Former Raleigh Charter High School teacher Eric Grunden will receive the nation’s highest recognition for K-12 math and science teachers Thursday.

Grunden is among 97 educators from around the country who will receive the 2011 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching from U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. He also will receive a $10,000 award from the National Science Foundation

The winners are selected by a panel of distinguished scientists, mathematicians and educators following an initial selection process done at the state level.

Grunden has been a science teacher for 18 years, the past 12 at Raleigh Charter, which annually receives recognition as one of the nation’s top public high schools. He taught Advanced Placement Chemistry, Honors Enriched Chemistry, and an astronomy course that he developed at Raleigh Charter.

Grunden recently left Raleigh Charter to run Research Triangle High School, a new science and math focused charter school opening this August in Durham. He is the charter’s chief school officer.

Grunden has also been the education director of the Contemporary Science Center, an education nonprofit he helped found, which has served thousands of students from across North Carolina since its inception.

The other North Carolina teacher to win the national award is Nancy Trollinger, a math teacher at West McDowell Junior High School in Marion.

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