Learning Sciences & Human Development

Zachary A. Pardos

Dr. Pardos is an Associate Professor of Education at UC Berkeley studying adaptive learning and AI. His current research focuses on knowledge representation and recommender systems approaches to increasing upward mobility in postsecondary education using behavioral and semantic data.

He earned his PhD in Computer Science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute with a dissertation on computational models of cognitive mastery. Funded by a National Science Foundation Fellowship (GK-12), he spent extensive time with K-12 educators and students working to integrate educational technology into...

Travis J. Bristol (he/him/his)

Travis J. Bristol is an associate professor of teacher education and education policy in Berkeley’s School of Education and (by courtesy) the Department of African American Studies. He is also the faculty director of the Center for Research on Expanding Educational Opportunity. Before joining Berkeley's faculty, he was a Peter Paul Assistant Professor at Boston University. Using qualitative methods, Dr. Bristol explores three related research strands: (1) the role of educational policies in shaping teacher...

Mark R. Wilson

Mark Wilson's interests focus on measurement and applied statistics. His work spans a range of issues in measurement and assessment from the development of new statistical models for analyzing measurement data, to the development of new assessments in subject matter areas such as science education, patient-reported outcomes and child development, to policy issues in the use of assessment data in accountability systems.

He has recently published three books: the first, Constructing measures: An item response modeling approach (Erlbaum), is an introduction to modern...

Alan H. Schoenfeld

Alan Schoenfeld is a Distinguished Professor at the University of California, Berkeley. He holds the Elizabeth and Edward Conner Chair in the School of Education and is an Affiliated Professor in the Mathematics Department. Schoenfeld is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), and a Laureate of the education honor society Kappa Delta Pi. He is an elected memberof the International Academy of Education and the U.S. National Academy of Education, and has served as President of AERA and vice...

Michelle Hoda Wilkerson

I am a learning scientist whose work explores computational literacy, with special focus on how young people learn about scientific computing, its power, and its limitations. Most recently, I have explored how two varieties of scientific computing in particular, visual data analysis tools and agent-based simulation, can be responsibly introduced as epistemic tools within the precollegiate curriculum. Because my research focuses on the ways in which these tools allow youth to explore large-scale systems with significant social impacts (e.g. climate, health patterns, nutrition, pollution), I...

Chunyan Yang

Dr. Yang is an associate professor of school psychology in the Berkeley School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Yang’s research interests focus on understanding how school members interact with their ecological contexts to find their resilience individually and collectively when facing risks and adversities, such as bullying, teacher-targeted violence, and mental health challenges. Three central questions focused in her research agenda are: (1) how to assess and counterbalance the risks and adversities experienced by vulnerable school members as...

Anne E. Cunningham, Professor

Anne Cunningham is a faculty member in the Learning Sciences and Human Development Cluster and also serves as the UCB Director of the Joint Doctoral Program in Special Education. She is a developmental scientist known for her research on literacy and development across the life span in which she examines the cognitive and motivational processes underlying reading ability and the interplay of context, development, and literacy instruction. Dr. Cunningham has been awarded several prestigious research fellowships from the National Academy of Education, National Science Foundation, and ...

Thomas M. Philip

Philip’s research focuses on how teachers make sense of power and hierarchy in classrooms, schools, and society. He is interested in how teachers act on their sense of agency as they navigate and ultimately transform classrooms and institutions toward more equitable, just, and democratic practices and outcomes. His recent scholarship explores the possibilities and tensions that emerge with the use of artificial intelligence, data analytics, and digital learning technologies in the classroom, particularly discourses about the promises of these tools with respect to the significance or...

Zohal Shah

Zohal is a doctoral student in Berkeley's Learning Sciences and Human Development program. She fervently believes in including learners, practitioners, and community voices in research design and development. Through a collaborative approach, she aspires to understand how youth develop critical data and digital literacies through social and civic online engagement.

Most recently, Zohal was listed as a member of the 30 under 30 cohort for 2023 in learning leadership by the Learning Guild. Zohal has also supported research at Digital Promise, the Learning, Innovation, and Technology...

Bowen Wang

Bowen is passionate about promoting the crucial role of input in learning a foreign language, that is, reading/listening to/watching what fascinates the learner in large amounts. He hopes to bridge the gap between research and the language learning/teaching practice by translating research-based best practices to curriculum design and content development. He is also interested in using his skills in experimental design, data analysis, and psychometrics to evaluate and improve language/literacy education technology.

He values promoting understanding between people from different...