Ph.D. in Education: Student Profiles
Doctoral students at the UCI School of Education study a wide range of issues that affect human learning and development. They are paired with leading faculty who share similar research interests and who help the doctoral student grow into a well-rounded academic.
There is not a “typical” doctoral student at the UCI School of Education. Students historically matriculate from multiple countries and states and have varied work experiences and undergraduate majors of study. Historically, half our doctoral students have a master’s degree, and half have prior teaching experience. Additionally, our students vary widely in age, and many are parents.
Our students serve as teaching assistants, graduate student researchers, mentors to undergraduates, and leaders of student initiatives across campus.
Click here for a full directory of our doctoral students. To learn more about our students' research, honors and leadership, please visit our news center.
There is not a “typical” doctoral student at the UCI School of Education. Students historically matriculate from multiple countries and states and have varied work experiences and undergraduate majors of study. Historically, half our doctoral students have a master’s degree, and half have prior teaching experience. Additionally, our students vary widely in age, and many are parents.
Our students serve as teaching assistants, graduate student researchers, mentors to undergraduates, and leaders of student initiatives across campus.
Click here for a full directory of our doctoral students. To learn more about our students' research, honors and leadership, please visit our news center.
Ph.D. in Education Student Highlights
Check back as student highlights are updated regularly!
Check back as student highlights are updated regularly!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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/.
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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.
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Learn More about the Ph.D. in Education Program
