TIG Timeline: Year 2019 - STEM Education and Training TIG

2019 Leadership Team

The STEM Education and Training TIG elects its leadership team every year, and leadership team members are elected into atwo year term. Current Chairs and Webmasters serve in a leadership role in their respective areas. During the first year of the two-year term, Incoming Chairs and Webmasters will assist the Current Chair or Webmaster, in preparation for taking on those duties in a primary position in the following year. As a result, all elected leaders will serve in a two-year rotation, first as an incoming (junior) leader and in the subsequent year as the current (senior) leader in the role.

Leadership team members will be elected during the TIG Business Meeting at the annual AEA conference. All members of the TIG are eligible for election to the leadership team. See the TIG Leadership Roles & Responsibilities page to learn more about the requirements of each role. TIG members who are interested in joining the leadership team should review this information, and contact the current TIG Chair or Program Chair for further information. Other volunteers are certainly welcome to serve on the leadership team and contribute to the efforts and activities, outside of these 3 specific roles, at the discretion of the Chairs. Those who are interested but not able to commit to joining the leadership team are also welcome to participate in leadership team telecons and other activities on an ad hoc basis, again at the discretion of the Chairs.

The 2019 Incoming leadership team members were elected during the TIG Business Meeting at the annual AEA conference in November 2018.

TIG Chair: Ann Martin Oak Ridge Associated Universities ann.martin@orau.org		Ann is an evaluator and project manager in the Assessment and Evaluation group within ORAU's Scientific Assessment and Workforce Development unit. She has 8 years of experience in the evaluation of STEM education initiatives, as well as 6 years of experience as a coordinator and facilitator of such programs. Prior to ORAU, Ann was an internal evaluator at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA, first as a postdoctoral fellow and then as a research scientist with Science Systems and Applications, Inc. That role combined program evaluation, project monitoring, strategic planning, and social network analysis to support various NASA education and public outreach efforts, primarily in the Earth Science Division and the Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP). She is interested in building institutional evaluation capacity, particularly among STEM education grantmakers and awardees. Ann comes to STEM education via a background in astrophysics research and experience in astronomy education, communication, and public outreach. Ann has been active in the STEM TIG since its formation, previously serving as the TIG's webmaster for 2.5 years and as a Member at Large for 2 years.

Incoming Chair: Karen Peterman TBD karenpetermanphd@gmail.com		Karen is the President of Karen Peterman Consulting, Co. (KPC), a small research and evaluation firm basd in Durham, North Carolina. KPC provides external evaluation services to those working with STEM education projects. The company also conducts research on evaluation methods and public engagement in science activities. Karen has almost twenty years of experience in the evaluation field. During that time she has conducted evaluation of or research on projects funded by AAAS, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, ED, the Glaxo Smith Klein Foundation, IMLS, NASA, NIH, NSF, and the Pisces Foundation. Dr. Peterman received her Ph.D. in experimental psychology from Duke University in 2002. She worked at Goodman Research Group, Inc. (GRG). from 2002-2007. Karen began working as an independent contractor in 2007 and founded KPC in 2010.

Current Program Chair: Kathy Haynie Haynie Research and Evaluation kchaynie@alumni.stanford.edu		Since 2002, Kathy Haynie has been Director at Haynie Research and Evaluation, working in the STEM education sector, particularly science and computer science. With background in statistics, measurement, and educational psychology, and 16 years experience directing Haynie Research, Kathy brings expert leadership skills to small and large research studies. Kathy’s current research includes studying optimal learning structures in high school computer science classrooms, as well as the training and implementation of new models of middle school geoscience education. As co-PI or director of evaluation on many NSF-funded grants, Kathy has laid the groundwork for the assessment of student learning and classroom implementation in new computer science initiatives such as the AP CS Principles course. She is the current Co-Director of the CS Impact Network (CS-IN: since 2016) and Co-PI of NSF’s Computer Science Outcomes Networked Improvement Community project. CS-IN is comprised of 60 of the most accomplished STEM and CS evaluators drawn from universities, non-profits, global for-profit companies as well as small evaluation firms. CS-IN provides resources, linked repositories, evaluation services, professional development, and mentoring through a focused collaborative and professional network that is building research and evaluation capacity of practitioners in our field. Kathy is a founding member of the American Evaluation Association STEM Topical Interest Group, as well as a member of the 8-member NSF’s Evaluation Working Group, tracking teacher PD and student course-taking all across CS10K-funded projects.

Incoming Program Chair: Cherie Avent University of North Carolina - Greensboro cmavent@uncg.edu		Cherie Avent is a PhD student at the University of North Carolina Greensboro in the department of Education Research Methodology. Her concentration is program evaluation. Throughout her doctoral studies, she has served as a graduate research assistant working on various education evaluation projects, such a grant between the Department of Education and UNCG titled Transforming Teaching Through Technology and a grant between the National Science Foundation and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign titled Hierarchical Nanomanufacturing. Her experiences as an evaluator, coupled with previous teaching experience has informed her research focus of social justice, language/communication, and STEM educational evaluation context.

Current Webmaster: Shetay Ashford-Hanserd Texas State University sashford@txstate.edu		Dr. Shetay Ashford, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Occupational, Workforce, and Leadership Studies at Texas State University. Her research agenda primarily focuses on broadening the participation of historically underrepresented minorities and women of color in the STEM workforce through community/workforce development, program design/evaluation, intrapreneurship/entrepreneurship, and cyberlearning. Prior to joining Texas State, she worked for 13 years in the high technology industry as a Technical Trainer, Consultant, and Global Training Program Manager with Fortune 500 multinational corporations (e.g., General Electric, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Dell Computers), which informs her research agenda. She holds master certificates in project management and evaluation. Currently, she is the Principal Investigator of two externally-funded research grants funded by NSF and USDA: NSF INCLUDES DDLP ACCEYSS (Association of Collaborative Communities Equipping Youth for STEM Success) and STEEAM (science, technology, engineering, entrepreneurship, agriculture, and mathematics) Pathways in Rural Communities

Incoming Webmaster / Outgoing TIG Chair: Kimberle A. Kelly Oak Ridge Associated Universities k.a.kelly.phd@gmail.com		For over 20 years, Kim has managed and directed research and evaluation outcome studies in education and mental health for major research universities, offices of education, school districts, and nonprofit organizations. Her specialties include mixed-methods research and evaluation designs for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education initiatives in early childhood, K-12, and higher education settings. These initiatives are focused on the development and implementation of curricula, professional development, informal education, and career pathways targeting technical and engineering fields, computer science, climate change, science and technology-assisted science education. The majority of these initiatives are supported by grant programs targeting traditionally underperforming and underrepresented groups. Most recently, Kim took part in the formation and leadership of the STEM Education and Training Topical Interest Group of the American Evaluation Association. Kim combines her independent consulting work with teaching traditional and online courses in psychological research and mentoring student research. Kim received her PhD in Cognitive and Brain Sciences from the University of Southern California’s Department of Psychology and completed a postdoctoral training program in the study of schizophrenia spectrum disorders at the University of California-Los Angeles Semel Institute of Neuroscience and Human Behavior.
Members at Large:
Nena Bloom Center for Science Teaching and Learning - Arizona University nena.bloom@nau.edu		Dr. Nena Bloom has been an Evaluator at the Center for Science Teaching and Learning at Northern Arizona University for twelve years. She has extensive experience evaluating STEM education projects focusing on opportunities for, and persistence and retention of, K-20 students in STEM areas, majors and fields. She has experience as an evaluator of formal and informal education and higher education initiatives, including NIH, NSF, and projects funded by foundations and non-profits. She is also an education researcher and co-PI on an NSF-ITEST (Expanding Geospatial Technology Career Development for High School Students through Teacher Professional Development) and NASA Science Education Directorate project (Planetary Learning that Advances the Nexus of Engineering, Technology and Science).
Melissa K. Demetrikopoulos Institute for Biomedical Philosophy mdemetr@biophi.org		Melissa K. Demetrikopoulos, Ph.D. is the Chair of the Division of Program Development and Assessment at the Institute for Biomedical Philosophy. She regularly conducts culturally responsive and linguistically appropriate mixed methods evaluations and has extensive experience with the evaluation of federally funded STEM workforce training and professional development projects (e.g. NSF, NIH, CDC, and US Dept of Ed) as well as privately funded educational projects (e.g. UNCF and HHMI). Melissa’s research interests include Partnership formation, Broadening participation, Scientific literacy, and enhancement of academic support and research opportunities for underrepresented minorities including examining strategies that support student success in research. She has forty eight publications on STEM research, STEM education, and STEM education research and has given over 120 presentations, talks and workshops at conferences and professional development training programs. She provides professional development training on inter-institutional collaborations, building consensus, and partnership formation. Dr. Demetrikopoulos’ successful approach to obtaining grant funding for academic institutions begins with a needs assessment and long-term granting strategy that is designed to match departmental needs with the Strategic Plan and Mission of the Institution. This approach has led to the successful attainment of funding embedded into a coherent Institutional level plan.
Ciara Paige Knight Claremont Graduate University ciaracknight@gmail.com		Ciara Knight is masters trained professional in Industrial/ Organizational Psychology and is currently pursuing her doctorate degree in Program Evaluation and Applied Research at Claremont Graduate University. She has a strong background in applied research methodology, statistics, program evaluation, grant writing, logic modeling, and diversity management. Ciara has over seven years of professional experience in program evaluation and applied research. She began her professional journey as an intern at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the Office of Workforce Diversity. While there, she evaluated their recruitment spending practices and created a turnover model to assist with tracking employee turnover trends as it applied to increasing and maintaining diversity at the lab. Additionally, she was the assistant evaluator of a $4.7 million-dollar health disparities grant funded by the National Institutes of Health at California State University, San Bernardino and an evaluation consultant for a biomedical education program at Oakwood University funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Ciara also was awarded federal funds to conduct applied research and evaluation of Tongan cancer prevention program and a Pacific Islander Pap test intervention program based out of California State University, Fullerton. Both programs were funded by the National Cancer Institute. She continues to provide consultation to budding evaluation professionals, programs, organizations, partnerships, and larger coalitions through her teaching and practice in Southern California.

Sonia Koshy Kapor Center sonia@kaporcenter.org		Sonia is the Director of Measurement, Evaluation, and Learning at the Kapor Center, an organization aiming to enhance diversity and inclusion in the technology and entrepreneurship ecosystem through increasing access to tech and STEM education programs, conducting research on access and opportunity in computing, investing in community organizations and gap-closing social ventures, building diverse and inclusive companies, and increasing access to capital among diverse entrepreneurs. In her role, Sonia leads the evaluation of the impact of programs and initiatives aiming to diversify the tech pipeline from education to the workforce. Sonia has seven years of experience as a developmental psychologist, researcher, and evaluator, with a Ph.D. in Child Development from Tufts University.

Lisa Lynn Chicago Public Schools lisa.j.lynn@gmail.com		Lisa J. Lynn, Ph.D. is a Senior Data Analyst in School Quality Measurement & Research for Chicago Public Schools, where she focuses on accountability and evaluation metrics. Additionally, she has several years of experience conducting research and evaluation in federally-funded K-12 and STEM education programs. Lisa specializes in research, data management, program coordination, statistics, measurement, research design, mixed methods, and Rasch measurement and is a member of American Evaluation Association and American Educational Research Association.

Jessica Martone jmartone@smartstart-er.com	Not Pictured.

Jason Ravitz jason@evaluationbydesign.com		Jason Ravitz is founder of Evaluation by Design LLC. He has 25+ years experience driving strategy, implementation, insights and impact measurement for educational technology leaders. He started as a social studies and computer teacher before joining the National School Network project at BBN Educational Technologies and pursuing a Ph.D. in Instructional Design, Development and Evaluation. This led to a career conducting state and national studies and creating tools and strategies for educational programs. Jason has produced research on project-based learning and 21st century teaching as Director of Research for the Buck Institute for Education; on evaluation capacity building and STEM-CS education as Senior Program Manager and Education Outreach Evaluation Manager for Google; and on school coaching as Senior Research Scientist at Digital Promise. He has a B.A. from Harvard College, a Ph.D, from Syracuse University, and completed postdoctoral positions at UC, Irvine and UC, Berkeley/SRI International.

Robin Taylor National Institute for STEM Evaluation and Research (NISER) at the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) robin@rtresconsulting.com		Robin is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Tennessee's National Institute for STEM Evaluation and Research, a center within the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis. She is currently working with a team to develop and validate the Quantitative Biology Concept Inventory (QBCI). The QBCI is being developed as a diagnostic tool to assess learning of quantitative concepts for college students within the life sciences. Robin has over 10 years of previous evaluation experience as an Evaluation Specialist III and postdoctoral fellow at Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU), an independent consultant, a Diversity Analyst for Auburn University's Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs, and as a Research Associate in Auburn's College of Education. As an evaluator, Robin provides results-oriented, data-driven evidence to inform clients of project and program outcomes.

Calli Thompson thom2769@umn.edu	Not Pictured.

Asia Williams awillid@masonlive.gmu.edu		Asia Williams has more than 17 years of experience working in K-12 education. She has worked in public schools, independent schools, and non-profit and for-profit organizations. Through her work experience and studies in the doctoral program at George Mason University, she is developing expertise in out-of-school time learning environments with STEM/STEAM education as a focus. Currently, Asia works as a STEAM Research Associate for Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington. Part of her job responsibilities include formative evaluations of STEM programs using instruments such as the Dimensions of Success Observation Tool, Common Instrument Suite, and the Student Attitudes Towards STEM Survey.