Education Background
Ph.D., Psychology-Human Factors, 1996, Dept. of Psychology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC. Recognition of Local Metric Changes in 3-D Computer Models. Major Advisor: Don Mershon
MA, Industrial Design, 1987, North Carolina State University, School of Design, Raleigh, NC. The Development of Human-Computer Interface Criteria for the Designer. Major Advisor: Vince Foote
BA, Chemistry, 1982, Duke University, Durham, NC
Professional Experience
Professor, May 2012 – Present, Dept. of STEM Education. College of Education, North Carolina State University
Senior Research Fellow, July 2006 – Present, Friday Institute for Educational Innovation. College of Education, North Carolina State University
Interim Associate Dean for Research and Administration, August 2015 – December 2016, College of Education, North Carolina State University
Associate Professor, May 2003 – April 2012, Dept. of STEM Education. College of Education, North Carolina State University
Assistant Professor, August 1997 – April 2003, Dept. of Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education. College of Education, North Carolina State University
Interim Director of Planning and Operations, January 1996 – July 1997, College of Education and Psychology, NC State University
Lecturer, August 1989 – July 1997, Graphic Communications Program, College of Education and Psychology, NC State University
Scholarly and professional honors
2014-2015 NC State University Faculty Scholar
IBM Faculty Research Awardee (2006-2011)
2008 NCTE Award in Technical and Scientific Communication in the category of Best Article on Pedagogy or Curriculum in Technical or Scientific Communication
2008 ASEE/EDGD Chair’s Award for the Best Paper at the ASEE annual meeting
2002 ASEE/EDGD Chair’s Award for the Best Paper at the ASEE annual meeting
Membership in professional organizations
American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) 1990-present
NC Science Teachers Association 2000-present
National Association of Research in Science Teaching 2002-present
American Educational Research Association 2004-present
Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 1991-present
Grants Awarded
January 2017 – December 2019. Co-PI on an internally funded NCSU GRIP project (Game-Changing Research Incentive Program) titled Computer Science for All K-12 Students. This project will establish NC State as a national center addressing critical needs in K-12 CS education by providing pre-college students with foundational knowledge and skills in Computational Thinking. The team will take a broad-based, systemic approach to addressing this challenge by fostering state-of-the-art educational innovations, conducting design research in partnership with K-12 schools, developing and implementing scalable and effective approaches to preparing teachers, and working with state government and business leaders to make NC a model in bringing computational thinking and digital-age workplace skills into K-12. PI on the project is Glenn Kleiman (Friday Institute). Also on the project are co-PI Tiffany Barnes (Computer Science), Sr. Advisor James Lester (Computer Science), and External Evaluator, Kimberly O’Mally (RTI). Value of the grant is $574,000 over three years.
December 2016 – November 2017. Senior Researcher on a contract with the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (NCSSM) and Duda|Paine Architects (DPA) to create an educational programming plan for the new NCSSM Western Campus (NCSSM-West). A research-practice partnership framework will support a collaborative and iterative process to coordinate the strengths of the practitioner partner (NCSSM), the design partner (DPA), and the research partner (Friday Institute) to develop a product (the NCSSM-West Plan) that is reflective of the goals, expertise, and needs of the practitioner and design partners while also incorporating data collected from local- and state level stakeholders via a research-based approach to information-gathering and analysis. Contract lead Trip Stallings (Friday Institute). Value of the contract is $481,000 over one year.
August 2016 – July 2019. Co-PI on a NSF-DRL/STEM+C grant (DRL-1640141) titled ENGAGE: A Game-based Curricular Strategy for Infusing Computational Thinking into Middle School Science. This project will develop, implement, and evaluate strategies and curricula for infusing middle grades science with computational thinking principles. The team will utilize the game-based learning environment developed in the previously funded ENGAGE project. A particular focus is the engagement and support for populations historically underrepresented in CS. James Lester, (Computer Science), PI; Brad Mott (Computer Science), Kristy Boyer (U of FL), and David Blackburn (U of FL) co-PIs. Value of the grant: $2,498,862 over three years.
August 2016 – July 2020. Co-PI on a NSF-DUE/IUSE grant (DUE-1626235) titled PRIME: Engaging STEM Undergraduate Students in Computer Science with Intelligent Tutoring Systems. This project will develop an intelligent tutoring system that provides individualized problem-solving and motivational support in an introductory computing course for STEM majors. A primary goal will be to infuse computational thinking into undergraduate STEM education and to support populations that have been historically underrepresented in STEM majors. James Lester, (Computer Science), PI, Brad Mott (Computer Science), Kristy Boyer (U of FL) co-PI. Value of the grant: $1,499,828 over four years.
November 2015 – December 2018. Co-PI on a Burroughs Wellcome Fund grant titled iNnovative Exploration of Science and Technology (iNEST). This project, in collaboration with the Wake Young Women’s Leadership Academy (WYWLA), will integrate targeted STEM activities into a new after-school maker club two afternoons per week throughout the school year. The project targets three goals: 1) develop students’ problem solving skills associated with computational thinking through interest-driven inquiry; 2) develop students’ leadership skills through interest-driven quests, collaboration and peer mentoring in a maker community, and opportunities to lead making events; and 3) develop students’ understanding and appreciation of STEM college and career paths. Kevin Oliver, (TELS), PI. Value of the grant: $177,428 over three years.
September 2015 – August 2019. Co-PI on a NSF-HER/DRK-12 (DRL-1503311) titled Guiding Understanding via Information from Digital Environments (GUIDE). This project will investigate how to capture meaningful data about student interactions with a high school genetics digital learning platform and utilize it to support student learning. The research will focus on how to interpret student interactions—individually and in small groups—and utilize it to provide both adaptive scaffolding within the system and support teachers’ strategic decision-making around teaching. Chad Dorsey, (Concord Consortium), PI; James Lester (Computer Science) and Frieda Reichsman (Concord Consortium), co-PIs. Value of the grant: $2,991,839 over four years.
August 2014 – July 2017. Co-PI on a NSF-IIS/CHS grant (IIS-1409639) titled CHS: Medium: Adapting to Affect in Multimodal Dialogue-Rich Interaction with Middle School Students. This project will address the question: “How can we design learning environments that adaptively respond to students’ affect to create the most effective, engaging learning experiences while simultaneously promoting improved attitudes toward learning?” Through a series of basic and applied research studies, this project will design, develop, and iteratively refine an integrated affect and dialogue management model that adaptively responds to students’ affective states in the course of their learning interactions. James Lester, (Computer Science), PI; Brad Mott and Kristy Boyer, co-PIs. Value of the grant: $1,184,073 over three years.
January 2012 – December 2014. Co-PI on a NSF-CNS/CE21 grant (CNS-1138497) titled Type I: ENGAGE: Immersive Game-Based Learning for Middle Grade Computational Fluency. This project will develop, implement, and evaluate a middle grades version of the CS Principles course that is fully situated within an immersive game-based learning environment. The team will research and evaluate the effectiveness of the game-based learning framework on student learning, computing interest, and self-efficacy, particularly for underrepresented groups. James Lester, (Computer Science), PI; Brad Mott and Kristy Boyer, co-PIs. Value of the grant: $1,031,996 over three years.
September 2010 – August 2015. Co-PI on a NSF-HER/DRL I3 (Institutional Innovation through Integration) project (DUE-1038154) titled Maximizing the Impact of STEM Outreach through Data-driven Decision-Making (MISO). The project’s goal is to creatively integrate longitudinal evaluation with innovation within NC State’s K-12 STEM outreach programs, particularly those funded by NSF, to help ensure the breadth and depth of the future U.S. STEM workforce. The vision for MISO is an integrated institutional structure that will allow pre-college programs to think and act strategically to meet their goals to enhance the STEM pipeline. Warwick Arden (Provost), PI; Jose Picart (Vice-Provost), and Scott Ragan (Science House), co-PIs. Value of the project: $1,248,874 over five years
September 2010 – August 2013. Co-PI on a NSF-HER/DRL REESE grant (DRL-1007962) titled Emerging Research-Empirical Research–An Integrated Model of Cognitive and Affective Scaffolding for Intelligent Tutoring Systems. This project will research cognitive and affective dimensions of intelligent tutors in introductory undergraduate computer science. James Lester, (Computer Science), PI; Brad Mott, co-PI. Value of the grant: $1,542,275 over three years.
August 2010 – July 2014. Co-PI on a NSF-HER/DRL DRK-12 grant (DRL-1020229) titled The Leonardo Project: An Intelligent Cyberlearning System for Interactive Scientific Modeling in Elementary Science Education. This project will look at the use of intelligent agents as part of an electronic science notebook to support learning in grades 4-5 science education. James Lester, (Computer Science), PI; Brad Mott (Computer Science), and Mike Carter (Graduate School/English), co-PIs. Value of the grant: $3,499,410 over four years.
September, 2009 – August, 2013. Co-PI on an NSF-HER/DRL ITEST grant (DRL-0929543) titled Scale-Up: Scaling up STEM Learning with the VCL. This project will investigate the scale-up of the twin innovations of a cloud computing infrastructure and using a 1to1 laptop environment to teach algebra and geometry. The goal is to enhance the STEM career interest and readiness of through a better understanding of how mathematics instruction can evolve in 1to1 environments. PI is Sarah Stein (Provost’s Office and Communication). Other co-PIs include Karen Hollebrands (Mathematics Education) and Henry Schafer (Provost’s Office). Value of the grant: $1,758,000 over four years.
July, 2008 – June, 2009. PI on an IBM Faculty Development grant titled Pilot and Evaluation of VCL in High School Science Classrooms in North Carolina. This project will extend the current research work with the Virtual Computer Lab (VCL) technologies being developed at NC State University to high school STEM instruction. This pilot project will collect data on the challenges and strategies for VCL implementation in K-12 education and help support scaling of VCL technologies for statewide K-20 use. Value of the grant: $35,000 over one year.
January, 2008 – December, 2009. PI on a NSF-HER/DRL DRK-12 grant (DRL-0733217) entitled Multimodal Science: Supporting Elementary Science Education through Graphic-Enhanced Communication. This project will create teacher professional development materials to support the effective use of student-produced graphics in grades 2-5 science instruction. Co-PIs are James Minogue (Elementary Education) and Michael Carter (English). Value of the grant: $368,000 over two years.
January, 2008 – June, 2010. co-PI on a NSF-HER/DRL DRK-12 grant (DRL-0732120) entitled Universal BEATS: Modules to Help Educators Develop Universal BioMusic Education Achievement Tier in Science. This project will create instructional materials for grades 2-5 that will support science instruction through music. PI is Patricia Gray (Music Education, UNC-G). Other co-PIs include Sarah Carrier (Elementary Education) and David Teachout (Music Education, UNC-G). Value of the grant: $333,000 ($153,000 for the NCSU sub-award) over 30 months.
July, 2007 – June, 2010. co-PI on a NSF-CCF/CPATH grant (CNS-0722192) entitled CPATH-CB: Computing Across the Curricula. This project will develop undergraduate standards for computational literacy in the engineering curricula and propose academic and institutional reforms to support these goals. PI is George Rouskas (Computer Science). Other co-PIs include Lisa Bullard (Chemical Engineering), Jeffery Joines (Textile Engineering), and Larry Silverberg (Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering). Value of the grant: $225,000 over three years.
August 2007 – June 2008. PI on a subcontract from ITD titled Evaluation of Virtual Computing Environment (VCE) Readiness in NC Community Colleges. This evaluation project is funded by a $1,000,000 initiative from the State of NC to pilot the use of VCL/VCE technologies in the community college system. The project team includes two graduate assistants, the VCL project team at ITD and Wake Tech Community College. Value of the contract: $55,000 over one year.
July, 2006 – June, 2007. PI on an IBM Faculty Development grant titled Building an Information Management and Delivery Platform for Developing 21st Century Skills in Northeast North Carolina. This project continues the work of the IBM SUR project and will develop scenarios for how advanced middleware and server technologies can support advanced math and science activities in middle school classrooms and its associated teacher professional development. Value of the grant: $30,000 over one year.
May, 2006 – June, 2007. co-PI on an internal Friday Institute grant titled 21st Century Teaching and Learning in Northeast North Carolina. This project focuses on middle school math and science teacher professional development in rural school districts in North Carolina. The goal is to increase the use of data-rich investigative activities in the classroom that are aligned with both the NC standard course of study and future-ready workplace skill guidelines developed by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Value of the grant: $110,000 over one year.
May 2005 – April 2008. Co-PI on an interdisciplinary NSF Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement grant, entitled An Interactive Approach to Formal Languages and Automata with JFLAP. This project’s goal is to develop an innovative way of teaching FLA and evaluate JFLAP’s effectiveness through an implementation at six pilot sites. My role will be to head up the evaluation effort on this project. PI is Susan H. Rodger (Duke University, Computer Science). $350,000 over three years.
March, 2005. co-PI on an IBM SUR gift titled Next-Generation Education for Pervasive, Technology-Rich Learning Environments. This gift helped provide portions of the initial IT infrastructure of the Friday Institute. Value of the gift: $246,000 in IBM technology.
Febuary 2003 – January 2006. PI on a grant from the NC GlaxoSmithKline Foundation, titled Visualization in Science Education. This project will develop the infrastructure of the Mathematics and Science Education Collaboratory in the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, focusing on applied research, materials development, and outreach in science education. The project team investigated how spatial visualization can be more effectively integrated into the science classroom and on investigating how the new Friday Institute, in conjunction with its partners, can more effectively support K12 science education in NC. The project team includes David Haase, Sharon Schulze, Beth Snoke-Harris (Science House), John Park, John Penick, Glenda Carter, a graduate student, and a research technician. Value of the grant: $1,000,000.
January 2003 – July 2005. Co-PI on a grant from NSF-EHR/DUE-CCLI-EMD (DUE-0231086), titled LabWrite: Visualizing data and writing about laboratory investigations. This national dissemination project is a continuation of an earlier pilot project investigating how instruction on the creation and use of lab reports in undergraduate science, engineering, and technology can be improved. My primary role in the project will be to look at the role of data visualization in the exploration and presentation of lab data. I will also be involved in the development of multimedia support materials and the evaluation of project. The team is headed by Michael Carter (English) and includes one graduate student, one post-Doctoral researcher, one undergraduate intern and contract programmers. Value of the grant: $487,000.
June 2002 – July 2005. Co-PI on a grant from NSF-EHR/ESIE-IMD (DRL-0137811), titled VisTE: Visualization in Technology Education. This project will develop instructional materials based around Scientific Visualization for use in the Technology Education curriculum. My role on the project will be to lead the instructional materials development team and assist in the project evaluation design. The team will be led by Aaron Clark and includes two post-Doctoral researchers and two undergraduate interns. Value of the grant: $923,000.
February 2000 – March 2001. Co-PI on a grant from NSF-HER/DUE-CCLI-EMD (DUE-9950405), titled LabWrite: Instructional Modules Utilizing the Lab Report. Value of the grant: $87,260.
September 1999 – August 2002. Senior Faculty on a grant from Dept. of Education (DOE), titled MentorNet: A Consortium of NC IHEs, School Systems, and Teachers Partnering to Prepare Future Teachers to become Proficient, Critical Users of Instructional Technology. Value of the grant: approximately $1,000,000.
July 1998- June 1999 Principal Investigator of grant titled CAD/PDM Strategies In The Furniture Industry: Application Of Research through the Furniture Manufacturing and Management Center, NCSU. Value of the grant: $29,718.
July 1998- June 2000 Co-PI of a grant titled Scientific and Technical Visualization Curriculum Development and Dissemination Tech Prep grant through the State Dept. of Public Instruction, State of North Carolina and Guilford Co. Schools. Value of the grant: $150,000.