Developing scholars to conduct reliable research on pressing issues in education is the goal of the Multidisciplinary Program in Education Sciences (MPES) program. This innovative program recently expanded by adding a new cohort of young doctoral students.MPES welcomed its second cohort of fellows and affiliates at a reception on January 11 in Annenberg Hall. They are Julie Colhoun, Gregory Dam, Lori Delale-O'Connor, Jonathan Gemus, David Miele, Heather Norbury and Jennifer Stephan.
Their innovative interdisciplinary doctoral training program began in 2004, funded by a training grant from the Institute for Education Sciences in Washington, D.C. SESP faculty along with faculty from the psychology, sociology, economics and statistics departments in Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences created the program.
The following doctoral students, who began the program in the fall, comprise the second cohort:
 |
 |
Julie Colhoun - A second-year doctoral student in psychology, Colhoun focuses her research on knowledge transfer and conceptual change, especially the role that comparison and analogy play in those processes. A former user experience specialist for web sites, she received her bachelor's degree from Colgate University. Gregory Dam - Gregory Dam's research interests relate to learning and conceptual change in math and science, as well as students' understanding of math and science symbols. Dam, who earned a bachelor's degree in biochemistry from Sacred Heart University, is a learning sciences doctoral student in SESP. |
 |
||
 |
|
Lori Delale-O'Connor - Within the MPES program Delale-O'Connor, a doctoral student in sociology, focuses her research on school choice and social stratification, as well as creating educational opportunities for low-income and minority adolescents. A former teacher, she has a bachelor's degree from Cornell University and a master's from Boston College. |
|
||
 |
|
Jonathan Gemus - A third-year PhD student in economics, Gemus studies human capital accumulation, education, treatment effects and incomplete econometric models. He previously studied economics and mathematics at Boston College and the London School of Economics and Political Science. |
|
||
 |
|
David Miele - Miele, who formerly produced educational technologies, is a second-year doctoral student in psychology. His primary research interest is self-regulated learning, and he is also studying how students generate and attend to their cognitive feelings during comprehension. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees at Columbia University. |
|
||
 |
|
Heather Norbury - A second-year doctoral student in psychology, Norbury focuses her research on language and category development as well as language-driven conceptual change. She received her bachelor's degree in economics from Duke University, after which she worked as a management consultant and a human resources manager. |
|
||
 |
|
Jennifer Stephan - A former research analyst, Stephan is a second-year doctoral student in human development and social policy. Her primary research interest is to understand adolescents' decisions about postsecondary education and work, and the influence of social contexts on those decisions. She earned a bachelor's degree from Vassar College and a master's from Princeton University. |
Last Modified: 8/14/09