Our Team

Joe directs the CREATE for STEM Institute and is the Lappan-Phillips Professor of Science Education. His research focuses on reforming science teaching to promote engagement and learning of science through project-based learning.

Annemarie is the Ann L. Brown Distinguished University Professor of Education at the University of Michigan. She studies sensemaking and knowledge building with multiple media, especially in the context of project-based inquiry.

Emily has been a lead writer for the NGSS Diversity & Equity Team and part of the NGSS writing team as well as a ML-PBL designer. She is a coauthor of NGSS for All and an upcoming Crosscutting Concept book with NSTA Press.

Barbara Schneider is the John A. Hannah University Distinguished Professor in the College of Education. Her research focuses on how the social contexts of schools and families influence adolescent's academic and social well-being.

Sue served as Lead State Representative on the NGSS development team and led standards development at MDE. She manages all aspects of the ML-PBL project, supporting literacy integration and standards implementation.

I-Chien works as a research associate in the College of Education at Michigan State University. Her work centers on how social contexts enhance social emotional learning, interests, and achievement.

Elliot Soloway is the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor at the UM College of Engineering. He co-founded the Center for Digital Curricula, which provides K-12 teachers with deeply-digital, standards-aligned, curricula – free.

Selin Akgun is a Ph.D. student in the Curriculum, Instruction and Teacher Education program at Michigan State. Her research interest includes supporting students’ sense making and teachers’ teaching practices through PBL.

Kayla Bartz is a doctoral student in the Measurement and Quantitative Methods program at Michigan State. Her research interest includes test development and studying the psychometric properties of varying assessments and surveys.

Katie is a post-doctoral research associate working on the ML-PBL project. Her research interests are in the ethics of teaching and learning at the intersection of teacher education, educational policy, and geoscience education.

Lydia Bradford is a second year PhD student at Michigan State in Measurement and Quantitative Methods. Her main research interest lies in statistical modeling and analysis, research design, and causal inference.

Kathleen studies student sensemaking, argumentation, and collaboration, especially in the context of project-based inquiry curricula that integrate literacy, science, and technology.

Miranda is an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Her research focuses on elementary literacy education, with an emphasis on integrating literacy and science instruction in project-based learning.

Tingting Li is a doctoral student in Educational Psychology and Educational Technology at Michigan State. Her research interest is supporting students’ deep science learning through PBL and measuring students’ knowledge-in-use.

Dr. Hildah works on ML-PBL curriculum and supports professional teacher development. Her research interests focus on helping teachers to engage in NGSS, equitable, and social justice science teaching.

Josh Meyer is the designer and developer of the Collabrify Roadmap Platform, a learning environment that supports teachers creating and students using “deeply-digital curricula.”

Cory is a post-doctoral research associate working on the ML-PBL project. Her research interests involve professional learning and supporting teachers as they make changes in their science teaching practices.

Frieda Powell currently works as a translator with Michigan State University. She has worked in all grades as both a resource teacher and translator since 2012 in schools in Madison, Wisconsin and in Latin America.

Robert Ryan served as a special education and regular middle school science and health teacher in Flint Community Schools for 25 years. Previously he taught in Norfolk, Houston, and Victoria, TX.

Maria Chiara Simani is the Executive Director of the California Science Project at the University of California, Riverside. She works with teachers statewide to implement the Next Generation Science Standards in K-12 classrooms.

Gavin is studying elementary education with an emphasis in science and is also pursuing minors in Spanish and TESOL as well as a concentration in urban education. Gavin's career goal is to teach in an urban public school.

LaDonna White is an observer with CREATE for STEM. LaDonna holds a master’s degree with a concentration in curriculum and instruction and has been a teacher, instructional coach and professional developer for over 18 years.