Andrew is a fourth-year PhD student in Learning Sciences and Technologies.. Andrew's current research is examining the experience of Neurodivergent students in postsecondary settings, with special focus on periods of hyperfocus, use of study strategies, and what practices professors use that are helpful (or harmful) to student learning. Website | Twitter 

Anna is earning their Ph.D. in Physics and studies the effects of wakeful rest on memory consolidation as well as recall ability of students learning physics.They earned their bachelors in Robotics Engineering and Mechanical engineering at WPI, and currently teach physics labs and conduct research on how students learn in the physics classroom. 

I am completing my PhD in computer science at WPI. I am primarily interested in using Large Language Models for education. I employ ChatGPT and other state-of-the-art LLMs for education, but I particularly enjoy fine-tuning personalized LLMs for math education.

Mikayla is a current senior majoring in psychology with a minor in statistics and a concentration in biology. She is interested in how wakeful rest can affect the overall well-being and learning outcomes of college students. She is currently working with Dr. Shaw on a study about wakeful rest on learning and the impact of rest on stress.

Morgan Lee (they/she) is a junior research assistant with software engineering and data science experience. They study the intersection between online tutoring systems and student behavior, seeking to leverage data to better predict student performance and personalize student experiences. They are committed to improving learning outcomes through the application of data mining techniques to educational data, with research interests in Knowledge Tracing, Recommender Systems, and Feature Engineering.

Siddhartha Pradhan is a Graduate Student Researcher at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, focusing on applying machine learning, deep learning, and data mining methodologies in the field of Learning Analytics. His research primarily centers on modeling student behaviors and learning patterns to improve knowledge acquisition, while also striving to advance contemporary methodologies in the field

Wilson is a Bachelor’s/Master’s student in WPI’s Learning Sciences & Technologies program. Wilson’s research interests involve the design of programming error messages and their impact on STEM identity, as well as the framing of computer science as a form of creative expression. Wilson is passionate about teaching and educational outreach and leads K-12 creative coding workshops around Massachusetts.

Aaron Haim earned his Ph.D. is 2024 in the f Computer Science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). He workede with Professor Neil Heffernan in the ASSISTments Lab, which developds features and conducts research for the ASSISTments platform. His work specifically involves improving student learning on-demand through content generated by teachers. In addition, he researches, collects, and disseminates Open Science and Reproducibility information to better inform how researchers can implement these practices themselves. He is now a research scientist at the Assistments Foundation. 

Alena Egorova earned her Ph.D. in Learning Sciences & Technologies program in 2025. She had earned her Psychology Diploma from Moscow State University, where she investigated the development of emotional burnout in teachers. After graduating, Alena spent over seven years studying how people interact with digital tools, working as a User Experience Researcher and Designer on several internet projects. She studies person-centered approaches to explore complex dynamics between affect states and performance (e.g., math anxiety). 

Jennifer St. John earned her Ph.D. in Learning Sciences and Technologies in 2025. Her work focused on applying learning science principles to support student learning through effective teacher pedagogy and classroom practices. She earned her MA in Urban Education from Clark University in 1998. She has been a teacher for 27 years and has taught Math, English, and Spanish. Jennifer is fascinated by how, when, and why learning occurs. She is interested in studying how students come to understand mathematics, how technology can enhance understanding, and how gestures can both impact and demonstrate understanding. 

Kirk Vanacore earned a Ph.D. student in Learning Sciences and Technologies at WPI. He is currently a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Pennsylvania. He earned his Masters at Tuft University from the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study Human and Development. At Tufts, he worked as a graduate research assistant at the Center for Reading and Language Research studying and implementing effective pedagogy for dyslexic students. Currently, Kirk works as a Senior Analyst at Lexia Learning, where he uses data science to inform the development and improvement of educational technologies. Kirk's research interests include learning analytics, education data mining, causal inference in big data analysis, and effective pedagogies for neurodiverse populations. 

Sami Baral earned her Ph.D. in Computer Science in 2025. Her work focuses on automation of effective feedback through online intelligent tutoring systems. More specifically, her research leverages large language models to provide feedback to students on open-ended mathematics problems, and evalute their impact on student mastery and performance. 

Tamisha Thompson earned her Ph.D. in Learning Sciences and Technologies in 2025. She has a BA in Mathematics and MEds in Mathematics Education and Organizational Management, is pursuing a PhD in Learning Sciences & Technologies. Passionate about inclusive math education, she serves as a STEM Instructional Coach, supporting math instruction, collaborating on data analysis, and designing learning opportunities to boost student achievement and align curriculum across schools. Her research focuses on understanding student errors and creating strong strategic thinking among teachers. 

Anthony Botelho earned his Ph.D. in 2019 in Learning Sciences and Technlogies at WPI. His research spans across numerous fields including education, cognitive psychology, artificial intelligence, and computer science and examines learning in online and classroom settings. Towards this research, Dr. Botelho has engaged in interdisciplinary collaboration with educators and researchers to design systems and methodologies that advance our understandings of how students learn. As a research scientist at WPI, Dr. Botelho created QuickComments and DRIVER-SEAT, software that would aid in student learning. He is currently working as an assistant professor of Education Technology in the School of Teaching and Learning at the University of Florida.

Korinn S. Ostrow earned her Ph.D. in 2018 and worked as a co-principal investigator on several NSF grants. Her research focused on student motivation and engagement within adapative online learning. To examine these concepts, Dr. Ostrow conducted numerous randomized controlled experiments to test cognitive principles and isolate interventions that promote student retention in classwork and homework. She currently works as a Learning Engineer at Edmentum, where she continues to analyze learning systems, student data, and interventions to promote student learning and retention. 

John Erickson earned his Ph.D. in 2021 in Data Science at WPI. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Information Systems in the College of Business at Western Kentucky University. He specializes in natural language processing and predictive modeling within intelligent systems. This work has expanded on utilizing new technologies like deep learning to explore potential bias within predictive models across multiple domains and how these new technologies can bridge the gap between structured problems vs. open responses in intelligent tutoring systems. 

Xiwen Lu (陆熙雯) earned her Ph.D. in 2023 in Learning Sciences and Technologies at WPI. Her main research directions and language teaching research activities involve language teaching on online platforms, learning sciences, and second language acquisition. She is now an Assistant Professor at Brandeis University, serves as the director of the Chinese Program and director of the Chinese Language and Culture Master Program, and is on the board of the Foreign Language Oversight Committee. She is also a board member of the New England Chinese Language Teachers Association.

I am a fifth-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Computer Science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). As a researcher, I am interested in exploring the various aspects of HCI, learning science, and statistics. My current research revolves around several teacher-facing components of Computer Aided Learning Platforms, such as classroom orchestration tools and teaching augmentation modalities. I explore the overall effectiveness of these classroom interventions and their effects on teacher behavior and their students' performance in real-time. As an engineer, I am interested in designing systems that facilitate teachers' classroom performance at scale. Here is my website and my Dissertation. 

Renah earned her Ph.D. in 2023 in Learning Sciences and Technologies at WPI. She is the Math & Computer Science Department Head, Worcester Public Schools and is interested in interventions that can improve student learning in math.

Renah Defended her Dissertation in April, 2023!

Hannah Smith is an Assistant Professor in the Psychology Department at Assumption University. Dr. Smith explores STEM learning across ages and contexts. She researches how to make STEM learning more accessible through teacher training and developing classroom materials such as learning games. She is currently exploring the impact of professional development programs on early childhood teachers’ confidence in and knowledge about STEAM teaching and learning. In another project, she explores the impact of gender differences and technology biases on student perceptions of computational thinking.

I'm currently getting a PhD in Data Science from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. At WPI, I work in the ASSISTments lab, which develops new features for the ASSISTments online learning platform. In the lab, I organize various student projects and grants. These projects mostly revolve around collecting data from students and building machine learning models that either predict student behavior or provide students with personalized tutoring via reinforcement learning. 

Ethan Defended his Dissertation in April, 2023!

Avery is a now a post doc at Purdue University. She worked in the MAPLE (Math, Abstraction, Play, Learning, and Embodiment) Lab. She study the impact of perceptual features and embodied experiences on student performance and learning in algebra. For example, she's examined the impact of spatial proximity in math expressions (e.g., viewing "2*5 + 2" vs. "2 * 5+2”) on student performance in an online problem set. Feel free to read more here! She is also interested in exploring how to apply (and help others apply) methodological approaches from multiple fields to address research questions in the learning sciences. My goal is to provide recommendations to improve online learning platforms and to advance methodological practices in the learning sciences through collaborative research. | Website - averyhclosser.com | Twitter: @averyhclosser

Paul got his Master's degree in LST studying how first generation student experiences with rest and burnout with the CEDAR and MAPLE lab. His interests are in STEM teaching and learning, and he has recently taken a position as a high school biology teacher in Burncoat High School. 

Vy got her Master's in the MAPLE (Math, Abstraction, Play, Learning, and Embodiment) Lab. I study how perceptual cues impact cognitive processing and performance during problem-solving in math. As a passionate project on the side, I consider the effects of intersectionality of gender and race on Asian and Asian-American women’s experiences and sense of belonging in STEM. My overarching goal is to promote equity and reducing gender gaps in education and work environment. As I am graduating in 2022, I am looking for full-time positions as Research Analyst/Project Manager at research institutes. Website - https://sites.google.com/view/vyngo/home 

Luisa earned her Master's degree in 2022 and is now working at a non-profit!