000. He obtained a Master's degree Science Education from the University of Colorado – Boulder, a BA degree in Spanish from UTEP, a BS in Biology from Northern Arizona, a BA degree in History from Duke University.
Dr. Robertson received a number of awards, including the prestigious University of Texas Regent’s Outstanding Teaching Award (UTROTA) and was nominated by UTEP for the U.S. Professor of the Year Award. In 2008, he was selected as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar and worked for the six months in Santiago, Chile at the Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencia de la Educación (UMCE) in the Department of Physics.
Community Champion
As a skateboarder, Bill has had a career that spans five decades and has been an accomplished amateur and professional competitor. Over his career, he has had three professional skateboard models put out with Walker Skateboards, Casper Designs and JET Skateboards. Bill has won 3 Master’s Freestyle championships and held the title of US Master’s Champion in 2013 and 2014. He was elected to the Freestyle Hall of Fame in 2010 and was selected as the 2020 Ambassador of Freestyle Skateboarding by the World Round-Up.
Over the years, Bill has combined his academic career with his passion for Skateboarding. Through the “Physics of Skateboarding”, Bill showcases physics and mathematics concepts in unique ways that demonstrates service within the community can be tied closely to teaching and learning. His demonstrations are presented in both English and Spanish at elementary, middle and high schools in El Paso, across the United States and internationally in locations including Chile, Argentina, Mexico and Canada.
The overarching theme about Dr. Skateboard is the appeal of skateboarding and other action sports as teaching and learning vehicles for families, young people and adults. It also gives parents and educators a reliable and safe site where they can explore extreme sports while providing a learning opportunity to explore science, mathematics and physics concepts. Bill was featured on a TEDx Talk for his work with Dr. Skateboard’s Action Science.
TEDxUTEP Talk
TEDxElPaso Talk
