I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the North Carolina State University and leads the iEXCEL (Innovation for EXperiential Complex, open-Ended Learning) Lab. The lab works at the intersection of computer science, human-computer interaction, learning sciences and complexity science. 

For Students

I am looking for self-motivated Ph.D. students. Drop me a note if you want to do cool research that investigates technology and data-driven methods for teaching and learning socially important topics. In your email, please include two papers that you liked the most and why from the publication list. Try and explain the main thesis of the paper in your own words and suggest what you would do differently and why. 

Research Agenda

I spend most of my time researching how data and computation can revolutionize learning and teaching about open-ended problems in STEM domains. For example, how data modeled as interactive simulations in Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) or Mixed Reality (MR) can be used to teach about climate change, fast fashion, etc. Learners explore the data from real-world problems in these simulations and can strategize to address them in a safe setting. These problems are unique as they can have many "solutions," and not all of them are known. The learners explore the different "solutions" to learn skills to address these problems. Complementarily I investigate artificial Intelligence, machine learning and data mining methods that support learning about complex open-ended problems. Lately I have also been researching human-data networks to study social and interdisciplinary research communities using network science. 

For detailed information on my background and previous affiliations, check out my CV and the projects to find out what's new with me.