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Principal Investigators
Co-Principal Investigator - United States
Barbara Schneider
Barbara Schneider is the John A. Hannah University Distinguished Professor in the College of Education and the Department of Sociology. She uses a sociological lens to understand societal conditions and interpersonal interactions that create norms and values for enhancing human and social capital. Her research focuses on how the social contexts of schools and families influence the academic and social well-being of adolescents as they move into adulthood. In her career, Schneider has also played a significant role in the development of research methods for the real- time measurement of learning experiences. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the National Academy of Education, the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and, most recently, was elected to the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters. In 2017, she received an Honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Helsinki. Schneider is the principal investigator of the College Ambition Program (CAP), a study that tests a model for promoting a STEM college-going culture in high schools that encourages adolescents to pursue STEM majors in college and in their careers. She is also the principal investigator of Crafting Engagement in Science Environments, an international high school study that tests the impact of Project Based Learning on student academic, social and emotional factors in science classes. Professor Schneider has published 15 books and more than 100 articles and reports on family, social contexts of schooling and sociology of knowledge.
Co-Principal Investigator - United States
Joseph Krajcik
Joseph Krajcik is Lappan-Phillips Professor of Science Education and director of the CREATE for STEM Institute. A former high school chemistry and physical science teacher, Krajcik spent 21 years at the University of Michigan before coming to MSU in 2011. During his career, he has focused on working with science teachers to reform science teaching practices to promote students’ engagement in and learning of science. He was principal investigator on a National Science Foundation project that aims to design, develop and test the next generation of middle school curriculum materials to engage students in obtaining deep understandings of science content and practices. He served as head of the Physical Science Design Team to develop the Next Generation Science Standards. Krajcik, along with Professor Angela Calabrese Barton from MSU, served as co-editor of the Journal of Research in Science Teaching. Krajcik has authored and co-authored curriculum materials, books, software and over 100 manuscripts, and makes frequent presentations at international, national and regional conferences. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has served as president of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST), from which he received the Distinguished Contributions to Science Education Through Research Award in 2010.
Co-Principal Investigator - Finland
Katariina Salmela-Aro
Katariina Salmela-Aro Professor of Educational Sciences and Psychology, University of Helsinki, Finland. Marie Curie Visiting professor ETH Zurich, Visiting Professor Institute of Education University College London, Australian Catholic University Sydney and School of Education in Michigan State University. She is the President of the European Association for Developmental Psychology, and previous Secretary General (first female) International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development (ISSBD) and expert in OECD Education2030. She is director of several ongoing longitudinal studies among young people: FinEdu, LEAD, Gaps. Her key research themes are school engagement, burnout, optimal learning moments, experience sampling, life-span model of motivation and related interventions. Member of Finnish Science and Letters and Associate Editor in the European Psychologist journal. She has published over 250 papers and received several national/international grants from Academy of Finland, and EU Coordinator Marie Curie post-doc grant. She is a member of two large-scale EU granted studies, EuroCohort aiming to development of a Europe wide longitudinal survey of child and youth well-being and ySKILLS focusing on digitalization and youth.
Co-Principal Investigator - Finland
Dr. Jari Lavonen
Dr. Jari Lavonen is a Professor of Science Education at the University of Helsinki, Finland. He has been a director of Department of Teacher Education and a Vice-Dean and currently a director of National Teacher Education Forum and and a chair of the Finnish Matricular Examination Board. He has been researching science and technology and teacher education for the last 31 years and published about 150 refereed scientific papers in journals and books, 140 other articles and 160 books for science teacher education and science education. He has been active in international consulting, for example, involving the renewal of teacher education in Norway, Peru and South Africa.
The Team
Data Collection Managers - United States
Ellie Paulson
Ellie Paulson graduated with her Bachelors in Neuroscience in 2018 from Michigan State University. At Create for STEM she communicates and coordinates data collection with the research project participants in a multimillion dollar NSF funded international intervention study.
Rachel Marias Dezendorf
Rachel Marias Dezendorf recently completed her PhD in Educational Policy at Michigan State University. She earned her B.A. in English Literature from UC Berkeley and an M.A. in Philosophy of Education from UCLA. Rachel’s research focuses on organizational change in settings that break away from disciplinary and hierarchical norms. Rachel does so through examination of interdisciplinary programming for undergraduate students, specifically Interdisciplinary Studies Majors. Rachel previously worked for the Spartan Persistence Project at Michigan State University. As a predominantly qualitative researcher on a quantitative team, Rachel developed a mixed methods approach to analyzing large qualitative datasets. Her work with the Spartan Persistence Project looked at how students express sense of belonging on campus and how students understand and enact growth mindset behaviors.
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