Profiles

Current Students (2025-2026)

Efrat Ayalon (she/her)
Specialization: Learning & Design
Advisor: Noel Enyedy
Year: 5
Email: efrat.ayalon@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: Critical computation, Embodied learning, Mixed-reality environments, Learning with AI

Efrat is a PhD candidate at Vanderbilt University, specializing in learning and design with a strong background in mathematics. Her research critically examines gender issues in computer science and their effects on its community’s practices. Efrat’s work focuses on introducing expansive practices to computer science education through embodiment and computational thinking.

Prior to Vanderbilt, Efrat led the Algorithm Optimization Analysis Team at Via, a TransitTech startup that powers cost-effective, convenient, and equitable mobility worldwide. Efrat is a member of the HIVE Lab. Under the guidance of Dr. Noel Enyedy, she contributes to innovative projects like GEM-STEP, a mixed-reality environment where students use their bodies to play-act scientific phenomena. Efrat is also involved in exploring AI applications for interaction analysis and embodied learning. She is part of LIVE (Learning Innovation Incubator), where her multifaceted research promotes equity and justice, working to disrupt traditional science and technology narratives.

Atefeh Behboudi (she/her) – Website
Specialization: Learning & Design
Advisor: Golnaz Arastoopour Irgens
Year: 3
Email: atefeh.behboudi@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: AI in Education, Data Science, Digital Game Education

Basak Çermikli Ayvaz (she/her)
Specialization: Language, Literacy, & Culture
Advisor: Emily Phillips Galloway
Year: 5
Email: basak.cermikli.ayvaz@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: linguistically and culturally diverse learners, translanguaging, identity

Basak is a doctoral student in the Language, Literacy and Culture track and is focused on emergent bilingual and multilingual learners’ literacy practices in and out of school settings. She has an M.Ed. in Learning and Design from Vanderbilt University, Peabody College. Basak taught English as Second and Foreign language for over 12 years at university programs. She took on several roles ranging from testing specialist, material designer, designer/co-director and instructor in the English Language program geared for government grantees bound for graduate studies abroad. Basak is passionate about emerging biliteracy and translanguaging, and identity navigations in linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms and strives to create equitable learning environments and practices through her research.

Jingyi Chen (she/her) – Website
Specialization: Learning & Design
Advisor: Melissa Gresalfi
Year: 2
Email: jignyi.chen.2@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: Early Math Education, Joyful Math Learning

Jingyi is a doctoral student in the Department of Teaching and Learning, specializing in Learning and Design. Originally from China, she earned a B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an M.Ed. in Learning and Design from Vanderbilt University. Jingyi has taught students across a wide range of age groups, including K-2 online learners, middle school math students, and high school geometry in New York City. Her research focuses on children’s mathematical exploration and designing spaces that foster joyful and relevant math learning experience.

Lauren Connelly (she/her) 
Specialization: Mathematics & Science Education
Advisor: Heidi Carlone
Year: 2
Email: lauren.connelly@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: STEM Education, Narrative and Storytelling in Science, Place-based Learning, Identity

Originally from State College, Pennsylvania, Lauren is a PhD student in the Department of Teaching and Learning. She earned her BS in biochemistry and English and her MEd in secondary education, both from the University of Notre Dame. She has previously taught middle school science, high school biology, and middle school reading in southeastern Louisiana, where she also coached cross country and track. She is interested in the design and study of equity-minded, critical science curricula for middle school students.

Lana Ćosić (she/her)
Specialization: Learning & Design
Advisor: Noel Enyedy, Kevin Leander, Rogers Hall
Year: 5
Email: lana.cosic@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: Embodiment, Ensemble learning, Theatre, Arts-Based Methods, Affect, Queer Theory, Science and Arts Education, Informal Learning

Lana is a fifth year doctoral candidate in the Department of Teaching and Learning with an emphasis on embodied and arts-based qualitative methods. She earned her BA in cognitive science and theater at the University of California, Berkeley and her M.Ed in learning and design at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College. In her work, she draws on sociological and anthropological traditions to explore meshworks of embodiment, relationality, and expansive science learning, with a particular focus on how learners co-create knowledge through shared practice. In addition to her academic work, which theorizes ensemble learning in devised theatre, she also directs productions for the Vanderbilt Theatre Department.

Marlena Eanes-Snowden (she/her)
Specialization: Mathematics & Science Education
Advisor: Nicole Joseph
Year: 4
Email: marlena.a.eanes@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: Black Women and Black Girls in Mathematics, Affect Theory

Abbey Gonzales (she/her)
Specialization: Language, Literacy, & Culture
Advisor: Amanda Goodwin
Year: 4
Email: abbey.e.gonzales@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: Translanguaging Research, Teacher Education, and Multilingual Learners in K-12 Settings

Abbey Gonzales is a PhD student in Language, Literacy, and Culture at Vanderbilt University. Previously, she served as a High School Assistant Principal, in a predominantly Latinx community. Through this experience, Abbey became interested in researching effective sustainable practices for educators working with High School Emergent Bilingual students. She hopes to contribute to the development of instructional practices for secondary teachers that are rigorous and respectful of linguistically and culturally diverse high school students and their families.Her current research focuses on the relationship between languages other than English in K-12 settings, literacy development, and classroom ecologies. She holds an M. Ed from Vanderbilt University and a B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin.

Anastasia Goodwin (she/her)
Specialization: Learning & Design
Advisor: Kevin Leander
Year: 3
Email: anastasia.y.goodwin@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: Hands-on Learning, Arts-based Methods, Higher Education, Transdisciplinary Teaching & Learning

Anastasia Y. Goodwin is a doctoral student in her third year of study in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Vanderbilt University. She returned to graduate school after many years of working as a professional artist, maker, and educator in the areas of theatrical and film costume design and production. Born and raised in the former Soviet Union, Anastasia came to the US to study theatre in college, eventually earning her MFA in Costume Design from the University of Washington in Seattle. Professional career highlights include leadership roles at celebrated regional theatres, work in independent film, and serving as resident costume designer and costume program director at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. Anastasia’s research interests center intersections of art, language, making, and discourses and systems of power in education through the critical posthuman and new materialist frames.

Elsa Fernanda Landeros (she/her/ella)
Specialization: Justice & Diversity in Education
Advisor: Luis Leyva
Year: 2
Email: elsa.f.landeros@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: Equity in Higher Education, Latine Student Experiences, Higher Education Access & Retention, STEM Instructional Practices, & Identities in Classroom Spaces

Elsa is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Teaching and Learning. She received her B.A. in Economics with minors in Spanish and Education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During her undergraduate studies, she quickly realized her passion for education equity and access, leading her to intern with a local North Carolina educational nonprofit, LatinxEd. Immersed in the complex nature of student experiences, she further pursued her commitment to educational equity as a Ronald E. McNair Scholar, researching the impacts of Upward Bound participation for low-income, first-generation students at the UNC School of Education. Elsa’s research interests include higher education access, the experiences of Latinx students, and student retention and success.

Alicia C. Lane (she/her)
Specialization: Learning & Design
Advisor: Noel Enyedy
Year: 4
Email: alicia.c.lane@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: Embodied learning, Mixed-reality environments, Critical AI literacies

Alicia C. Lane, a Ph.D. student at Peabody College, focuses her research on embodied learning, mixed reality environments, and the application of artificial intelligence in K-12 contexts. Her work on several NSF-funded projects has explored interaction analysis using AI, student agency, and teacher learning. Drawing on both research and practitioner viewpoints, she advocates for designing more engaging, equitable, and ethical learning experiences.

Fanjie Li (she/her) – Website
Specialization: Learning and Design
Advisor: Alyssa Wise
Year: 4
Email: fanjie.li@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: Human-Centered Learning Analytics

Nicollette D. Mitchell (she/her)
Specialization: Justice & Diversity in Education
Advisor: Luis Leyva
Year: 5
Email: nicollette.d.mitchell@vanderbilt.edu
Research interests: Higher Education, Geoscience, Black Studies, Pedagogy

Nicollette is a 5th year Doctoral Candidate whose research interests focus on the connection between pedagogical practices and identity affirming in Post Secondary STEM. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Geology and Africana studies from Oberlin College and a Masters of Science in Geosciences from the University of Arizona. This doctoral degree is an extension of her longstanding passion for global and institutional climate change. Through research she advocates for persistence and thriving of Black and Brown students, faculty, and staff in higher education. Outside of reading and writing for the academy, Nicollette enjoys spending her free time exploring local parks and trails with her husband Jahlil and son Jett.

Erica Payne (she/her)
Specialization: Language, Literacy, & Culture
Advisor: Debbie Rowe
Year: 3
Email: erica.payne@vanderbilt.edu
Research interests: Elementary Literacy, Linguistically & Culturally Diverse Learners, Read-Aloud Literature, International Education, Student Belonging and Student Agency

Erica is a native to upstate New York, but earned her BA in Elementary Education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her MA in TESOL from the American University of Sharjah. Prior to arriving at Vanderbilt, Erica was an educator for 9 years, including teaching elementary multilingual students in North Carolina and in the Middle East, as well as programming for first-year college students at universities stateside and abroad. Erica’s experiences working cross-culturally has fueled a passion for understanding more about the uniquely rich, imaginative, and collaborative learning that happens when schools celebrate the diverse backgrounds, cultures, and languages of students and teachers.

Siqi Shen (she/her)
Specialization: Learning & Design
Advisor: Alyssa Wise
Year: 2
Email: siqi.shen@vanderbilt.edu
Research interests: Educational Data Mining, Human-Computer Interaction

Siqi Shen is a Ph.D. student in the Learning, Teaching, and Diversity program. Her research interests include exploring students’ motivation, engagement, and learning outcomes in technology-enhanced learning environments, as well as investigating teachers’ experiences with educational systems. She aims to contribute insights into the design of educational technologies that enhance both student learning and teaching effectiveness.

Yeung Tang (he/him)
Specialization: Mathematics & Science Education
Advisor: Jessica Watkins
Year: 3
Email: ying.yeung.tang@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: Science Education, Teacher Education

Yeung is a doctoral student in the Department of Teaching and Learning, specializing in Mathematics and Science Education. Born in Hong Kong, he moved to the U.K. as a young child with his mother to continue his schooling in Edinburgh, Scotland. He later received his B.S. in Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry from University of St Andrews and M.A. in Education from University College London. Prior to graduate school, he was a secondary science teacher in London, England for six years. It was during these teaching years he developed his interests in educational research, particularly in science education and teacher education.

Karen Underwood
Specialization: Math and Science Education
Advisor: Ilana Horn
Email: karen.underwood@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: math education, teacher learning

Jamie Vescio
Specialization: Learning & Design
Advisor: Melissa Gresalfi
Year: 4
Email: jamie.l.vescio@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: Elementary Mathematics Education, Playful Learning, Situative Perspectives of Learning, Critical Childhood Studies

Omer Zahid (he/him) – Website
Specialization: Language, Literacy, & Culture
Advisor: Amanda Goodwin
Year: 2
Email: omer.zahid@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: Digital and Multimodal Literacies, Restorying Practices, Language Teacher Education, Equity and Social Justice, Culturally Responsive Curricula.

Omer Zahid is a first year doctoral student in the Department of Teaching and Learning. In 2024, he earned his Masters degree from the University of Pennsylvania as a recipient of the prestigious Fulbright scholarship. Prior to that, Omer taught English Language and Literature for almost 10 years in the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program. He has also been part of the IB assessment team as an examiner for DP English since 2016. Omer is passionate about the affordances of multiliteracies within modern learning contexts: for emerging teacher-practitioners, veteran teachers, and learners engaged in digitally-mediated composing practices. Hailing from Pakistan, he recognizes the stark inequities prevalent in educational opportunity, and hopes to work towards alleviating these in local and transnational contexts.

Hannah Hayeon Ziegler
Specialization: Mathematics & Science Education
Advisor: Heidi Carlone
Year: 4
Email: hannah.h.ziegler@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: STEM Education, Place-based Learning, Emerging Technologies

Originally from South Korea, Hannah is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Vanderbilt University. Following her undergraduate studies at Pepperdine University, Hannah obtained a Master’s in Science Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She also spent four years working as a high school science and math teacher in Twin Falls, Idaho. Some of her other research interests involve place-based education, emerging technologies, and designing for expansive STEM teaching and learning. Her most recent work explores the role of imaginative engagement in youths’ placemaking in a local civic design project.

Former Students

Amanda M. Bell
Specialization: Learning and Design
Advisor: Melissa Gresalfi
Email: amanda.m.bell@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: computational thinking, computer science and mathematics education, in and out-of-school learning contexts, design

Bryant Best
Specialization: Justice and Diversity in Education
Advisor: Rich Milner
Email: bryant.o.best@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: education policy, education leadership, teacher education

A native of Wilson, North Carolina, Bryant received his B.A. in Psychology and African-American Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his M.A. in Sociology, specializing in Race, Class, and Gender from the University of Maryland, College Park. Prior to arriving at Vanderbilt, Bryant leveraged research and policy to support education leaders at the American Council on Education and the Council of Chief State School Officers in Washington, DC. While serving at these two national associations, Bryant worked tirelessly to advance justice, diversity, and educational equity for our nation’s most underserved students. At Vanderbilt, Bryant hopes to learn from Dr. Rich Milner and others how to further contribute to a more equitable education system and society through sound education policy, strong education leadership, and high-quality teacher education.

Portia Botchway
Specialization: Learning and Design
Advisor: Rich Lehrer and Ebony McGee
Email: portia.k.botchway@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: elementary and secondary mathematics and science

Laura Buckley
Specialization: Language, Literacy, and Culture
Advisor: Emily Phillips-Galloway and Jeannette Mancilla-Martinez
Email: laura.e.buckley@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: emergent bilingual learners, early language and literacy development, classroom language environments

Laura developed an interest in the critical role language plays in education while teaching in an immigrant student inclusion classroom in Paris, France. She completed her B.A. in Anthropology, Spanish, French, and Arabic at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX, and proceeded to receive her M.Ed. with a specialization in ESL Instruction at SMU as well. Laura taught third grade at a dual language elementary school in Texas. She also received a Fulbright Award which allowed her to return to France and teach English at the high school level. Laura is now Ph.D. student in the Language, Literacy, and Culture Program in the Department of Teaching and Learning. She studies early language and literacy development of young linguistically diverse children. Her current research focuses on opportunities for language learning experienced by emergent bilingual learners in English-dominant classrooms.

Sarah Burriss
Specialization: Language, Literacy, and Culture
Advisor: Kevin Leander
Email: sarah.burriss@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: learning of artificial intelligence & ethics, in and out of school learning, digital literacies, young adult and children’s literature

Sarah hails from Charleston, SC, where she was a public librarian before coming to Nashville. She graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from Yale University and has a Master’s in Library and Information Science from University of South Carolina. Sarah is interested in learning that happens inside and outside of school–including in libraries–and how adolescents navigate the increasingly complex world of digital and networked information.

Laura Carter-Stone
Specialization: Language, Literacy, and Culture
Advisor: Kevin Leander
Email: laura.j.carter-stone@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: culturally-sustaining pedagogy, ELL education, performing arts

Laura developed a commitment to culturally-sustaining instruction while teaching kindergarteners on the Pine Ridge Reservation. As a high school Spanish and Response-to-Intervention English teacher in her home state of Kentucky, she incorporated dramatic play, digital media, music, and storytelling into her language and literacy learning classroom. She recently earned her M.S. in Social and Philosophical Issues in Education from the University of Kentucky. Laura currently explores how the arts might create more engaging and equitable learning environments for culturally and linguistically diverse adolescents.

Kate Chapman
Specialization: Learning and Design
Advisor: Melissa Gresalfi
Email: katherine.c.chapman@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: STEM learning from a socio-cultural/learning ecology perspective, equity issues in designing for out-of-school spaces, ntegration between in-school and out-of-school learning opportunities.

Kate Chapman is from Seattle, Washington. She holds a B.A. in Russian from Reed College, and an M.Ed. from Vanderbilt. As an academic tutor and later a field trip facilitator, she became interested in working to build better bridges between formal and informal learning environments. Her dissertation focuses on practices around STEM learning in informal spaces, as well as how different sociotechnical configurations can index and reanimate remote spaces, creating potential for negotiation of meaning and identity. With NSF support she has recently been working in curriculum development for informal spaces looking at both traditional STEM concepts and new ideas around place and mobility.

Bethany Daniel
Specialization: Learning and Design
Advisor: Noel Enyedy
Email: bethany.r.daniel@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: world language and dual language education, race and equity, teacher education

Bethany is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Teaching and Learning. She received a B.A. in French and German and an M.A. in Second Language Teaching from Brigham Young University. She has worked and taught in a variety of K-12, university, and government settings, with an emphasis on designing learning environments to foster language proficiency development. Her research interests lie in understanding how dominant ideologies constrain equitable language learning in different learning environments. Her current work considers how ideologies influence teacher candidate sensemaking in elementary science and dual language immersion contexts.

Zarabeth Davis
Specialization: Language, Literacy, and Culture
Advisor: Debbie Rowe
Email: zarabeth.davis@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: emergent writing practices, play, literacy, early childhood, professional learning communities, and project-based learning.

Zarabeth Davis is a fifth-year Ph.D. student in the Language, Literacy and Culture program at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College. She completed her undergraduate degree at Muhlenberg College and began her teaching career in rural Arkansas. She taught PreK-1st grade for 8 years in both urban and rural low-income communities and served in various leadership capacities including grade level chair and Reading First lab classroom instructor. Prior to beginning the PhD program, Zarabeth supported classrooms in various capacities through curriculum design, teacher coaching, and professional development primarily in the Memphis community. Her interests are in high-quality PreK practices and ensuring our youngest learners get to engage in big thinking. Zarabeth is currently working with Debbie Rowe on the Early Literacy Partnership to support emergent writing practices within MNPS PreK classrooms.

Nadav Ehrenfeld
Specialization: Math and Science Education
Advisor: Ilana Horn
Email: nadav.ehrenfeld@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: math education, culture and learning, classroom discourse, teacher learning

Nadav is a previous research assistant on project SIGMa (Supporting Instructional Growth in Mathematics) and a teaching assistant for Introduction to Mathematical Literacies. He studies what it means to support mid-career teachers in providing students with rich math learning experiences. Nadav taught math in pre-college and college programs, and facilitated teacher PD in southern Israel. He holds a BSc in Mathematics & Computer Science and an MSc in Mathematics (with focus on math education) from Ben Gurion University.

Caitlin Eley
Specialization: Language, Literacy, and Culture
Advisor: Robert Jimenez
Email: caitlin.eley@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: second language learning, culturally relevant pedagogy, borderland communities, cultural literacy practices, and multimodal literacies

Amy Voss Farris
Specialization: Learning and Design
Advisor: Pratim Sengupta & Rich Lehrer
Email: amy.farris@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: children’s development of representational fluency in math, science, and computing in and out of school settings; children’s aesthetic sensibilities with disciplinary knowledge and practices.

Brette Garner
Specialization: Math & Science Education
Advisor: Ilana Horn
Email: brette.garner@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: mathematics education, teacher learning, data use, equity

Elizabeth Hadley
Specialization: Development, Learning, & Diversity
Advisor: David Dickinson
Email: elizabeth.b.hadley@Vanderbilt.Edu
Research interests: language and literacy development in early childhood, emergent literacy, the contribution of early oral language skills to reading comprehension, vocabulary interventions, book-reading and play in early childhood classrooms, depth of vocabulary knowledge & assessment

Mariah Harmon
Advisor: Ilana Horn
Email: mariah.harmon@vanderbilt.edu
Research interests: teacher learning as it pertains to inclusive instruction for diverse students.

Mariah Harmon is originally from Decatur, Georgia and earned her undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University (College of Arts and Science), and her Master’s in Education: Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Mississippi. Mariah started her career in education in Okolona, Mississippi as a middle school English/Language Arts Teacher. Most recently, she has served as an instructional coach in Indianapolis Public Schools. Her research interests are in teacher learning and understanding how teachers build inclusive and equitable classrooms.

Micaela Y. Harris
Specialization: Math and Science Education
Advisor: Nicole M. Joseph
Email: micaela.y.harris@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: Black women math teachers, identity, recruitment and retention

Micaela Y. Harris is a fifth-year Ph.D. student in the Mathematics and Science Education specialization in the Learning, Teaching and Diversity program at Vanderbilt University. She received her B.A. in Sociology with a minor in Mathematics from Spelman College, her post-baccalaureate certificate in Mathematics from Smith College, and her MAT in Math Education from Tufts University. Prior to her doctoral studies at Vanderbilt, Micaela leveraged her interdisciplinary background to teach secondary mathematics in Boston, MA and Houston, TX. At Peabody, Micaela centers her research on the intersectional experiences of Black women mathematics teachers and Black women undergraduates majoring in STEM.

Michael Havazelet
Specialization: Language, Literacy, and Culture
Advisor: Amanda Goodwin and Kevin Leander
Email: michael.s.havazelet@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: classroom discourse, student dialogue, project based learning, elementary literacy education, intersections between learning, identity, and affect

Kaitlin Herbert
Specialization: Learning, Literacy, and Culture
Advisors: David Dickinson and Deborah Rowe
Email: kaitlin.herbert@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: early childhood, language development, teacher sensemaking, teacher learning

Kaitlin’s research focuses on examining the quality of the classroom language practices in early childhood classrooms. Most recently, Kaitlin’s work has explored teachers’ sensemaking practices around language learning in the classroom. Her work seeks to influence the creation of professional learning experiences and ECE curriculum that are more aligned with teachers’ existing sensemaking practices.

Amy B. Holmes
Specialization: Development, Learning, and Diversity
Advisor: Rich Lehrer
Email: amy.b.holmes@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: design-based research, diversity and equity in STEM education, teacher education

Lara Jasien
Specialization: Math & Science Education
Advisor: Ilana Horn
Email: lara.l.heiberger@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: informal and formal in-service teacher learning, inquiry and play-based pedagogies, teacher collaboration, designing for shared social/material/intellectual resources

Tessaly Jen
Specialization: Learning & Design
Advisor: Noel Enyedy
Email: tessaly.t.jen@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: K-12 Science and Environmental Education, Curriculum Design, Equity, Technology-enhanced Learning, Critical Place-based Learning, Socioecological Care

Sara Jones
Specialization: Language, Literacy, and Culture
Advisor: Amanda Goodwin
Email: sara.jones@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: experiences of historically marginalized students in middle school literacy classrooms; reading motivation as a collective, critical endeavor

Sara Jones is from Simsbury, CT.  She earned her B.A. in Elementary Education from Elon University and her M.Ed. in Urban and Minority Education from the University of Maryland.  Sara taught for eight years in Washington, D.C.  During the course of those years, she taught 4th, 5th, and 6th grades, but fell in love with and became passionate about 5th grade ELA.  She served as the ELA department chair and grade level team lead for numerous years, which allowed her to gain experience in curriculum design, teacher training and leadership, and data analysis.  Sara hopes to focus her work on practical, applicable strategies for classroom teachers. She is currently pursuing a mixed-methods research agenda focused on reading motivation as a collective, critical endeavor grounded in Literacy as a means of social justice

Jennifer Kahn 
Specialization: Learning and Design
Advisor: Rogers Hall
Email: jennifer.kahn@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: design-based research; interaction analysis; interdisplinary learning environments; counternarratives; data science; critical literacy, storytelling, and modeling with public large-scale datasets

Madison Knowe
Specialization: Learning and Design
Advisor: Melissa Gresalfi
Email: madison.l.knowe@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: mathematical play and design of mathematics learning environments

Madison, a native of Lexington, Kentucky, received her Bachelor of Science degrees in Pure Mathematics and Chemistry in 2011 from the College of Charleston and her Masters in Secondary Mathematics Education in 2014 from Vanderbilt University. She has been a classroom math teacher for 7 years at international, public, and private secondary institutions. During this time learning math with students, she became interested in incorporating play as a platform for equitable mathematical inquiry in her classroom, and therefore is now currently working with Melissa Gresalfi on Mathematical play and learning environment design.

Nicolas Kochmanski
Specialization: Math and Science Education
Advisor: Paul Cobb
Email: nicholas.m.kochmanski@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: mathematics instruction, teacher learning, teacher development, instructional coaching, teacher education
CV: Resume-Nicholas-Kochmanski_PhD1

Tess Lantos
Specialization: Language, Literacy, and Culture
Advisor: Amanda Goodwin
Email: terese.a.lantos@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: teacher learning, reading comprehension, literacy

Jessica Lawson
Specialization: Development, Learning, and Diversity
Advisor: David Dickinson
Email: jessica.r.lawson@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: language, literacy, music

Sarah Lee
Specialization: Learning and Design
Advisor: Noel Enyedy
Email: sarah.lee@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: STEM education, out of school time (OST) learning, early and middle childhood, multilingual learners

Before Vanderbilt, Sarah was the Research and Advisory Associate at a children’s museum in the San Francisco Bay Area. She contributed to publications on STEM, the benefits of play, and technology in early childhood. She also worked on state and national grant funded projects, such as developing resources for librarians based on school readiness research. Sarah also served on the board of directors for Next Generation Scholars, a non-profit college access program for low-income students of color. After earning her B.A. in Linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania, Sarah is now excited to return to academia and combine her passions for language, education, and equity.

Candice Love
Specialization: Learning and Design
Advisor: Melissa Gresalfi
Email: candice.love@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: math play, computational thinking, informal learning, STEM identities

Candice Love is a fifth-year doctoral student in the Department of Teaching and Learning. After earning a B.A. and M.A. in education, Candice taught in an elementary school in Oakland, CA. Currently, Candice’s research interests are playful mathematics in Black communities, and better understanding how math shows up in the games that Black people play.

Samantha Marshall
Specialization: Math and Science Education
Advisor: Ilana Horn
Email: samantha.marshall@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: mathematics teacher learning, justice, professional development

Alexis McBride
Specialization: Language, Literacy, and Culture
Advisor: Robert Jiménez
Email: alexis.mcbride@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: post-secondary English language learners and Spanish heritage language learners, multilingual education strategies, and basic writing instruction

Janna McClain
Specialization: Language, Literacy, and Culture
Advisor: Jeannette Mancilla-Martinez
Email: janna.mcclain@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: teachers as learners, language minoritized learners, language ideologies, language demands of classrooms

Taylor McNeill 

Specialization: Math and Science Education
Advisor: Luis Leyva
Email: reagin.t.mcneill@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: postsecondary math faculty engagement in equity-oriented instructional and departmental change

Taylor McNeill is a doctoral student in mathematics education at Vanderbilt University and a member of the PRISM research lab. They previously received a Ph.D. in mathematics and worked as a mathematics professor, experiences that motivate their work to recreate postsecondary mathematics as a humanizing and affirming space for mathematicians from historically marginalized groups, both students and faculty. Taylor’s research focuses on mathematics faculty, exploring both inequity in faculty experiences and how faculty can advance equity for their students through instruction and departmental practices. They have a particular interest in how mathematics epistemological values can uphold or disrupt social inequity in postsecondary mathematics contexts, and go beyond relational dynamics and broader social forces to interrogate mathematics content and practice.

Heather Meston
Specialization: Language, Literacy, and Culture
Advisor: Emily Phillips Galloway
Email: heather.meston@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: student agency, teacher learning, dialogic pedagogies

Heather developed a commitment to agency-supportive dialogic instruction while teaching middle school English and social studies. In her classroom, she emphasized centering students’ voices and commitments in deepening learning and creating opportunities for students to act as change agents. She received her B.S. in Psychology from Yale University and her M.Ed. in Elementary Education from Vanderbilt University. Her current research interests revolve around teacher learning about agency-supportive instruction and dialogic pedagogies.

Lizi Metts
Specialization: Math and Science Education
Advisor: Ilana Horn
Email: elizabeth.c.metts@vanderbilt.edu
Research interests: math education, teacher learning, statistics and data learning, equity and justice

Lizi Metts is a Ph.D. student at Vanderbilt University Peabody College and a research assistant on Project TAU. Her research interests broadly revolve around mathematics education, data and statistics literacy, issues of equity and social justice, and teacher learning. Prior to graduate school, she was a high school math teacher in Tennessee for eight years. Returning to graduate studies at Vanderbilt, she is interested in exploring teacher learning around ambitious and equitable pedagogies and the teaching and learning of statistics, modeling, and data science drawing on socio-cultural, situative, and critical perspectives.

Mary Miller
Specialization: Language, Literacy, & Culture
Advisor: Debbie Rowe
Email: mary.e.miller@Vanderbilt.Edu
Research Interests: bilingual literacy development, translanguaging, digital literacies, multilingual family engagement in schools, early childhood/elementary school literacy education, teacher education

Sascha Mowrey
Specialization: Development, Learning, and Diversity
Advisor: Dale Farran
Email: sascha.mowrey@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: teacher and school leader development, school organization and professional culture, teaching assistants in early childhood education

Min Oh
Specialization: Language, Literacy, and Culture
Advisor: Jeannette Mancilla-Martinez
Email: min.hyun.oh@vanderbilt.edu
Research interests: language and literacy development, linguistically diverse learners

Min holds an Ed.M. in Language and Literacy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.A. from Mercer University as a Stamps Family Charitable Foundation Scholar. As a former English learner in the U.S. school system, Min is interested in supporting linguistically diverse learners’ language and literacy development and exploring various components that contribute to the process. She works with Drs. Jeannette Mancilla-Martinez and Emily Phillips-Galloway, to further engage in language and literacy development research focused on linguistically diverse learners. Currently, Min’s work focuses on: (1) exploring the link between teachers’ beliefs about dual language development and English language and literacy outcomes and (2) investigating equitable assessment approaches to distinguishing language differences and language disabilities among English learners.

Laura Parks (she/her)
Specialization: Justice & Diversity in Education
Advisor: Rich Milner
Email: laura.parks@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: Youth Empowerment; Anti-racist, Anti-oppressive Teacher Learning and Development for Justice and Equity; Critical Perspectives on Restorative Practices; Culturally Responsive Pedagogy; Youth Participatory Action Research; Design Based Intervention Research; Urban Education

Laura Parks (she/her) is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Vanderbilt University. Previously an urban high school teacher and founder of Restorative Student Leaders, Laura explores how youth and teachers can work together through Youth Participatory Action Research and Design Based Implementation Research to critically embody Restorative Practices and to advance student voice and liberatory education.

Alvin Pearman
Specialization: Development, Learning, & Diversity
Advisor: Dale Farran
Email: a.pearman@Vanderbilt.Edu

Ashlyn Pierson
Specialization: Math and Science Education
Advisor: Doug Clark and Corey Brady
Email: ashlyn.pierson@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: modeling, translanguaging

Laura Piestrzynski
Specialization: Language, Literacy, and Culture
Advisor: Debbie Rowe
Email: laura.e.piestrzynski@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: emergent literacy, language and literacy development in early childhood, teacher education

Emma D. V. Reimers
Specialization: Learning and Design
Advisor: Rogers Hall
Email: emmadvreimers@gmail.com
Research Interests: digital literacy, place-based learning, ‘in the wild’ learning, design-based research, music as storytelling
Website: emmavendetta.com/research

Emma Reimers’ work stretches across the fields of learning sciences and critical media studies, finding a balanced blend in her research on sound and the social construction of listening. She also studies spatial learning and narrative in the context of public space, combining methods that draw together storytelling and digital representation. Emma has worked in the nonprofit sector as a grant writer, communications director, and business consultant. Additionally, she is a writer, musician, and graphic designer. Emma holds a bachelor’s degree in English Creative Writing and Space and the Human Condition from Vanderbilt.

Dan Reynolds 
Specialization: Language, Literacy, and Culture
Advisor: Amanda Goodwin
Email: dan.reynolds@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: text complexity, scaffolding of reading instruction, literature in the classroom, English teacher preparation

David Sabey
Specialization: Learning and Design
Advisor: Kevin Leander
Email: david.b.sabey@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: identity, literacy, new media, mobility, connected learning, learning across contexts

Katherine Schneeberger McGugan
Specialization: Math and Science Education
Advisor: Ilana Horn
Email: katherine.e.schneeberger@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: culturally relevant curriculum design, impactful models for professional development

Katherine started exploring the intersection of curriculum design and professional development as a middle school Math Coach in the Boston area. Prior to her role as a coach, she received her M.A.T. from Boston University before becoming a 7th grade math intervention teacher. She is currently a research assistant for Dr. Ilana Horn’s Project SIGMa. Her research interests include how to create sustainable curricula in STEM fields that address issues of inequity in gender, race, and socio-economic status, and models for professional development that combat teacher retention and student achievement problems in high-needs districts.

Elizabeth Self
Specialization: Language, Literacy, and Culture
Advisor: Ilana S. Horn
Email: elizabeth.self@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: clinical simulations, cultural diversity, teacher education, design-based research

Rachel Siegman – Website
Specialization: Language, Literacy, and Culture
Advisor: Dr. Emily Phillips Galloway Email: Rachel.M.Siegman@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: multilingual learners, culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogy, equitable teaching practices, multicultural education, learning sciences, international and comparative education, teacher education

Rachel Siegman is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Diversity at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody School of Education. As a K-12 certified teacher, holding multiple and single subject (in English) credentials and EL authorization across states, Rachel has public school teaching experience across the PreK-12 grade levels. Prior to joining Vanderbilt, Rachel established a high school Internship Program and Model United Nations team as well as taught English, International Studies, and Design Lab at the first public school located on a corporate campus. She is an alumna of Pepperdine University in California and The University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. In her current work, Rachel seeks to amplify school-community partnerships and support pre-service teachers to develop culturally sustaining and contextually situated teaching practices. Rachel Siegman’s research agenda prioritizes culturally and linguistically diverse learners, values teacher and student perspectives, and acknowledges the ranging stakeholders involved in learning experiences.

Natalie Rae
Specialization: Math and Science Education
Advisor: Jessica Watkins
Current Position: Assistant Professor of Learning, Design, and Technology
Research Interests: Critical STEM Education, Black feminist thought, Engineering Learning

Jackson Reimers
Specialization: Learning and Design
Advisor: Corey Brady
Email: jackson.e.reimers@vanderbilt.edu
Research interests: modeling, collective and embodied learning, intersection of science, art, and craft

Jackson is a doctoral student in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College, focusing on Learning and Design. He is advised by Corey Brady and is a member of Brady’s CROWD Lab. Jackson originally came to Vanderbilt from his native Southern California to study engineering and education at Vanderbilt as an undergraduate, after which he taught physics and engineering at a public high school in suburban Tennessee for three years. His design research focuses on multimodal modeling environments for enhancing collaborative, equitable, and playful learning.

Ben Rydal Shapiro
Specialization: Learning and Design
Advisor: Rogers Hall
Research Interests: learning sciences, information visualization, architecture, human-computer interaction

Grant Van Eaton
Specialization: Learning and Design
Advisor: Doug Clark
Email: grant.vaneaton@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: teacher learning and professional development, international education, culturally responsive teaching, designing and validating formative measures of teacher growth

Lauren Vogelstein – Website
Specialization: Learning and Design
Advisors: Rogers Hall and Corey Brady
Email: lauren.e.vogelstein@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: learning sciences, embodiment, choreography, STEM, ethnography, design based research, interaction analysis, relational aspects of collective learning

I investigate how embodied theories of learning, informed by the expressive and artistic practices of dancers and choreographers, can reframe what is learned in STEM environments; how it can be learned; who can participate; and to what ends. I pair ethnography with design-based research to support and study embodied and collaborative STEM learning. With deep roots in both dance and mathematics, I have always conceptualized the tools and ideas of these disciplines as mutually supportive, not conflicting. In my research, I design and study hybrid learning environments integrating dance and STEM. I explore how such hybridity can invite learners to draw upon resources typically left out of STEM contexts, contributing to their depth of engagement and understanding.

Holland White
Specialization: Language, Literacy, and Culture
Advisor: Robert Jimenez
Email: holland.l.white@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: literacy practices of multilingual students, student-centered writing practices in secondary schools, translingual writing

Holland began her teaching career in the world of freshman composition and community college tutoring, which led her to pursue a deeper understanding of the pedagogies surrounding literacy practices. After completing an M.Ed. in Language and Literacy in the Urban Teach program at the University of Texas at Austin, she taught 9th, 10th, and 11th grade ELA at a Title I school in Austin, Texas, utilizing writing and reading workshop practices. She is interested in the linguistic resources that multilingual students bring to literacy practices, how student-centered approaches to writing support multilingual students’ identities in and out of the classroom, and how multilingual students engage in translingual writing.

Fai Wisittanawat
Specialization: Math and Science Education
Advisor: Melissa Gresalfi
Email: panchompoo.wisittanawat@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: students’ meaningful participation in STEM practices

Panchompoo (Fai) Wisittanawat is a doctoral student in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Vanderbilt University. She has a B.A. in Physics and Educational Studies from Swarthmore College, PA. Fai is interested in understanding disciplinary practices of mathematics and science and designing classroom environments that support students’ engagement with those practices in ways that are meaningful to them. Fai plays traditional Thai and Balinese music, and has helped teach children to play those musics in and out of school.

Megan Wongkamalasai
Specialization: Math & Science Education
Advisor: Rich Lehrer
Email: megan.j.wongkamalasai@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: early childhood mathematics education

Amanda Yoshiko Shimizu
Specialization: Language, Literacy, and Culture
Advisor: Debbie Rowe
Email: amanda.y.shimizu@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: digital literacy, collaboration, multimodality, writing
Website: https://amandashimizu.com/

Chengcheng Zhou
Specialization: Language, Literacy, and Culture
Advisor: David Dickinson and Emily Phillips-Galloway
Email: chengcheng.zhou@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: early language development, multilingual learners

Chengcheng received her BA in English and two MAs in Intercultural Communicaiton and TESOL, respectively. She has taught Chinese as an instructor and ESL in a variety of K-12 classrooms in the US and abroad. She is interested in early childhood langauge development and its relationship with the “school readiness gap” between children from different SES.