SERP Mentors and Projects

Andy Garbacz — Educational Psychology

Dr. Andy Garbacz is a Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology. Dr. Garbacz’s research focuses on promoting youth mental health through strengthening family-centered support, culturally responsive practices, and family-school-community collaboration. Dr. Garbacz emphasizes community partnerships that center equity within school and community systems. Dr. Garbacz serves as Co-Director for the Family-School-Community Alliance, and international organization dedicated to family, youth, and community engaged partnerships in research, practice, and policy. Dr. Garbacz also serves as Co-Director for the School Mental Health Collaborative, a center focused on conducting research that informs policy and practice related to the promotion of social, emotional, and behavioral success of all students.

Aireale Rogers — Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis

Dr. Aireale J. Rodgers is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and PI for the Racialization in Learning Environments Drawing on frameworks from critical race studies and the learning sciences, Dr. Rodgers’ scholarship seeks to illuminate how people’s everyday (mis)understandings about race and racism shape learning in postsecondary education. She uses qualitative techniques to study faculty development programs, graduate student socialization processes, and classroom teaching and learning to better understand how educators can facilitate learning that advances critical race consciousness for faculty and students in postsecondary institutions. SERP fellows on Dr. Rodgers’ research team will work on either an NSF-funded project exploring the efficacy of a summer professional development workshop aimed at supporting Geoscience departments to implement equity-minded pedagogical change initiatives or a study critically interrogating the Ethnic Studies Requirement and its implications for student learning on campus.

Brendan Eagan — Wisconsin Center for Research

Dr. Brendan Eagan is Associate Director for Partnerships and Community Engagement in the Epistemic Analytics lab at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. His work currently focuses on quantitative ethnography, the learning sciences, and learning analytics. He’s passionate about growing the Quantitative Ethnography (QE) community and is actively involved in the International Society for Quantitative Ethnography (ISQE). The research project (https://www.qefellows.org/) focuses on building capacity in STEM education research by training early to mid-career STEM education researchers in Quantitative Ethnography (QE). Research interns learn to support Fellows from the QE Institute in their training and research practice (https://www.qefellows.org/qe-fellows/). For more than 15 years, Dr. Eagan has contributed to the fields of language learning, cultural exchange, learning sciences, computer-supported collaborative learning, learning analytics, health care, serving people with disabilities, ethics in education, child development, as well as professional development in a range of domains.

Brittany Travers — Kinesiology

The Travers Lab, housed at the Waisman Center, focuses on the intersection between sensorimotor skills and neurobiology in individuals on the autism spectrum (henceforth referred to as “autistic individuals”). Specifically, we focus on (1) human movement and its awe-inspiring, dynamic complexity in neurotypical and neurodivergent individuals, (2) how the brain contributes to individual differences in sensory and motor engagement and changes during maturation, learning, and experience, and (3) how motor skills influence an individual’s participation in meaningful activities (i.e., occupations). As such, our research combines brain imaging with quantitative measures of motor function, cognition, and daily living skills in autistic children, adolescents, and adults.
Based on their goals and interests, SERP scholars would have various opportunities in our lab, including: 1) running school-aged participants through motor, neuropsychology, and neuroimaging assessments as part of National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded studies, 2) analyzing behavioral and brain data to examine brain-behavior links, and/or 3) working with data that examine sensory and motor differences in autistic individuals.

Christopher Saldaña — Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis

Dr. Christopher Saldaña is an assistant professor of K-12 educational leadership and policy analysis. Chris’s research examines the relationship between K-12 school finance and educational opportunity, focusing particularly on the educational experiences of minoritized and marginalized students. Chris uses multiple and mixed methods in his research. Chris is currently a CO-PI for the Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership Learning (CALL) - Mapping Equity Indicators (MEI) project. The CALL-MEI study is a two-year project to develop a new set of equity indicators, evidence models, and data tools to measure the process and outcomes of equity-centered leadership.

Haley Vlach — Educational Psychology

My research examines the mechanisms underlying children’s learning in order to (1) understand cognition and how cognition develops, and (2) build an empirical base for the design of successful educational and health interventions. My work spans the following cognitive and developmental processes: memory, memory development, word and category learning, concept learning, conceptual development, inductive learning, and generalization/transfer of learning. A central focus is connecting more traditional psychological research to applied settings, such as the design of cognitive interventions and concept learning in the classroom.

Icy Zhang — Educational Psychology

I am interested in how to help novice learners develop meaningful understanding of abstract concepts. My research investigates the cognitive and developmental processes that underlie learning in complex domains such as STEM domains, with a focus on translating psychological theories into real-world instructional practices.There are two goals to my research program: (1) to uncover mechanistic explanations of human cognition and behavior; (2) to provide critical and creative solutions to transform the learning experiences and developmental trajectories of generations of students. To achieve these two goals, I design experiments in the lab, classroom interventions in both in-person and online settings, and also conduct analysis of secondary student data in online learning platforms.

Jessica Lee Stovall — African American Studies

Dr. Jessica Lee Stovall is an Assistant Professor in the Department of African American Studies and is also an affiliate of the Curriculum and Instruction Department in the School of Education. Her qualitative, community-based research project partners with the upcoming The Center for Black Excellence and Culture (The Center) in Madison, WI. The summer lab will seek to understand how The Center might be a critical intervention for Black students and residents by conducting a baseline interview study to understand the current experiences of Black residents in Madison, their attitudes about the upcoming Center, and their hopes and concerns for The Center. This study will employ Black Geographies frameworks (Hawthrone, 2019; McKittrick, 2006) to understand how space and place impact Black identities. Students will receive experience and mentoring in conducting ethical community-based research, semi-structured interviews, qualitative coding, presenting findings, and possibly scholarly articles or other deliverables.

Kevin Henry — Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis

Dr. Henry is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His interdisciplinary scholarship revolves around the intersections of school choice/market-based approaches to education—specifically charter schools and the charter school authorization process; political economy; the politics of education; anti-Blackness; educational justice; and Black educational imaginaries. More specifically, Dr. Henry’s research examines how the persistence of anti-Blackness and white supremacy shapes Black peoples’ educational experiences and how the perspectives and practices of Black educational actors can reshape and transform the field of education to be more just and equitable.

Luis Columna — Kinesiology

Dr. Luis Columna is a Professor in Kinesiology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where his research focuses on creating inclusive physical activity opportunities for individuals with disabilities. His work covers a variety of areas, including training teachers, supporting families of children with disabilities in physical activity (like in the FIT Families program), and working with adults with conditions such as autism, visual impairments, Down Syndrome, and Parkinson's disease. Dr. Columna has published over 80 works, including research articles, book chapters, and two books, and has shared his work at more than 200 events worldwide. Currently, he and his team are developing physical activity programs for children and adults with autism, Down Syndrome, and other disabilities, along with their families, with a special focus on Latino families. Dr. Columna is passionate about making sure people of all backgrounds have access to the benefits of physical activity, and his work is helping improve lives in meaningful ways.

Matthew Wolfgram — Wisconsin Center for Research

Matthew Wolfgram, Ph.D., is an anthropologist of education and education researcher at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research. His research employs ethnography, participatory action research, and other qualitative research methods to study factors that impact the educational experiences of minoritized college students. Dr. Wolfgram’s current projects include a National Science Foundation funded study on “Racial Equity in STEM Undergraduate Education for Minoritized Students,” which focuses in particular on the college experiences of Hmong American college students in Wisconsin. This study cultivates authentic, engaged partnerships with Hmong American students, scholars, and communities and centers the knowledge and voices of those impacted by systemic racism within STEM pathways. Other projects include a study of the experiences of college student veterans, a study of student experiences with college internships, and community-engaged research projects on issues related to access to higher education, mental health services, and civic engagement for refugees and other immigrants in Wisconsin.

Mitchell Nathan — Educational Psychology

My laboratory studies the embodied nature of learning and teaching in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Embodied approaches use movement, such as gestures, as well as physical objects, and social collaboration to engage students in learning that is meaningful to them. For example, we have developed video games that elicit body movements of players who then demonstrate enhanced mathematical reasoning compared to students who do not engage in body-based activities. We have also found that students with limited English proficiency can use gestures to engage in mathematical communication with their peers in ways that help them learn. We already have data collected from a number of studies that would work very well for SERP students who would be interested in STEM education. My lab currently has 9 members at various levels of progress who also provide additional support to our undergraduate researchers. We actively invite undergraduates into the writing and presentation of research findings. We also have social events, even during COVID, such as wiffle ball, online escape rooms, and ice cream socials.

Lab Link: https://magiclab.wceruw.org/

Nick Hillman — Education Leadership and Policy Analysis

Dr. Nicholas Hillman directs the Student Success Through Applied Research (SSTAR) Lab. His research focuses on the links between finance, policy, and college opportunity. The SSTAR Lab is where Dr. Hillman and his research team put research into action through a research-practice partnership with UW-Madison’s Division of Enrollment Management. SERP students may be involved in collecting, synthesizing, managing, or analyzing data related to issues of financial aid and college access/student success.

Nicole Louie —Curriculum and Instruction

Nicole Louie’s research is centrally concerned with issues of inclusion, exclusion, and belonging in schools. She is especially interested in how people’s experiences of these phenomena are shaped by systemic racism and intersecting systems of oppression. Her current project seeks to explore participatory design research as a tool for advancing racial justice in middle school mathematics, centering youth of color and their families as co-researchers and co-designers. Her previous (and still ongoing) work has focused on how teachers of mathematics both reproduce and challenge narrow, exclusionary views of mathematical intelligence as they intersect with racial hierarchies.

Percival Matthews — Educational Psychology

Dr. Percival Matthews is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology whose interests focus on the ways the people learn about math and number. Summer research experiences in his lab will revolve around two projects:

1) An NSF-funded project exploring ways to best teach children about the equal sign.
2) A variety of projects exploring learning about fractions, with a special emphasis on the way the human perceptual system might be used to help students understand the sizes of symbolic fractions.

Sarah Short — Educational Psychology

Dr. Short's early research examined prenatal influences (stress, infection) on the offspring’s brain and behavioral development. Her research has also examined the development of brain structure and function in relation to foundational cognitive abilities (working memory) in typically developing and high-risk children. Building on this prior work, Dr. Short’s more recent research has been directed toward her ultimate goal to conduct research that informs the design and efficacy of early interventions. These research projects have included an investigation of neural plasticity associated with cognitive training in young children, the development of a Parent-Child Mindfulness Based Training program and a large-scale longitudinal study that focuses on the impact of poverty on early child brain development. With the receipt of an award from the National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD), Dr. Short and colleagues are currently investigating how poverty ‘gets under the skin’ to impact children’s socioemotional health and the development of cognitive skills that are important for learning (executive functions).Another portion of her work is dedicated to community engaged scholarship. As a member of Mindfulness for All, Dr. Short is working with community leaders, who are bringing mindfulness practices and teacher trainings to underserved communities and to People of Color for whom mindfulness practices have previously been inaccessible.

Shamya Karumbaiah — Educational Psychology

K-12 classrooms are racially and linguistically diverse. Yet, teachers often feel unprepared to support students in bringing their full linguistic repertoire to classroom learning. Recognizing and engaging with multilingual students’ ideas expressed in non-dominant ways is important to support their learning and identity development. Translanguaging, or the fluid and dynamic movement across named languages, is one of the non-dominant ways in which multilingual learners communicate, make meaning, and connect with others. In this project, we will investigate how effective the use of generative AI is in supporting and understanding translanguaging in classrooms. Summer experience in this project involves conducting design studies with teachers and students, collecting and analyzing authentic learning data, reviewing literature, and building and testing educational AI systems. It is preferred but not required for the SERP scholar on this project to be bilingual in Spanish and English.

Walter Stern — Educational Policy Studies and History

Walter C. Stern is Associate Professor of Educational Policy Studies and History at University of Wisconsin–Madison. His research examines intersections between racism, state action, and ordinary people’s lives in the nineteenth- and twentieth-century United States, with a focus on public schools and the metropolitan South. His current book project explores the criminalization of Black youth during the desegregation era. It focuses on the case of Gary Tyler, a Black teenager who was imprisoned for nearly 42 years after being wrongfully convicted of fatally shooting a white student at their desegregating Louisiana high school in 1974. A SERP scholar would assist Dr. Stern with the book project to understand how and why the government's educational and punitive functions became intertwined and the consequences of that merger for Black youth.