May Jadallah, PI
College of EducationMay is an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the Schools of Teaching and Learning. Her research focuses on the cognitive sciences of teaching and learning with a special interest in examining the impact of collaborative small-group discussions on children’s cognitive and social development. May has an interest in examining strategies teachers employ to adapt their instructional and scaffolding moves to support student learning and classroom interaction. In addition to her collaboration with colleagues from the Center for the Study of Reading a the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, May collaborates with other fellows at the Center of Mathematics, Science, and Technology (CeMaST) at ISU who are interested in STEM education. (Email)
Hyun-Sook Kang, Faculty
Hyun is a Professor in the Department of English, where she teaches courses on general linguistics, second language learning, and bilingualism/biliteracy. She earned her PhD in Educational Linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania in 2007. She pursues questions related to how linguistics can be applied to educational contexts and beyond--in an attempt to enhance and enrich learning and teaching processes and outcomes. She has published independently and collaboratively in various referred academic journals.
Alycia Hund, Co-PI
Department of PsychologyAlycia specializes in the development of spatial thinking during childhood. She was awarded a pre-doctoral NRSA fellowship to support her dissertation research, completing her PhD in psychology at the University of Iowa. She joined the faculty at Illinois State University in 2003, where she is currently a Professor of Psychology. Recent collaborative research focuses on using GIS to facilitate spatial thinking among high school students. (Email)
Jonathan Thayn, Co-PI
Department of Geography-GeologyJonathan has long been an advocate of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). He has earned his PhD from the University of Kansas. Since starting at Illinois State University as Assistant Professor and as Associate Director of the Institute for Geospatial Mapping and Analysis (GEOMAP) in 2009, Jonathan had developed a robust program of GIS-based research. Jonathan has also encouraged the use of GIS in education by evaluating open-source GIS software for use in K-12 schools with limited budgets. (Email)
Joel Studebaker, Project Coordinator
Joel has been an integral member of the GIS team, taking the leading role in the development of the GIS learning modules and working closely with teachers and students during the the development phase of the study in the spring of 2013 and spring of 2014. Joel also has been the principal designer of the websites used for this project. In addition, he served as a project manager in 2015-2016 academic year and was involved with the development, construction, and dissemination of a survey regarding teachers' use of digital mapping technology and in the development of the Use of Technology questionnaire. (Email)
Savannah Little, Graduate Assistant
Savannah is a graduate Speech-Language Pathology student. She completed her Bachelor’s in Communication Sciences and Disorders at Illinois State University in 2015. During 2013-2014 academic year, she completed research comparing the use of virtual classroom observations in the Elementary Education Program with real time in-class observations. Savannah started working on the GIS project in Fall 2016; she is coding and analyzing students' contributions during the cognitive interviews. She will complete her Master’s degree in May 2017.
Zack Roman, Graduate Assistant
Zack is a second year graduate student studying Quantitative Psychology at Illinois State University. He began working on the QGIS project in Spring 2015. Zack has contributed to the project through his interests in statistics and data analysis. He is part of the data collection team. He also prepares and analyzes data and provides insights on the future use of psychometric tools.
Daniel Schloesser, Graduate Assistant
Daniel is a second year graduate student in the Cognitive and Behavioral Sciences sequence in the Department of Psychology at Illinois State University. Daniel’s research interests investigate the limits of sensory modalities during cooperative joint action. His current research investigates cooperating complex systems in virtual environments. Daniel joined the GIS education team in Fall 2015.
Kavya Gupta, Graduate Assistant
Kavya is a second year graduate student in the School of Information Technology at Illinois State University. In summer 2015, Kavya worked as a full time programmer/analyst intern for the Urbana City Government. Kavya is part of the data collection, management, and analysis team, starting her work in Fall 2015.
Lauren Hutmacher, Undergraduate Assistant
Lauren Hutmacher is from Rockford, IL and graduated from Illinois State University in May of 2015 with a Bachelors of Science, majoring in Psychology with a career enhancement certificate in Human Resources. Lauren was involved with the GIS project from Fall 2014 to Spring 2015. She completed her capstone through the GIS project analyzing the enhancement of social studies learning through student intelligence scores after they had used the geographic information systems program.
Bianca Di Cristofano, Undergraduate Assistant
Bianca is in the last semester of her undergraduate studies at Illinois State University, majoring in Psychology with a minor in Italian studies. In addition to other research and experince working with crisis centers, Bianca has contributed to the project since joining the team in Fall 2014.
Chloe Lindstrom, Undergraduate Assistant
Chloe is a senior at Illinois State University pursuing a major in Psychology and a minor in Children's Studies within the Honors program. In addition to other research work she will begin in Fall 2015, Chloe has been working with the GIS Education team since Spring 2015.
Nicole Landa, Undergraduate Assistant
Nicole is a junior at Illinois State University. She is working towards achieving a bachelors degree in psychology within the honors program. Nicole’s interest include research in developmental and social psychology. She is excited to be joining the research team Spring 2016.
Meg Flaherty, Undergraduate Assistant
Meg is a junior at Illinois State University working towards a Psychology major and Children’s Studies minor in the Honors Program. In addition to research she began in Fall 2015, Meg has been assisting on the GIS Education team since Spring 2016.
Sean Mullins, Gradaute Assistant
Sean Mullins currently serves as the instructional technology coach for the McLean County Unit School District #5. In this role, he works hand in hand with teachers on incorporating technology into their lessons. Specifically, he has introduced GIS and actively works with many teachers to utilize it with their students. He also works closely with district administration in planning and delivering professional development within the district. Sean has previously taught 7th grade life science for 6 years within the Unit 5 school district. Sean worked on the project during the 2013-2014 academic year.
Jeffrey Carver, External Evaluator
Jeffrey is an assistant professor of science education and Director of STEM Education Initiatives in the College of Human Resources and Education at West Virginia University. For the past fifteen years he has been actively involved in research related to the teaching and learning of STEM disciplines at all levels, preschool through adulthood. He has conducted evaluation of projects funded by National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Health, and the U.S. Department of Education.
Elizabeth Kirby, Consultant
After graduating from the University of Illinois where her studies focused on cultural anthropology, Elizabeth worked in the field of financial services, providing consultation to individuals and businesses regarding economic sustainability and planning for a sound financial future. During this time, she earned a CFP (Certificated Financial Planner) designation from the College of Financial Planning in Denver, Colorado and a CEBS (Certified Employee Benefit Specialist) designation through the International Association of Employee Benefits Planning and the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. She also worked in the field of Social Work and earned Master's degree in Social Work from the University of Illinois.
Jill Thomas, Contributor
Jill has been Geography Education Specialist at Illinois State University since 1995 after obtaining her Master's degree from the University of Idaho. She is also an Instructor of cartography and education methods courses; the Department of Geography-Geology Advisor; Education Coordinator for Geography Education and Earth and Space Science Education programs as well as University Supervisor for student teachers in the field. She is editor of the Illinois Geographer, journal for the Illinois Geographical Society, and is a member of the assessment task force for the Illinois Geographic Alliance.
Kay Grabow, Contributor
Kay Grabow was previously involved in curriculum development for a number of years working on U.S. Department of Education grants at Center for the Study of Reading at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Kay is a retired 4th grade teacher who has the wealth of over 30 years of experience in Urbana’s public school district. She has developed a number of stories related to ecological issues for this grant.