2025 Cohort
|
Area
EPSC Research Interests
Community Engagement and Leadership, Racial and Economic Equity, Stratifi cation and Inequality, Social Mobility, Education Policy Vertical Divider
|
Esi is a Ph.D. student in the School of Education, specializing in Education Policy and Social Context. She holds a B.A. in English from Rutgers University-New Brunswick and an M.A. in Education Policy from Teachers College, Columbia University. She has 9 years of experience within the education field, starting as an intern in the NJ Department of Education in the Bilingual/ELL Division and, more recently, working with low-income and multilingual students and families in NYC Public Schools in college and career access and community engagement. Esi’s academic and work experiences have shaped her interest in the influence of parent and student voice in education policy and school formation. She is interested in how increased parent and student participation in educational leadership and policymaking can challenge social stratification and promote more diverse and equitable outcomes for all students, with a particular focus on race and class.
|
|
Area
TLEI Research Interests
Equity in Postsecondary Mathematics Vertical Divider
|
My research focus is on understanding and addressing disparities in college-level mathematics experiences and outcomes for historically underserved student populations. I earned a B.S. in Mathematics from UC Irvine in the spring, where I conducted both quantitative and qualitative research on grade equity in undergraduate math courses. As a single parent and researcher with experience across disciplines, I bring both analytical and lived perspectives to my research. I hope my work can inform change at multiple levels—individual, departmental, and institutional—to promote more equitable and inclusive learning environments in higher education.
|
|
Area
EPSC Research Interests
Higher education policy, Student success, Teaching and learning interventions, Educational technology, STEM education Vertical Divider
|
Yan Feng is a Ph.D. student in the UCI School of Education, specializing in Education Policy and Social Context. She holds an Ed.M. in Education Policy and Analysis from Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she worked as a research and teaching assistant on projects related to teacher preparation and the use of educational technology to improve college student learning. Her research focuses on teaching and learning interventions that promote student success in higher education. She is also interested in how education policy and technology can support equitable outcomes, particularly in STEM education and for international or underrepresented students.
|
|
Area
HDiC Research Interests
Prosocial Development, Risk & Resilience, Adolescent Development, Ethnic Socialization Vertical Divider
|
Priscilla Garcia is a Ph.D. student in the School of Education at the University of California, Irvine, specializing in Human Development in Context. She also earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychological Science from UC Irvine. As an undergraduate, she worked in the Cultural Resilience & Learning Center (CRLC), which reaffi rmed her passion for researching Latino youth and families. Using a strength-based perspective, her research seeks to understand how families and schools can support Latino students' social-emotional skills—particularly their prosocial behaviors—in order to improve their educational experiences and opportunities.
|
|
Area
TLEI Research Interests
Justice-oriented teaching and learning, Teacher education, Ethnic Studies, Quantitative justice, Critical mathematics education Vertical Divider
|
Naehee Kwun is a Ph.D student specializing in TLEI. She received both her B.S in Pure Mathematics and M.Ed in Secondary Mathematics from UC Los Angeles. She has served in education for 20 years as a teacher, instructional coach, mentor, curriculum designer, consultant, and educational leader. She most recently served the UCI CalTeach community as the network coordinator, program designer, and instructor. She collaborates with fellow educators and university partners to design and facilitate professional learning experiences for teachers developing and refi ning their culturally sustaining pedagogy. Her commitment to social justice is embodied in the utility of mathematics to understand and respond to social issues that impact local communities. She speaks at and organizes local and national conferences to inspire and empower other teachers in their commitments to shift math education to be relevant for all learners and foster student agency to use mathematics as a tool to fi ght for justice. Her portfolio can be found at www.poweredbymathematics.org. Naehee is a proud fi rst generation Korean American, a loving wife and mother, and an avid crafter.
|
|
Area
TLEI Research Interests
AI in Education, Educational Technology, STEM Education, Constructionism Vertical Divider
|
Lillian Liu is a Ph.D. student in the School of Education at UCI, specializing in Teaching, Learning, and Educational Improvement (TLEI). She holds a B.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of Manchester, an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Southern California, and an M.Ed. from Harvard University. She has spent the last decade working at the intersection of education, technology, and design. Lillian’s professional journey spans curriculum development, robotics, and AI-enabled learning tools in both edtech companies and research labs. Her research explores how embodied AI and design-based methodologies can be utilized to develop engaging, inclusive STEM learning experiences. She is particularly interested in how these technologies can broaden participation and empower underrepresented students to see themselves as capable and creative learners in computing and beyond.
|
|
Area
TLEI Research Interests
AI/automated feedback, student motivation, automated feedback systems and incentives Vertical Divider
|
My ambition is to help create scalable, high-quality educational experiences that are also sensitive to student motivation and enjoyment!
|
|
Area
TLEI Research Interests
Environmental Education, Elementary STEM Education, Place-Based Learning, Non-formal Learning Opportunities Vertical Divider
|
Bailey McCraner is a Ph.D. student in the School of Education at the University of California, Irvine, in the area of Teaching, Learning, and Educational Improvement (TLEI). She received her B.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an M.Ed. in Elementary Education from Vanderbilt University. Guided by her commitment to fostering community-based STEM education, her research focuses on advancing environmental-based learning experiences while considering current climate and policy changes. Prior to joining UCI, she has experience as an elementary classroom teacher in multiple states, an outdoor education specialist, and a science curriculum evaluator.
|
|
Area
HDiC Research Interests
Digital literacy, Participatory design, Youth mental health, Affordances of technology, Digital equity Vertical Divider
|
Jane Mikkelson is a Ph.D. student in the School of Education at UCI. She holds a bachelor's degree in Psychology and Communication Studies with a minor in Studio Art from American University. As an undergraduate, she worked in a developmental neuroscience lab, investigating affective social communication in early toddlerhood. Before joining UCI, she worked as a Clinical Research Coordinator at Harvard Medical School’s Digital Psychiatry lab, gaining experience in digital phenotyping, app evaluation, and teaching & assessing digital literacy skills to adults with serious mental illness (SMI). Additionally, she served as a project coordinator for the Social Media Study, which examined participant’s experiences detoxing from social media. As a doctoral student, Jane looks forward to continuing her research on healthy media use and digital literacy interventions across development through co-designed, school-based approaches.
|
|
Area
TLEI Research Interests
Dual Language Learners, Digital Literacy, Reading Development, Language Development, Language and Literacy, Multilingualism Vertical Divider
|
Viridiana Murillo is a Ph.D. student in the School of Education at UC Irvine, specializing in Teaching, Learning, and Educational Improvement (TLEI). She earned her B.A. in Spanish Language and Literature from UC Berkeley and her M.A. in Learning and Teaching from the University of Redlands. Following her Masters, she worked as a Dual Language Immersion teacher in Spanish and English at both the middle and elementary school levels. Her research interests focus on how instructional design—particularly the integration of technology, multimedia, digital platforms, and culturally relevant assessments—can support the academic achievement and long-term success of English Learners.
|
|
Area
HDiC Research Interests
Child and adolescent development, mental health, learning disabilities, psychological and social processes, educational interventions, and psychometrics Vertical Divider
|
Lutfun is a Ph.D. student in the School of Education with a concentration in Teaching Learning Educational Improvement (TLEI). Prior to attending UC Irvine, she received her B.Sc. and M.A. degrees in Psychology from the University of Chittagong (CU), Bangladesh. After graduating, Lutfun initially worked at Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh, serving violent and trauma-exposed Rohingya children and adolescents in various areas of their learning difficulties and eventually returned to academia to commence her teaching and research in the psychology department at CU. Her research interests primarily focus on the intersection of learning difficulties and mental health issues in typical, special, and marginalized children. More specifically, she is interested in how psychosocial, contextual, and linguistic factors significantly impact school-going children’s learning engagement, skills, and academic performances, and subsequently affect the psychological well-being of children and their educational outcomes. Lutfun aims to integrate her practical experience with academic expertise to conduct a research project designed to address children’s diverse learning challenges.
|
|
Area
TLEI Research Interests
AI in Education, AI Literacy, Co-design, Computational Modeling Vertical Divider
|
Mandy is a Ph.D. student in Education at the University of California, Irvine, specializing in Teaching, Learning, and Educational Improvement (TLEI). She holds an M.S. in Educational Technology and Applied Learning Sciences from Carnegie Mellon University and double majored in Economics and Psychology at Washington University in St. Louis. Her research lies at the intersection of cognitive science, human-computer interaction, and artificial intelligence in education. Mandy is broadly interested in how AI can be used to improve student learning (e.g., enhancing learning motivation and increasing the efficiency of educational experiences.) She has previously explored AI literacy for educators and conducted design-based research using co-design methodologies. In addition to her applied work, Mandy is also interested in advancing foundational educational theory through quantitative approaches, such as computational modeling. Across her research, she aims to bridge practice and theory by designing AI-supported tools that empower students and educators while contributing to deeper understandings of how people learn.
|
|
Area
HDiC Research Interests
Latine parents and families, Latine youth, Academic persistence and resilience, Academic outcomes Vertical Divider
|
Franchesca Quintero is a Ph.D. student in the School of Education specializing in Human Development in Context (HDIC). She earned her B.A.s in Psychology and Spanish from the University of California, Davis, and her M.A. in Education from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Franchesca’s M.A. thesis focused on the messages Latina mothers share with their adolescent daughters regarding higher education. While at UCSB, her research deepened her understanding of the role Latine parents play in their children’s education and informed her research goals for UCI. Franchesca plans to center her research on the role Latine parents play in cultivating their children’s academic persistence. Through her research, Franchesca hopes to platform Latine voices that will help inform educational practices that will promote the academic success of Latine students.
|
|
Area
HDiC Research Interests
Early STEM Learning, Latine Communities, Informal Learning Environments, Community-Centered STEM Education, Research-Practice Partnerships Vertical Divider
|
Diana earned her B.A. in Psychology from California State University, Northridge, where she conducted an independent quantitative study on stereotypes of infants based on ethnicity and skin tone. This experience deepened her interest in the intersections of identity, culture, and development. Her research focuses on early STEM learning in everyday spaces, exploring how daily routines can spark meaningful and culturally rooted learning experiences. She is especially interested in how Latine families draw from their cultural and practical knowledge to support children’s development. As a proud Latina and first-generation college student, Diana is committed to research that values the strengths of families and communities. She has experience with both qualitative and quantitative methods and works on community-based research with Latine families and educators to co-create inclusive, playful learning environments.
|
|
Area
EPSC Research Interests
Educational Equality, Education Policy, Access to Education, Diversity and Equity, Urban and Inner-City Education Vertical Divider
|
Edward Romero is a PhD student at UC Irvine studying Education. Edward received his B.A. in American Studies and Ethnicity at USC. After being named a Mellon Mays Fellow and a Neighborhood Academic Initiative Scholar at USC, Edward continued his education at CSULA. At CSULA, Edward received an M.A. in Chicana(o) and Latina(o) Studies. As a student from a first generation and low-income background, Edward experienced his fair share of academic struggles in accessing higher education out of public school. Throughout his academic experiences, Edward saw a gap in research and work regarding Educational Equality. Edward hopes to develop skills to help bridge the gap between higher education and inner city students of color.
|
|
Area
HDiC Research Interests
Child Development, Mathematics Learning, Relational Reasoning, Identity & Motivation Vertical Divider
|
Ella Rose is a Ph.D. student in the School of Education, specializing in Human Development in Context (HDiC). She earned her B.A. in Education Sciences from UC Irvine, with specializations in Educational Research and Evaluation and Children’s Learning and Development. After graduating, she worked as the lab manager for the Science of Learning Lab at UC Irvine where she gained experience studying the development of relational reasoning and executive functions, and how these relate to family and cultural practices. In addition, she contributed to studies examining how to best support mathematics learning. As a Ph.D. student, she is interested in studying the development of relational reasoning and identity beliefs in early childhood, especially in mathematical contexts.
|
|
Area
TLEI Research Interests
Digital Literacy, Multimodal Literacy, Human-Computer Interaction, Second Language Writing, Sociolinguistics, Sociomaterialism, Qualitative Research Vertical Divider
|
Siwon Sung is a Ph.D. student in the School of Education at the University of California, Irvine. She received her B.A. from Korea University and her M.A. from Seoul National University, both in English Language Education. Grounded in sociolinguistic and qualitative research perspectives, Siwon’s research focuses on investigating language learners’ interactions with generative AI. She explores how such interactions shape learners’ writing processes and products, and how they reconfigure everyday language practices both within and beyond the classroom. Her broader research agenda questions the role of generative AI in either hindering or fostering multilingual learners’ access to and participation in their desired discourse communities. She extends this line of inquiry by rethinking the learner–technology relationship through a sociomaterial lens, seeking methodological approaches that attend to the complex, entangled nature of their interaction. Her ongoing projects aim to develop ecologically valid data collection methods for researching learners’ digital learning experiences, including the use of webcam-based eye-tracking. Before starting her doctoral studies, she taught English to elementary students from underserved communities in Korea for two years and worked at a Seoul-based edtech company.
|
|
Area
HDiC Research Interests
Bilingualism, Second Language Acquisition, Bilingual Cognition, Bilingual Education, Translanguaging, Code-switching, Speech & Language Disorders, Psycholinguistics, Language Development Vertical Divider
|
Yeritzi Victoria is a Ph.D. student in the School of Education, working under the mentorship of Dr. Elizabeth Peña and Dr. Judith Kroll. She holds dual bachelor's degrees in Psychology and Spanish Language & Hispanic Culture, with a minor in Statistics, from CSU Monterey Bay. As a McNair Scholar, Yeritzi conducted extensive undergraduate research on bilingualism, focusing on the cognitive implications of learning additional languages. She also contributed to research validating psychological assessments, particularly the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) and its ability to detect invalid test responding. She has presented her findings at various national conferences. Yeritzi is a CSU Sally Casanova Pre-Doctoral Scholar and aims to integrate her multidisciplinary background to support bilinguals' academic and personal success. Beyond academia, Yeritzi is a dedicated wife and mother of five, enjoying family time through movies and soccer.
|
|
Area
TLEI Research Interests
Multilingual Literacy; Digital Multiliteracy; Artificial Intelligence in Education; AI for Neurodiversity in Education Vertical Divider
|
A dedicated educator with a Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor's in English from the University of California Riverside, Melissa is currently a PhD student in the School of Education, specializing in Teaching, Learning, and Educational Improvement. For half a decade, she empowered multilingual learners across LA and Riverside as a bilingual English Language Development teacher and Site Coordinator. Her classrooms were culturally and linguistically rich with a variety of multilingual learners from diverse backgrounds. Most students spoke a combination of a regional dialect (ie. Ki’che, Q'anjob'al), Spanish, and were learning English. After witnessing the unique needs of multilingual learners, she was driven to transfer the knowledge acquired from her teaching career to help further educational research. She is interested in how educators and educational entities can leverage emergent and existing learning technologies to facilitate differentiated learning experiences for both multilingual and neurodivergent learners.
|
|
Area
EPSC Research Interests
Higher Education Policy, Economics of Education, Economics of Crime, Labor, and Social Mobility Vertical Divider
|
Winnie Yee is a Ph.D. student in the School of Education at the University of California, Irvine with a focus in Education Policy and Social Context. Her fields of interest are higher education policy, the economics of crime, and social mobility. She investigates how institutional structures and policy shape educational outcomes and labor market decisions. Prior to UC Irvine, she was a Research Associate at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, contributing analyses on forecast biases and shifts in the labor market. She also worked with the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution, exploring the effects of the pandemic on women’s labor force participation and youth school enrollment. Winnie earned her B.A. in Economics from Simmons College in 2018 and completed her M.P.P. at the University of Chicago in 2021.
|
|
Area
EPSC Research Interests
Education Policy and Program Evaluation, Post-Secondary Education, Educational Technology, Design-Based Research, Quasi-Experiment Design Vertical Divider
|
Yumeng is a Ph.D. student in the School of Education. Her fields of interest include higher education policy, design-based research of AI in education. She aims to build research-practice partnerships that support scalable, data-driven, and effective policy interventions. She uses rigorous quantitative methods and mix-methods in her research. Prior to UC Irvine, Yumeng was a Research and Planning Analyst in the California Community College system, contributing analysis on equitable college success and completion. She holds a Master’s in Education Policy and Analysis from Harvard University and a Bachelor’s degree in Education from Zhejiang University. Yumeng is advised by Dr. Di Xu and co-advised by Dr. Mark Warschauer.
|
2024 Cohort
|
Kelsy is a Ph.D. student in the School of Education, specializing in Human Development in Context, and holds a B.A. in Psychology and a B.A. in Anthropology from UC Irvine. She was a post-baccalaureate coordinator for the Digital Learning Lab where she gained extensive research experience working with bilingual children and families, and researched the use of conversational agents in children’s media to foster STEM learning. As a doctoral student, she plans to build upon her experience with Latine communities to investigate culturally sustaining, strength-based interventions that promote children’s STEM learning and socio-emotional development.
|
|
Jaeyoon Choi
TLEI Educational Data Science, Algorithmic Bias, Fairness, Learning Analytics, Natural Language Processing |
Jaeyoon is a Ph.D. student in Education specializing in Teaching, Learning, and Educational Improvement (TLEI). Prior to attending UC Irvine, she received an M.S. in Learning Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and B.As in Education and Statistics at Korea University. Her research interests lie at the intersection of learning analytics, natural language processing, and algorithmic bias. She is interested in using machine learning and natural language processing to deepen our understanding of student learning behaviors, while identifying and mitigating algorithmic biases for equity.
|
|
Aria Gastón-Panthaki is a Ph.D. student in the UCI School of Education's HDiC concentration. Aria holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Minor in Theater from Trinity University. During undergraduate, Aria studied verb learning, food insecurity, and mental health in undocumented populations. Their next stage took them to Harvard University to study metal and physical health in teenagers in Dr. Kate McLaughlin’s Stress and Development Lab. It was not until they attended SRCD that Aria discovered a passion for educational research of children’s media. They believe that the media children consume, especially at a young age, has great impacts on children’s lives, beliefs, and motivations. Aria plans to research educational children’s media and how to make it more developmentally beneficial. They plan to investigate and create media to encourage a love for STEM and lay the foundations for STEM learning in Latinx children.
|
|
Miranda Goldstein
HDiC Academic Motivation, Sociocultural Context, Career Choices, Minoritized Students, Academic Persistence, Educational Equity |
Miranda Goldstein is a Ph.D. student in the School of Education specializing in Human Development in Context (HDiC). She earned her B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Irvine, and her M.A. in Educational Psychology from the University of Texas, Austin. Miranda’s primary research interests center on how socializers, particularly parents, influence students’ academic motivation and career choices. She is specifically interested in studying the effects of these environmental influences among racially minoritized and lower socioeconomic students, given their historic underrepresentation in educational psychology research. Through her research, Miranda aims to contribute actionable insights that promote educational equity for all students, creating environments where every student can thrive.
|
|
Banu Karyagdi
TLEI Mathematics Education, Children’s Reasoning, Higher Order Thinking, AI in Education, Ratio and Proportion |
Banu Karyagdi is a Ph.D. student in the UCI School of Education, specializing in Teaching, Learning, and Educational Improvement (TLEI). She holds a B.Sc. in Mathematics Education and an M.Sc. in Mathematics and Science Education from Boğaziçi University. Previously, she worked as a graduate researcher at BounAdaptiveTestLab, which focuses on assessing academic achievement and psychological constructs through adaptive testing. Her work included creating non-routine mathematics problems, conducting pilot studies, and analyzing data to assess 4th-grade students’ mathematical abilities at the end of elementary school. She works with her advisor, Dr. Lindsey Richland, in the Science of Learning Lab. Banu is currently a researcher on the project titled “Harnessing AI to Train Mindsets for Mathematical Higher Order Thinking,” which investigates how AI chatbots can support students’ learning of ratios and proportions. Her work focuses on designing a chatbot that uses relational reasoning language to promote conceptual understanding through varied instructional strategies.
|
|
Ali Keramati
TLEI Educational Data Science, AI in Education, Human-AI Collaboration, Learning Analytics, Multi-agent Systems, Large Language Models |
Ali Keramati is a Ph.D. student at the UCI School of Education. He holds a B.Sc. in Computer Engineering with a minor in Educational Sciences from the University of Tehran. His research lies at the intersection of artificial intelligence, cognitive science, and education. Ali focuses on understanding how large language models (LLMs) think, learn, and reason. By studying these models' cognitive capabilities, his work aims to inform the design of AI tools that meaningfully support both learners and educators. He applies methods from machine learning and natural language processing to enhance educational experiences, with a particular interest in personalization. His current projects explore how LLMs can be adapted, optimized, and deployed within multi-agent systems, where multiple AI agents collaborate to provide more interactive, adaptive support for students and teachers alike.
|
|
Susan Kong
HDiC Positive Media, Prosocial & Moral Development, Social-Emotional Development, Child & Adolescent Development, Educational Technology, Empathy & Caring, Parasocial Relationships |
Susan graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education with a M.Ed. in Technology, Innovation, & Education and from the University of Michigan with an M.A.C. in Elementary Education and a B.A. in Psychology. Since graduating, she has worked with students ages 2 to 22 inside and outside of the classroom. Her most recent endeavor was teaching IB Psychology at an international high school in Korea. She has also spent time with media developers from Next Generation Preschool Math/Science to assess the effects of technology in early childhood education. Susan is interested in continuing to explore the effects of positive media on prosocial and moral development of children and adolescents through her time as a Ph.D. student in the Human Development in Context at the University of California Irvine, School of Education.
|
|
Hongjiao Li
EPSC Education policy, Educational inequality, Economics of Education, Gender disparities, Career development |
Hongjiao Li is a Ph.D. student in the UCI School of Education, specializing in Education Policy and Social Context. She holds a Master’s in International Education Policy Analysis from Stanford University and dual Bachelor’s degrees in Education Sciences and Business Economics from the University of California, Irvine. Her research focuses on the role of education in shaping young women’s futures, particularly how educational, social, and systemic barriers affect their academic and career development in urban and rural China. Her master’s thesis, “Investing in Knowledge: The Role of Gender and Hukou in Household Decisions on Private Tutoring in China,” uses quantitative analysis to explore the dynamics of gender, residential status, and educational investments. Additionally, Hongjiao has contributed to significant projects, including analyzing diverse identities in Chinese universities and assessing global educational systems with IIEP-UNESCO. She aims
to develop sustainable strategies that empower marginalized students, particularly girls, to succeed academically and professionally. |
|
Peter Liu
TLEI Learning Sciences, Educational Technology, Development and Adaptation to New Technology |
Peter is a Ph.D. student in the School of Education, concentrating on Teaching, Learning, and Educational Improvement (TLEI). He received his B.A. in English from the University of California, Irvine and his M.A. in Neuroscience and Education at the University of California, Riverside. His focus is on how people interact with new technologies in academic spaces and the corresponding adaptation of learning strategies. The recent discourse on artificial intelligence (AI), and the popularized integration of AI-related technologies in many platforms, is at the forefront of his research. His goal is to help in the design of systems for effective and responsible use of technology to enhance education. It is important to him that the experiences of both teachers and students are improved. He has work experience in assisting faculty with pedagogy and online course management.
|
|
Logan McWilliams
HDiC African American English, Language Variance, Funds of Knowledge, Academic Self-Efficacy & Motivation, Black Schooling and Learning Practices, Asset-Based Community Development, Culturally Sustaining and Translanguaging Pedagogy |
Logan "Mac" McWilliams is a Ph.D. student in the (HDiC) concentration at UC Irvine’s School of Education. She holds a B.S. in Psychology with a focus on Child Development and an M.A. in Instruction and Curricular Design. Grounded in a belief in the enduring value and complexity of Black language and literacy development, Logan studies how African American English (AAE)–speaking learners develop literacy identity, ability, and self-efficacy across school and non-school settings. Her work centers the learner, with a focus on understanding and leveraging the linguistic and cultural assets AAE speakers bring to educational spaces to support their growth in motivation, literacy, and self-belief.
|
|
Development in Context. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Administration from Mexico and an MBA from Barcelona, Spain. With over 15 years of experience teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels, Tere brings a rich perspective on the educational challenges students face, particularly those from culturally diverse backgrounds. Her experiences with college students struggling in areas like arithmetic, reasoning, and comprehension led her to focus on the importance of early, culturally sustaining interventions. Her current research explores how play-based and community-rooted learning approaches can foster cognitive development and prosocial behaviors in children from marginalized communities.
|
|
Pritha Sengupta
EPSC Early Childhood Development, Early Education, Policy, Long-term effects of interventions, Meta-science and meta-analyses |
Pritha is a Ph.D. student in the School of Education at the University of California, Irvine specializing in Education Policy and Social Context. She is interested in early childhood education and development. In particular, her work focuses on the short-term and long-term impacts of early childhood interventions, and how early skills and contexts shape long-term development. Pritha received her B.A in Psychology from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, India, and her M.A in Developmental Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University. During her Master’s, her research focused on fadeout effects of educational interventions. Prior to joining UCI, she worked at Wesleyan University as a lab manager in the psychology department, where she explored how play-based interventions can promote early numeracy skills.
|
|
Minjung (Minny) Shin
TLEI Teaching and Teacher Education, Student Identity, Diversity & Equity, Research practice partnerships |
Minjung (Minny) Shin is a Ph.D. student in the School of Education with a concentration in Teaching Learning Educational Improvement (TLEI). She received both a B.A in Education and M.A. in Teaching at UW Seattle. After graduating from her master’s program, she taught as an elementary teacher in Washington state and New York. Her experiences working with students and teachers motivate her research interests to gain a deeper understanding of teaching and teacher education and how students’ identity affects student engagement and learning. She hopes to continue her work with school communities in research practice partnerships.
|
|
Jasmine Tran
TLEI Digital Literacy & Learning, Design-Based Research, Applications of AI in Education, Research-Practice Partnerships, Educational Measurement |
Jasmine Tran is a Ph.D. student in the School of Education at UCI, specializing in Teaching, Learning, and Educational Improvement. Born and raised in East San Jose, she earned her Bachelor's degree in Psychology from San Jose State University (SJSU). After graduating from SJSU, she interned at an education policy firm and worked as a research coordinator at Stanford University, where she became interested in the design and development of learning tools. Jasmine aspires to explore the design and development processes that make learning tools effective for students of all backgrounds. She is also broadly interested in the implementation and evaluation of AI in learning tools. She is advised by Dr. Mark Warschauer and co-advised by Dr. Kylie Peppler. For more information, visit her website at jasetran.github.io.
|
|
Kayla Ueshiro
HDiC Early Childhood Education, Emergent Bilingual Education, Translanguaging, Language and Literacy, Teacher Education |
Kayla Ueshiro is a Ph.D. student in the School of Education, specializing in Human Development in Context (HDiC). She received her B.Ed. in Elementary Education from University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and M.S. in Reading and Literacy from California State University, Fullerton. Kayla is a Hawaiʻi Standard State Licensed, California Multiple Subject Credentialed, and California Reading and Literacy Leadership Specialist Credentialed educator who taught kindergarten in Hawaiʻi State Department of Education’s public school and Los Angeles Unified School District’s charter school systems. Guided by her experience as a classroom teacher and time at CSUF, she developed a profound interest in emergent bilingual education and pedagogical practices as it relates to language and literacy. As a result, Kayla completed a capstone project titled “Family FUN-ological Awareness:
Extending Translanguaging for Home Enrichment.” Kayla aspires to enrich pedagogical practices to better prepare diverse linguistic educators in supporting the literacy and sociocultural outcomes of early childhood students. She promises to continue to contribute to and advocate for a more equitable, just, and inclusive education for all. |
|
Winona is a Ph.D. student in the School of Education, specializing in Education Policy and Social Context. She is interested in early childhood policy. In particular, she is interested in how early life experiences, in and out of school, impact child development and family processes. Winona received her B.A. in Political Science from Carleton College and her M.Ed in Educational Policy and Management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Prior to attending UCI, Winona worked at Duke’s Center for Child and Family Policy, studying the impact of prenatal and early childhood programs. She also has experience working in elementary schools and early childhood programs.
|
|
Taryn Williams
TLEI Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Teacher Learning and Teacher Education, Sociocultural Contexts, Multilingual Learners, and Research-Practice Partnerships |
Taryn Williams is currently a doctoral student at the University of California, Irvine specializing in Teaching, Learning, and Educational Improvement. She received both a bachelor’s degree in Urban Studies with a focus on Urban Education and a master’s degree in Elementary Education and TESOL from the University of Pennsylvania and was later a Kathryn Davis Fellow for Peace in the School of Spanish at Middlebury College. She was also in the inaugural cohort of the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education’s Strategic Leadership in Education program. A recipient of both a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Germany and a Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching to India, Taryn’s research interests were born out of seeing similar systemic problems across Germany, India, and the places she’s taught in the United States. Taryn started her career in Philadelphia and most recently served as the Head Teacher at a small school in the Alaskan Bush.
|
|
Olivia Woolsey
EPSC Equity in Education Policy, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Multiracial students, Ethnic Studies |
Olivia Woolsey is a Ph.D. student in the UCI School of Education in the Educational Policy and Social Context track. She received her B.A in Education Sciences and a Minor in Political Science from UCI where she grew her passion for supporting marginalized students in education. Olivia’s interest in equity-based policy is rooted in her experiences as a multiracial student growing up in a predominantly white area in Washington. Throughout her undergraduate career, Olivia was involved in a research lab evaluating ethnic studies courses in California, which is a topic she continues involvement in. Olivia additionally plans to study multiracial student’s experiences and representation through education. Olivia hopes to continue promoting inclusive practices and broadening the conversation surrounding multiracial students.
|
2023 Cohort
|
Reinaldo Cabrera Pérez
HDiC Bi/multilingualism, Second Language Acquisition, Social Network Science, Psycholinguistics, Language Variation |
Reinaldo is a first-generation Ph.D. student in the UCI School of Education's HDiC concentration. Reinaldo holds a dual Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics and Russian Studies and a Russian-English Translations Certificate from the University of Florida (UF). During his undergraduate studies at UF, he worked at Brain, Language, and Bilingualism lab, where he investigated how bilinguals use their languages in different social contexts by applying social network science measures. As a result, Reinaldo completed an honors thesis project titled “Connecting the Dots: Social Network approaches to capture variability across the lifespan of bilinguals and its consequences for cognition”. Reinaldo plans to continue researching language variability in bilingual speakers during his graduate studies. One of his goals is to create a dialogue between linguistic researchers and the general population to address the importance of language diversity and bilingualism.
|
|
Caroline Chamberlain
EPSC Early Childhood Education, Early Childhood Policy, Quality Measurement and Improvement Systems |
Caroline Chamberlain is a current Ph.D. student in the School of Education at the University of California, Irvine in the area of Education Policy and Social Context. She is interested in high-quality early childhood education and statewide quality improvement systems. Caroline received her B.A. in Psychology and French, as well as her M.Ed. in Educational Psychology-Applied Developmental Science from the University of Virginia. She worked at UVA’s Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning (CASTL) on statewide initiatives to support early childhood programs in Virginia. Caroline also has experience working in preschool classrooms, and she spent a year teaching English to elementary school students in France.
|
|
Faith Ann Couts
EPSC Higher Education Policy; College-to-Career Transitions; First-Generation and Transfer Students; Social Stratifi cation and Mobility; Mixed Methods Research |
Faith Couts is a Ph.D. student in Education Policy and Social Context at the University of California, Irvine. As Lead Qualitative Researcher for the UCI Measuring Undergraduate Success Trajectories (MUST) Lab's College-to-Career Project, Faith conducts longitudinal research examining undergraduate experiences in career preparation and experiential workplace learning using mixed-methods and sociological frameworks. Her research focuses on how education policy shapes college-to-career transitions, particularly for fi rst-generation and underrepresented students. Drawing from her own experiences as a post-traditional student, her work aims to improve equity and opportunity in higher education through evidence-based policy recommendations and applied research that bridges theory and practice. Faith is committed to mentoring undergraduate researchers and peer doctoral students, refl ecting her broader interest in supporting pathways for the next generation of scholars.
|
|
Gabriella (Gabi) Gonzalez
EPSC Early Childhood, Educational Policy and Program Evaluation, Educational Interventions |
Gabriella (Gabi) Gonzalez earned a B.A. in Psychology and a B.S. in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior from the University of California, Davis. She also earned an M.S. in Quantitative Psychology and an M.A. in Clinical Psychology with a certificate of Institutional Research from Ball State University. During her time at Ball State University, she served as an intern in the university accreditation office evaluating the efficacy of high-impact practices within Ball State. She is interested in utilizing quantitative methods and assessments to reform and evaluate educational policies, practices, and programs specifically within the pre-K population. In addition, she is interested in finding cognitive and environmental factors responsible for improving learning as well as creating interventions to aid in learning. After pursing her PhD in Education, she hopes to work within the state government and/or school districts to evaluate educational policies, practices, and programs as well as student learning outcomes.
|
|
Jinwon Kim
TLEI Online Learning, Learning Analytics, Educational Technology, Artificial Intelligence in Education |
Jinwon Kim is a Ph.D. student in the UCI School of Education specializing in Teaching, Learning, and Educational Improvement (TLEI). He works with Dr. Di Xu on research projects in the field of online learning. He received his B.A. in Psychology and M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Korea University. Additionally, he has work experience as a data scientist, working on projects that aim to promote college students’ academic engagement and well-being through learning analytics and AI algorithms. His research interest lies in the intersection of education, psychology, and AI. He aims to investigate how students’ engagement and psychological factors influence their academic achievement in online learning environments. He is also interested in building predictive models to identify at-risk students and support their academic success. To build these models, he plans to leverage educational data collected unobtrusively from a Learning Management System (LMS).
|
|
Yoomee Lee
HDiC College Access and Equity, STEM, Students of Color, Program Evaluation, Educational Environments |
Yoomee Lee is a Ph.D. student in the School of Education specializing in Human Development in Context (HDiC). She received her B.A. in Psychology and Social Behavior from the University of California, Irvine, and M.A. in Higher Education and Organizational Change from the University of California, Los Angeles. Yoomee is a college admissions consultant and established her global business in educational consulting to democratize information on college admissions. Her efforts have reached 100,000+ students in more than 32 countries. She is also the founder and director of Global Emerging Leaders, a nonprofit organization that educates and empowers young individuals to become positive advocates for change. Her research interest broadly revolves around promoting access, persistence, and success of underrepresented students in STEM. She is particularly interested in promoting diversity and equity in STEM through understanding how institutional support impacts the experiences and outcomes of women and students of color in STEM.
|
|
Youjin Lee
HDiC Reading Comprehension, Literacy Development in Multilingual Learners, Individual Differences & SLA, Language Assessment |
Youjin received her MA in English Language Education at Seoul National University and her BA in English Language and Literature from Sungkyunkwan University. Her personal language learning experiences have inspired her studies and research toward a larger understanding of L2 proficiency. Her current research interests include literacy development, linguistic and cognitive aspects in reading, and IDs in second language learning. As a doctoral student, Youjin hopes to delineate multilingual learners’ reading and writing processes and find ways to aid effective second/foreign language instruction.
|
|
Wentao Li
TLEI Writing Instruction and Assessment, Peer Feedback/Interaction, Self-Regulated Strategy Development, Writing Intervention for Special Education Populations, Writing Teacher Education |
Wentao Li is a writing researcher in the School of Education at the University of California, Irvine, USA. His research focuses on issues that are central to advancing writing research and improving writing instruction in and beyond schools and universities. These topics include writing instruction and assessment, peer feedback/interaction, self-regulated strategy development, writing intervention for special education populations, and writing teacher education. His research has appeared in a range of scholarly venues, including Assessing Writing, Reading and Writing, Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, Frontiers in Psychology, the Journal of Pragmatics, the Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, and the Journal of English for Academic Purposes.
|
|
Jesse Giovanni Sanchez
EPSC & HDiC Education Policy, First Gen, Wellness, Mental Health, Neuroscience, Human Development, Poverty, Social Mobility |
Jesse Giovanni Sánchez has served as an education advocate for first-generation college students across the United States as well as in Mexico and Brazil. A First Gen student himself, Giovanni graduated from Harvard University with honors and is hoping to continue his student advocacy work by pursuing a PhD at the intersection of Education Policy, Human Development and Wellness/Mental Health.
|
|
Isabella Teresa Seccia
HDiC Parent-Child interactions, Culturally responsive learning technologies, Family interactions with learning technologies, Co-design, Latine Families |
I am currently a Ph.D. Student in Human Development in Context at the University of California Irvine, School of Education. I study family learning with technology from a culturally informed perspective. I am interested in both designing and assessing learning technologies that respond to the needs and cultural practices of Latine families in order to ensure that the sphere of digital education is an accessible and inclusive space. Prior to commencing my studies in graduate school, I earned my B.A. in Education Sciences from the University of California Irvine. During my time in undergrad, I worked under the mentorship of Dr. Bustamante at the STEM Learning Lab and Dr. Ahn at the Design and Partnerships Lab, where I co-designed playful learning landscapes with a local nonprofit (SAELI) and I designed characters and games for an application that creates STEM learning opportunities for families.
|
|
Kathy Tran
HDiC Academic Achievement, Adolescent Development, Cultural Identity, Prosocial and Moral Development |
Kathy Tran earned her B.A. in Psychology from California State University, Fullerton, where she was a Ronald E. McNair Scholar. She is now a third-year Ph.D. student in Human Development in Context at the University of California, Irvine's School of Education, where she works in Dr. Carlo's Cultural Resilience Learning Center. Based on ecocultural strength-based frameworks, her research focuses on the cultural mechanisms that promote prosocial development among multiple Asian ethnic communities, with particular interest in Vietnamese and East Asian adolescents. She examines how familial ethnic socialization practices foster prosocial behaviors through distinct cultural pathways such as communalism and familism. Using structural equation modeling, her work seeks to expand theoretical frameworks of positive youth development. This work has potential implications for developing family-centered interventions and programs in multicultural contexts.
|
|
Mi Joung (April) Yu is a Ph.D. student in the School of Education, specializing in the area of Education Policy and Social Context. April earned her bachelor’s degree in Government from Cornell University and a master’s degree in Public Administration from Seoul National University. She also worked at the Center for International Development Evaluation and the Korea Institute of Public Administration. Coupled with her academic background in policy research, volunteering with nonprofits serving disadvantaged children shaped her interest in advancing policy and practice to support better educational outcomes for children through research. As a doctoral student, she plans to study early childhood policy, the long-term effects of educational interventions, and program evaluation.
|
2022 Cohort
|
Lourdes M. Acevedo-Farag
HDiC STEM Education, Rational Number Learning, Playful Learning, BIPOC communities, Educational Pipeline |
Prior to pursuing a Ph.D. in Education, Lourdes Acevedo-Farag earned her B.A. in Sociology and Education and M.Ed. in Urban Education from UCLA. As a Latina, first generation college student originally pursuing a STEM major, she recognized the disparity between the STEM oriented skills she brought compared to that of her more affluent counterparts. She then dedicated herself to learning how to reduce this gap in preparation for STEM fields, which ultimately led her to pursue a career in the classroom. While she taught in a variety of grades throughout her 12 year career as a classroom teacher, having taught middle school math to students who did not identify as “math people, sparked her interest in how students from historically marginalized communities persist through the STEM educational pipeline. Her research interests regard interactive, play- and project-based STEM learning, math identity, persistence, and BIPOC communities. As a doctoral student, Lourdes plans to employ mixed-methods approaches to understand how to create effective interventions that facilitate students’ math identities, positively affecting their persistence through the STEM educational pipeline.
|
|
Aaron Ainsworth
EPSC K-12 Educator Labor Markets, Teacher and Organizational Effectiveness, Program Evaluation, Causal Inference |
Aaron Ainsworth is currently a Ph.D. student in Education Policy and Social Context at the University of California, Irvine School of Education where he studies the K-12 education workforce. He is interested in how educator labor markets respond to both in and out-of-school changes and their implications for the preparation, recruitment, development, effectiveness and retention of educators. To that end, he is interested in partnerships with education stakeholders and novel uses of longitudinal administrative data systems. Prior to graduate school, Aaron worked as an elementary and middle school teacher in both traditional public and charter schools in Las Vegas, NV. He has degrees in Education Studies and Political Science from Vanderbilt University and a master’s degree in Elementary Curriculum & Instruction from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
|
|
Nicholas Ainsworth
EPSC Early Care and Education Policy, Special Education Policy, Educational Equity, Causal Inference |
Nick Ainsworth is a current Ph.D. student in the School of Education at the University of California, Irvine specializing in the area of Education Policy and Social Context (EPSC). He is broadly interested in early care and education policy as well as special education. In particular, Nick is interested in studying how policies shape access to and outcomes from participating in high-quality early life interventions (care, education, etc.), with a particular focus on children growing up in poverty and students with disabilities or developmental delays. Prior to attending UC Irvine, Nick was a K-2 special education teacher in Las Vegas, NV. He received his master’s degree in Special Education from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and his bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Education from Vanderbilt University.
|
|
आकृति (Aakriti) belongs to an ethnic group called गढ़वाली (Garhwali) based out of the Himalayan region in India. She grew up in a city called Dehradun and traveled across India for her studies and work. She received her Bachelor's degree in Science from Garhwal University and a certificate in Children’s book illustration. She worked with a rural developmental organization, Gram Vikas and an alternative art school called Poorna Learning Center, designing community based education programs. Her own cultural context highly inspires her work around the acknowledgement and the importance of community in child’s education. Prior to joining the Ph.D. program at School of Education in UCI, Aakriti finished her Masters degree in Education from Azim Premji University. She currently studies the role of community in child's education through arts based research methods. And in her free time she likes to stitch, knit, cook, do watercolor paintings or take long walks.
|
|
Zhenyao Cai
TLEI AI in Education, Human-Computer Interaction, Educational Technology, Collaborative Learning, Playful Learning |
Zhenyao Cai received her B.A. in Computer Science and Art History from Smith College, and M.A. in Educational Technology from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her multidisciplinary academic training shaped her interest in educational technologies, AI education, learning analytics, and out-of-school education. Her previous research projects involved maker education, online collaborative discussion, AI literacy, and AR and embodied learning. Currently, she is working on a citizen science project, aiming to investigate possible ways to involve novices in scientific literature search and motivate them in STEM learning. In the long term, she wants to design and build technologies to involve broader participants in STEM learning and explorations, and she wants to investigate how the design and interactions these technologies afford can shape and transform learners’ cognitive and affective capabilities.
|
|
Daniel Garcia
EPSC Early STEM learning, family and community engagement, family-school partnerships, research-practice partnerships |
Daniel holds a B.S. in Social Psychology from the University of California, San Diego, and an M.A. in Psychological Science from California State University, Northridge. Daniel’s research focuses on leveraging the funds of knowledge within Latino/x families to support early STEM learning. He adopts a strength-based approach to family-school partnerships, emphasizing the rich, home-based practices of Latino/x families that play a vital role in their children’s development. His work aims to inform the creation of engaging and culturally relevant science curricula. He primarily uses qualitative methods in collaboration with early childhood educators and employs community-based research methodologies to co-create meaningful learning environments with Latino/x families. Daniel is the proud son of undocumented Mexican immigrants and a first-generation college student. To learn more about his work, visit his website: www.danielivangarcia.com.
|
|
Mariana Gomez holds a B.A. and M.A. in Child Development from California State University, Los Angeles. Currently, she is a Ph.D. student in the School of Education working with Dr. Elizabeth Peña and Dr. Stephanie Reich. During her undergraduate studies, Mariana worked as a research assistant investigating the substance use, sexual and educational attitudes of emergent adults advised by Dr. Claudia Kouyoumdjian. During this time, she also worked as part of the GO East LA Initiative, supporting a college-going culture in the East LA community. Additionally, advised by Dr. Jessica Morales-Chicas, Mariana worked with the Verizon Innovative Learning STEM Achievers program that provides STEM programming to underserved middle school students and researched Latinx STEM mentors’ cultural wealth that informs their practices. Mariana also has a background in early childhood education, and in higher education student affairs. As a preschool teacher and director in Southern California, Mariana’s found interest in supporting bilingual skills among underserved families to thrive in education. As a professional in student affairs at California State University, Fullerton, Mariana reaffirmed her passion for educational equity work that promotes college-going culture and career success. Currently, her research looks at the components of context that support bilingual skills among underserved young children. Mariana’s goal is to continue integrating an intersecting identities framework that looks at the assets that underserved families possess for their children’s optimal development.
|
|
Siling Guo
HDiC Child Development; Early Childhood Education; Mathematical Cognition; Math Motivation; Program Evaluation; Meta-Science (meta-analysis; causal inference) |
Siling Guo is a Ph.D. student in the School of Education at the University of California, Irvine, specializing in Human Development in Context. She holds a M.S.Ed in Human Development from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.Ed. in Early Childhood Education with a minor in Psychology from the University of Macau. Her research examines how cognitive and social-emotional skills interact and develop across developmental periods, using longitudinal modeling, simulation methods, and randomized intervention studies. Before her Ph.D., Siling contributed to a curriculum-based intervention in rural China, a formative math assessment program in Philadelphia, and a teacher development program in Ghana. At UC Irvine, she has evaluated programs including a play-based math program in the U.S. and abroad, a literacy coaching project in Puerto Rico, and a math teacher training program in California. Siling’s interdisciplinary experiences have shaped a deep commitment to bridging educational practice and developmental science to promote equitable opportunities for children from diverse backgrounds.
|
|
Kunlei He is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in the School of Education at UCI, where her research centers on leveraging AI to enrich children's media and learning. As a member of the Digital Learning Lab, she designs and evaluates conversational technologies to improve children's learning from television and e-books. Before joining UCI, Kunlei accomplished her master's degree at Harvard University. There, she investigated the impact of home and school environments on children's language and literacy development. For more information about Kunlei's research, please visit kunleihe.github.io.
|
|
Before enrolling at UCI School of Education, Heidi practiced as a school psychologist for six years serving students in preschool through twelfth grade. Heidi’s time as a school psychologist encouraged her to purse a Ph.D. in education to study early literacy interventions. Heidi currently works on a project that provides training and resources targeting literacy instruction for rural elementary school teachers in grades kindergarten through third grade.
|
|
Gennie Laramore
HDiC Language and Literacy Development, Early Intervention, Early Childhood Education, Special Education |
Gennie's background is in Birth through Five education and Speech-language pathology.
|
|
Jenny Lee
EPSC Underrepresented Minority Students' Access, Academic Success, and Retention; Culturally Responsive Higher Education Interventions; Educational Equity |
Jenny Lee is a doctoral student in the School of Education specializing in Educational Policy and Social Context. She obtained her Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a minor in Ethnic Studies from California Polytechnic State University. During her undergraduate career, Jenny investigated factors that impact underrepresented students' academic success in higher education. Her commitment to improve access, academic achievement, and retention rates of historically disadvantaged students inspires her research on culturally responsive higher education interventions.
|
|
Julian Levine
TLEI Vocabulary, Language Learning, Reading Comprehension, Digital Literacy, Oral Language, Educational Measurement |
Julian Levine is currently conducting research on the Converse to Learn project as a member of the Digital Learning Lab at UCI. He holds a B.A. in economics (minor in psychology) from UC San Diego and an M.A. in education (social research methodologies) from UC Berkeley. Julian taught English in South Korea for two and a half years, and has studied various languages including Korean, Spanish, and Japanese. His goal is to use his research to help people of all ages in their language and literacy learning. You can find more information about Julian and his research here: https://www.julian-levine.com/
|
|
My name is Alaria Long, and I am a fourth-year doctoral student in the School of Education at the University of California, Irvine, with a specialization in Human Development and Context. My research focuses on the intersection of language, technology, and equity in education. Specifi cally, I examine culturally biased standardized assessments, the accuracy of automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems in transcribing African American English (AAE) spoken by children, and the implications of ASR tools in educational assessment contexts. I earned a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education from Kentucky State University and previously taught 6th-grade mathematics in Northern Kentucky. I also participated in the UCLA-HBCU Initiative’s Summer Training for Excellence in Education Research, where I deepened my commitment to advancing equity-focused research in education.
|
|
Victoria Nguyen graduated from UC Irvine in 2021 with B.A degrees in both Education and Social Ecology as well as two minors in Global Sustainability and Psychological Sciences. Upon graduating, she continued her work in environmental education as a Recycling Coordinator at Waste Management where she assisted with the implementation and educational outreach of California recycling and food-waste laws. Seeing how the history of environmental education heavily focuses on individual behavior change and often excludes the perspectives and solutions of BIPOC communities, she is pursuing a Ph.D. in Education at UC Irvine specializing in Teaching, Learning, and Educational Improvement (TLEI). Through her research, she hopes to collaborate with K-12 students and undergraduates to collectively take climate action and work toward an equitable and interdisciplinary future in environmental education.
|
|
Seehee is a Ph.D. student in the School of Education specializing in Teaching Learning Educational Improvement (TLEI). She received her B.A. in Sociology at UCLA and M.A. in Teaching at USC. She has gained a strong foundation to instructional practices working in different classrooms, developing and creating skills in using instruction to teach skills to the students. After earning her master's degree she participated in Technology-Enhanced Learning Design (TELD) Lab at Seoul National University and participated in projects in how people learn in online environments. She is interested in and hopes to continue her research in online learning, computer-supported-collaboration-learning, and learning analytics.
|
|
Sina Rismanchian
TLEI Educational Data Science, AI in Education, Educational Technology, Learning Analytics |
Sina Rismanchian is from Isfahan, Iran. His research interests are in the intersection of Computer Science and Education. His focus is on researching how to gain the benefits of computer science and data science to excel K-12 education and to explore educational theories using quantitative methods. He is currently a first-year Ph.D. student at UC Irvine School of Education with a specialization in Teaching, Learning, and Educational Improvement (TLEI). He received his undergraduate degree in Computer Science and Engineering at Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, Iran. His interest in education comes from his previous educational activities such as teaching math to middle-school students, designing a collaborative educational platform for K-12 students, and co-founding an educational society of university students named Rasta in Iran. He works with Dr. Shayan Doroudi in using quantitative methods to explore learning debates, theories, and models.
|
|
Guadalupe is interested in researching how students (K-12, college) motivation and STEM identity are influenced by family and peers, in particular students who belong to groups that have been historically underrepresented in STEM. Overall her goal is to continue to be a part of the research efforts to increase representation in STEM fields and she'd also like to explore issues in educational equity for first-generation college students.
|
|
Seth Van Doren
TLEI Research practice partnerships, design based implementation research, data use, learning analytics |
Seth is interested in designing learning experiences using participatory design research methods that center the values, desires, and aspirations of the groups that will engage with them. He is advised by Dr. June Ahn and co-advised by Dr. Kylie Peppler. Seth received a B.A. in Chemistry and a minor in Science and Mathematics Education from the University of California, Berkeley. His experiences conducting design-based research and engaging in co-design with youth, informal science educators, science content experts, and researchers have shaped his current research interests. Currently, he is exploring how to leverage AI to design human-centered and actionable analytics and study how people use analytics to make decisions.
|
|
Taylor Wycoff
HDiC Out-of-School-Time Learning; Opportunity Gap; Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Racial Justice |
Taylor M. Wycoff is a Ph.D. student in UC Irvine’s School of Education specializing in Human Development in Context (HDiC). She has worked in the youth development field for a variety of organizations in a range of roles, including counselor, instructor, and program manager. Prior to joining UCI, Taylor received her M.S. from the University of Utah’s Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism where her research focused on access to and inclusion in summer camp programs. Her current research interests center around out-of-school-time learning, the opportunity gap, and diversity, equity, inclusion, and racial justice in out-of-school-time learning environments. Moving forward, Taylor hopes to engage in community based participatory and mixed-methods research to improve out-of-school-time learning opportunities for historically marginalized youth.
|
2021 Cohort
|
Juan Camilo Cristancho
EPSC Education Policy, Child Development, Causal Inference, Community Violence, Ecological Factors, Meta-Analysis |
Juan Camilo is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Education at the University of California, Irvine. His research examines how social stressors and environmental factors, such as community violence and exposure to greenspace, affect child development and educational outcomes. An applied microeconomist by training, he employs advanced quantitative methods, including causal inference and geospatial analysis, to inform education and social policy, and theories of child development. Juan Camilo's work has been published in Child Development and JAMA Open Network, among other peer-reviewed journals. He is a 2025–2026 NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellow. On the Job Market for the academic year 2025-2026. You may view his personal website and his Google Scholar for more information.
|
|
Patricia Fuentes Acevedo
TLEI Mathematics Teacher Learning, Noticing for Equity, Family Math, Equitable Collaborations |
Patricia holds a BA in Education, a Mathematics teaching credential, and a Master's degree in Didactics of Mathematics from the Universidad de Concepción, Chile. She worked as a teacher educator at the same institution and as a math teacher in K-12 settings in Chile. Patricia has served as a GSR in Research-Practice Partnerships with elementary schools in Southern California, focusing on instructional improvement in mathematics, and collaborated with the mathematics department at UCI to design and test a video-based noticing curriculum for college instructional teams. Her dissertation is a community-engaged research project with an elementary school that serves a large proportion of Latinx families. Over three years of partnership, Patricia has led monthly bilingual co-design meetings with caregivers, teachers, and researchers. In this context, she employs a design-based implementation research (DBIR) approach and qualitative methods to study the redistribution of math epistemic authority, teacher learning, and cycles of co-design.
|
|
Alejandro Granados Vargas (he/him), M.A., CCC-SLP is a bilingual speech-language therapist and doctoral student in Education at the University of California, Irvine. His research interests include translanguaging and decolonial applications to research at the intersections of bilingualism and disability.
|
|
Jasmin Hernandez Santacruz
HDiC Bilingualism, Second-Language Acquisition, Cognitive Control, Language Processing |
Jasmin obtained her bachelor's degree from the University of California San Diego in Linguistics and Psychology. Her senior project focused on immersion-based language learning and changes to proficiency in both the L1 and L2. The published article can be found here. Through her research, Jasmin hopes to bridge the gap between research and community and support bilingual communities. More generally, she hopes her research will contribute to the growing field of language science and reveal more of the benefits associated with bilingualism.
|
|
Christina Kimmerling
TLEI Teacher learning in mathematics education; ambitious and equitable mathematics instruction; teacher noticing, research-practice partnerships |
Christina Kimmerling is a doctoral candidate in UCI School of Education’s Teaching, Learning, and Educational Improvement specialization. Her research emphasizes understanding productive teacher learning opportunities around ambitious and equitable mathematics instruction. Christina is particularly interested in how collaborative partnerships with districts and schools can facilitate transformative instructional changes across systems. She began her career as a middle and high school mathematics teacher and instructional coach in Oregon and Colorado before transitioning to teaching mathematics courses for future teachers at CSULB. Throughout her career, Christina has been dedicated to fostering rigorous and meaningful learning experiences in mathematics for all students. She holds a B.A. in Applied Mathematics from UC Berkeley, an M.Ed. in Teaching and Curriculum from Harvard University, and an M.S. in Mathematics (Mathematics Education for Secondary Teachers) from California State University, Long Beach.
|
|
Joseph Hin Yan Lam
HDiC Bilingualism, Developmental Language Disorder, Language and Literacy, Assessment |
Joseph Hin Yan Lam is a doctoral candidate specializing in bilingual language development, with a focus on Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). His research examines how early language performance, exposure, and sociocultural factors shape oral language and literacy outcomes in multilingual learners. He advances methodologies in bilingual assessment, including dynamic assessment tools, nomogram prediction models, and decision trees to improve DLD diagnosis. His longitudinal work explores cross-linguistic influences and developmental trajectories using Dynamic Systems Theory, latent profile analysis, and latent transition analysis. Lam also investigates culturally responsive interventions, including translanguaging approaches in math and literacy, to support academic success in underrepresented populations. Joseph is committed to interdisciplinary collaboration, mentoring diverse students, and addressing health disparities in language and literacy services for multilingual children. Personal Website: https://sites.google.com/view/jhylam
|
|
Gala Ledezma
EPSC Higher Education Policy, Economics of Education, Latinx Students, College Access, Behavioral Economics, Research-Practice Partnerships |
Gala M. Ledezma is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Education Policy specialization at the University of California, Irvine. Her research examines how higher education policies and programs shape access and success for historically underserved students. Much of her work focuses on community colleges in California, evaluating policies that increase enrollment, persistence, and equitable transfer to four-year universities.
Prior to joining UCI, Gala earned a Master of Public Policy from the UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy, where she specialized in Program Design and Evaluation. She also holds a Master of Arts in Education from UC Irvine. Gala’s commitment to higher education policy is grounded in her lived experience as a Chicana, first-generation college student from San Diego’s South Bay. These experiences inform her passion for using research to advance educational equity and improve outcomes for students of color, first-generation students, and students from low-income backgrounds. |
|
Jomar received his Multiple Subject Teaching Credential and his B.A. in Liberal Studies at San Francisco State University. His previous research examined how cultural capitals are expressed or repressed within college STEM classes. In other works, he analyzed the intersection between cultural anthropology and sociology as a means of reframing the causes of educational inequality and racial stratification within Oakland, California. He hopes to use his interdisciplinary approach to research to develop equity frameworks, challenge the opportunity gap, and scrutinize existing educational paradigms that work to disenfranchise racially minoritized youth within the K-12 public school system.
|
|
Guadalupe Aileen Mendoza
HDiC Bilingualism, Psycholinguistics, Language Development, Language Variation |
Guadalupe obtained her B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Ethnic studies from the University of California, Riverside. As an undergraduate, she explored measuring language dominance in bilinguals based on task sustainability. She also worked as the lab manager for Dr. Judith Kroll's Bilingualism, Mind, and Brain lab. Guadalupe's current research interests focus on the behavioral and cognitive consequences of changes in language environment. She is working with Dr. Kroll to develop a research program that explores the long-term effects of variation in early life language experience.
|
|
Santiago Ojeda-Ramirez
TLEI Computing Education Research, Integration of Programming in Arts and Humanities Classrooms, Data Literacy, Digital Education, Computational Thinking |
A native of Bogotá, Colombia, Santiago holds a bachelor's in Biomedical Engineering, minors in Biology and Literature, and a master's in Digital Humanities from Universidad de Los Andes. His passion for educational research comes from his experience as an elementary, middle and high school teacher in Bogotá, and from working as a pedagogical coordinator in the Clubes de Ciencia project, which seeks to awaken interest in science and technology in middle and high school students across Colombia. Santiago's previous research addressed the design of a computational thinking course for arts and humanities' students in higher education, and one of his goals is to understand the relationship between computing education and second language acquisition.
|
|
Roushanac Partovi
HDiC Research Interests: Adolescent Development, Prosocial Behaviors, Cultural Stressors and Strengths, Purpose in Life |
Roushanac Partovi is a Ph.D. candidate in the Human Development in Context (HDiC) specialization in the School of Education at UC Irvine, working with Dr. Gustavo Carlo. Her research focuses on understanding the supports that foster altruistic actions and promote positive educational and career outcomes among youth experiencing culturally related or race-based stressors. Roushanac earned her Master of Public Health in Maternal and Child Health from the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University and her B.A. in International Studies from Southern Methodist University. She is a former Ford Predoctoral Fellow and will be on the academic job market during the 2025–2026 cycle. For more information, please see her Google Scholar.
|
|
Kelley Riffenburgh
EPSC Educational Equity, Bi/Multilingualism, Refugee and Migrant Communities, Culturally and Linguistically Responsive/Sustaining Pedagogy |
Kelley completed her B.A. in Linguistics with concentrations in Peace, Justice & Human Rights and Africana Studies at Haverford College. She went on to obtain her M.S.Ed in Intercultural Communication from the University of Pennsylvania. Kelley’s research interests focus on the intersections of language and equity, with an emphasis on educational accessibility for speakers of minoritized languages.
|
|
Daniel earned his Bachelor's degree in Computer Science at the University of California, Davis, where he began his research career by investigating the potential of video games to promote the teaching of programming. He works with the UCI Digital Learning Lab on the Converse to Learn project. He is interested in researching how technology and education can complement and improve each other, including the design and development of effective digital learning environments, the use of data improve learning experiences, and the improvement of teaching practices surrounding computational thinking and programming.
|
|
Alexandra Román-Irizarry
HDiC Gender-inclusive language; non-binary language; language processing; ERPs; sociolinguistics; language acquisition |
Alexandra received her bachelor’s degrees in Modern Languages (French, Chinese, and Japanese) and Hispanic Linguistics at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras. As an undergraduate she was awarded a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Through her research, Alexandra hopes to explore the relationship between the explicit usage of a linguistic phenomenon and its implicit processing. By doing so, she hopes to discover effective teaching methods that will aid in the teaching of non-binary gender-inclusive language in Spanish.
|
|
Julie received her B.A in Psychology from California State University, Northridge and a minor in Child and Adolescent Development. During her last year of undergraduate studies she served as the director of Outreach for the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, where she hosted workshops for K-12 students with the interest to promote STEM learning in underrepresented communities. Julie also worked in the Division of Biological Sciences at University of California, San Diego where she conducted research looking at the impact of active learning in co-taught classrooms. Julie plans to pursue research in STEM learning within Latinx communities and to one day help create interventions that can support informal STEM learning.
|
|
Carla Stanford
HDiC Intersection of Language, Literacy, and Poverty in African American Children, Impact of Cultural Dialects on Early Literacy Skills, Professional Development for Public School Teachers Around Content Knowledge and Application of Science of Reading and Teaching Beyond Circumstances: Poverty, Dialect, Language Acquisition, Trauma |
Carla has been in education for more than 25 years and has taught children from all socio-economic backgrounds from urban, suburban and rural environments. She co-founded Reading is Essential for All People, a nonprofit that trains public school teachers in the science of reading in 2013. Carla’s research interests include the intersection language, literacy and poverty in African American children, impacts of cultural dialects on early literacy skills and professional development for public school teachers in knowledge and application of science of reading and teaching beyond circumstances: poverty, dialect, language acquisition, and trauma.
|
|
Nicholas received his B.A.s in Linguistics and Spanish from Boise State University in 2017. He received his M.A in Linguistics at the University of New Mexico in 2021. As an undergraduate student he was introduced to linguistics and language acquisition while spending two years abroad in Santiago, Chile. His research work integrates experimental, neural, and applied methodologies to investigate how individual differences - such as working memory - shape language acquisition and use.
|
|
Waverly received her B.S. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology and M.S. in Biology from UC San Diego. Before entering the doctoral program, Waverly worked for four years as a teaching assistant with the Revelle College Humanities Program at UC San Diego, focusing on helping undergraduate students learn how to interpret and conduct critical assessments of literary, historical, and philosophical texts. Informed by her educational and teaching experiences, she is interested in researching interdisciplinary methods of advancing literacy and writing instruction.
|
|
Nicole A. Vargas Fuentes
HDiC Bilingualism, Psycholinguistics, Cognition, Emotion, Language Experience |
Nicole is a doctoral candidate in the School of Education under the Human in Development Context specialization. She received her master’s in Education at UCI and her bachelor's degree in Psychology and Modern Languages (Portuguese and French) at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras. Currently, she works in the Bilingualism, Mind, and Brain Lab, under the supervision of Dr. Judith Kroll. She also collaborates with Dr. Julio Torres, principal investigator of El Areyto Lab. Her research focuses on the bilingual experience and its implications for cognition. Currently, she is looking at the relationship between language and emotion by comparing how bilinguals feel across their languages and how those different degrees of emotionality impact cognitive processes (e.g., memory, inhibitory control).
|
2020 Cohort
|
Bryan K. Murray
HDiC Learning Process, Complex Syntax Development, Language & Literacy Interactions, Dialect Density & Linguistic Distance, Measurement & Assessment, Comparative Education, Educational, Home, & Community Stability |
Bryan received his B.A. in Psychology and M.S. in Educational Psychology at Georgia State University. His work focuses on the gradient nature of language variants, learning, the schooling factor, and policy. His current research involving preschoolers and school-aged children focuses on understanding dialect use in African American Children with a specific emphasis on the impact of dialect on language assessment, literacy attainment and academic performance. His work with children in foster care focuses on understanding the impact of educational instability on language development and academic achievement.
|
|
Mohammed (Amin) Samadi
TLEI Learning Analytics, Computational Methodologies, Natural Language Processing & Machine Learning in Education |
Amin earned his bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from Isfahan University of Technology where he worked on artificial intelligence and natural language processing. His research interest lies in the crossing of learning analytics and state of the art computational methodologies to explore the underlying patterns in the learning process. Amin is a member of the Learning Analytics Lab working with Assistant Professor Nia Dowell.
|
|
Stephen Skoropad
TLEI Science Education, Teacher Preparation Programs (residency vs. traditional programs), Inquiry-Based Teaching Practices, Supporting Teacher Education through Professional Developments, Equity-Based Teaching Practices |
Stephen received his master’s degree in Urban Education from Loyola Marymount University, where he participated in a residency program designed to improve the proficiency of math and science teachers in the Southern Los Angeles area. has worked in public education for seven years as a secondary physics and robotics teacher and for the past two years as a science curriculum specialist in Southern Los Angeles. He supported teachers and administrators in the district with developing equity-based science teaching practices that assist all students in mastering NGSS-aligned curriculum. His work in the field has led to an interest in researching science teaching pedagogy on a larger scale to support the development of core practices and understanding what components of a teacher education program are best in preparing educators to succeed in different settings.
|
|
Marixza Torres is a sixth-year Ph.D. student specializing in Human Development in Context (HDiC). She uses structural equation modeling to examine how cultural strengths are associated with social-cognitive skills and positive developmental outcomes. Her dissertation, Feel to Heal, is a randomized controlled trial of a choose-your-own-adventure graphic novel that fosters empathy and perspective-taking among Latino/a young adults. Her work bridges creative storytelling with rigorous research to affirm identity, enhance resilience, and inspire belonging in educational and professional spaces. As an NSF Graduate Research Fellow, she led the Prosocial Learning Project and co-designed it with UC Irvine’s Cultural Resiliency and Learning Center and DAPLab. She also launched an independent study on bilingual mother-child interactions through the SKILLD Fellowship. Marixza has held instructional roles at CSU Long Beach and UC Irvine, contributing to inclusive curriculum design and student engagement across child development and multicultural education.
|
