Students

Sam Abramovich

Sam graduated from Brandeis University with a Bachelors in Politics and received his Masters in Teaching from the University of Virginia. Prior to enrolling in the LSAP program, he researched the educational potential of video games and taught classes...
Lisa Brahms

˜ Lisa has worked in both formal and informal learning environments.  Just prior to joining the LSAP program, Lisa taught fourth grade in Brooklyn, NY.  Before diving into the classroom, she had worked in the field of museum education and exhibition development in various...
Laura Bray

˜ Laura graduated from the College of New Jersey in 2005 with a B.A. in English.  Upon graduation, she joined the Philadelphia Teaching Fellows, a partnership between the Philadelphia School District and The New Teacher Project with a mission to promote teaching excellence and...
Aaron Kessler

˜ Aaron earned his B.S. in Chemistry in 2005 and his M.A. in Teaching in 2006.  He spent four years teaching Chemistry at Highlands High School and developing instructional practices that focused on the use of technology.  His focus on technology in education was...
Zahid Kisa

˜ Zahid received his B.S. from Bogazici University (Istanbul, Turkey) in Primary Mathematics Education and M.A. from Bogazici University in Educational Sciences.  In his master’s thesis, he studied teachers’ stress during the implementation of the new...
Jimmy Scherrer

˜ Jimmy Scherrer is part of the first Learning Sciences and Policy Ph.D. cohort at the University of Pittsburgh.  He holds a Master of Arts in Educational Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education with a minor in mathematics.  His research...
Mary Ann Steiner

˜ Mary Ann's career has been shaped by 18 years spent at the Science Museum of Minnesota, establishing and running a center where teens developed and presented informal science experiences to public audiences in the museum and neighborhood settings (see...
Miray Tekkumru-Kisa

˜ Miray graduated from Bogazici University in Turkey in 2005 with a B.S. in Primary Science Education.  After her graduation, she joined the Department of Secondary School Science and Mathematics Education both as a research assistant and a master’s student.  In 2008, she...
Elaine Wang

Elaine graduated from the University of British Columbia (UBC, Vancouver, Canada) with a B.A. and B.Ed. in English and French Secondary Education.  She received her M.A. in Education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto (OISE/UT), focusing her thesis on the affective development of gifted...
Peter Wardrip

˜ Peter originally comes from Racine, Wisconsin.  After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, Peter taught high school Latin, thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail and volunteered in Peace Corps-Armenia.  He has a master’s degree in Human Ecology from the Centre for...
Jolene Zywica

 ˜ Jolene graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2004 with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Information Technology Studies. She graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2007 with a M.A. in Communication. Prior to moving to Pittsburgh,...
Joshua Childs

˜ Joshua earned his B.A. in Elementary Education and History in 2006 from The University of Tulsa.  A former collegiate track and field athlete, Joshua coached varsity high school and middle school track and field before attending the University of Colorado at Boulder to earn his...
Kaleen Povis

 

I research informal learning environments in order to better understand how to design inviting spaces where learning enriches lives.  My work focuses on how museum visitors engage with exhibit spaces, content, and labeling, as well as with each other.  In my current work at the Carnegie Museum of Natural...
Anita Schuchardt

Profile soon to come...
Lauren Allen

Lauren's current project as a member of the University of Pittsburgh Center for Learning in Out-of-School Environments (UPCLOSE) is a Climate Education project based at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History with four other informal science institutions and Pittsburgh Public Schools.   She also is advisor to the Center for...