People – Institute for Research on Learning and Instruction

Steering Committee

Ira Caspari–Gnann

Assistant Professor, Departments of Chemistry and Education

Sociocultural perspective; Activity systems; Interaction analysis; In-the-moment learning

Julia Gouvea

Associate Professor, Departments of Education and Biology; Director of STEM Education

Students’ modeling and experimentation in biology

David Hammer

Co-Director of IRLI; Professor, Departments of Education and Physics & Astronomy

Learners’ productive resources; responsive teaching

Trevion Henderson

Assistant Professor, Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Education

Engineering education; diversity, equity, and inclusion; team-based engineering pedagogies; engineering design thinking

Andrew Izsák

Professor, Departments of Education and Mathematics; Chair of Education

Teaching and learning multiplication

Milo Koretsky

Co-Director of IRLI; McDonnell Family Bridge Professor, Departments of Chemical & Biological Engineering and Education

Engineering education; Instructional design and technology development; Organizational change; Social practice theory

Greses Pérez

McDonnell Family Assistant Professor in Engineering Education, Departments of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Education

Brain and learning sciences; science education; engineering education; diversity and identity; technology and education; language and cognition; multicompetence

Kristen Bethke-Wendell

Associate Professor, Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Education

Engineering education; Discourse practices for knowledge construction; Teacher learning in engineering

Postdoctoral Scholars

Lorena S. Grundy

Postdoctoral Scholar in Chemical and Biological Engineering and Education

Instructor decision-making and assessment of teaching

Robert Hayes

Postdoctoral Scholar in the CEEO

Student framing and agency in science

Jessica Karch

Postdoctoral Scholar in Chemistry

In-the-moment learning; Activity Theory; Learning assistants

Graduate Student Researchers

Oluwatoyin Ajilore

PhD Student in STEM Education

Responsive teaching, learner’s agency, authentic science knowledge-building

Harpreet Auby

PhD Student in Chemical Engineering

Chemical engineering education, learning sciences, and social justice

Avis Carrero

PhD Student in Civil Engineering

Understanding faculty pedagogical decisions surrounding issues of DEIJ from a critical, qualitative perspective

Emmanuel Daring

PhD Student in STEM Education

Mathematics education; curriculum design

Ian Descamps

PhD Student in Physics Education

Student framing and engagement in non-traditional instructional labs

Sophia Jeon

PhD Student in STEM Education

Dynamics of student group work in STEM classes and labs

Sarah Kaczynski

PhD Student in STEM Education

Computer science education; Educational technologies; Gamification of learning

Clara Mabour

PhD Student in STEM Education

Intersection of culture, learner agency, materials, and problem solving in informal and formal K-12 STEM learning spaces.

Nicolette Maggiore

PhD Student in Chemistry

Impacts of Learning Assistants on student reasoning in chemistry

Olha Sus

PhD Student in STEM Education

Multiplicative Foundations of Calculus project

David Zabner

PhD Student in STEM Education

Lecture free CS1&2, AI and Robotics education for Upper Elementary, Undergraduate TA experiences

Collaborating Faculty and Staff

James Adler

Associate Professor of Mathematics

IRLI Start; Students’ conceptual learning in math

Shuchin Aeron

Associate Professor, Dept. of ECE

Assessment through Machine Learning

Lara Appleby

Senior Project Administrator, The Listening Project

Increasing instructor awareness of students’ disciplinary thinking

Ayse Asatekin

Associate Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering

Membranes, polymer science, material science, separations, surface chemistry

Tim Atherton

Associate Professor of Physics

Computational skills & Inclusive environments

Steven Bell

Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

IRLI Start; Modeling student learning

Lauren Crowe

Lecturer, Biology

Teaching Philosophy and current research interests:

Ethan Danahy

Research Associate Professor Center for Engineering Education and Outreach (CEEO) Department of Computer Science

Pedagogy and curriculum in introductory engineering

Vesal Dini

Lecturer, Department of Physics and Astronomy

Epistemic empathy between teachers and students

Brian Gravel

Assistant Professor and Director of Elementary STEM Education

Computational making; Materiality in modeling

Mark Hempstead

Associate Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Engineering tools for educational research

Erica Kemmerling

Assistant Teaching Professor of Mechanical Engineering

IRLI Start; Individualized learning in engineering

Joshua Kritzer

Professor, Department of Chemistry

IRLI Start

Ellise LaMotte

Associate Dean of Student Diversity, Inclusion and Success; Research Assistant Professor, CEEO

Underrepresented students in STEM

David Lillethun

Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of Computer Science

Computer science education, distributed systems, operating systems, networked systems, software development, secure systems and networking

Diane McKay

Director, Friedman Graduate Certificate Programs; Assistant Professor, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy

IRLI Start; Nutrition education

Eric Miller

Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering with Adjunct appointments in the Departments of Computer Science and Biomedical Engineering

Tools for automated analysis of qualitative learning data

Merredith Portsmore

Director Center for Engineering Education and Outreach; Research Assistant Professor, CEEO

Online teaching; Undergraduate learning in outreach contexts; Preparing doctoral students as faculty

Chris Rogers

Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Developing new technologies to promote student-driven learning

Rafael Senos

Assistant Professor, Departments of Comparative Pathobiology of the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine

Senos studies supplementary teaching methods in biomedical sciences to enhance students’ learning experiences

Rebecca Scheck

Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry

Mechanistic reasoning in organic chemistry; education for wholeness and social justice

Holly A. Taylor

Professor of Psychology; Co-Director Center for Applied Brain and Cognitive Sciences

IRLI Start; Active student engagement

Ayanna K. Thomas

Professor of Psychology

Learning efficacy and efficiency in group problem solving tasks

Diren P. Turner

Senior Lecturer in Chemistry, Department of Chemistry

IRLI Start; Student approaches to learning in chemistry

Daniel Votipka

Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science

Computer security education