{"id":16,"date":"2021-06-08T00:11:07","date_gmt":"2021-06-08T00:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wpdev.acsu.buffalo.edu\/steminteractionlab\/?page_id=16"},"modified":"2026-03-04T14:28:50","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T14:28:50","slug":"researchers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/steminteractionlab\/researchers\/","title":{"rendered":"Researchers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Virginia J. Flood, Ph.D.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

she\/her\/hers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lab Director<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

I am an Assistant Professor of Learning Sciences in the Department of Learning and Instruction at UB. My research is focused on embodied communication (e.g., gesture) in STEM teaching and learning, and educational environments that incorporate the body in STEM. I earned my Ph.D. in the Embodied Design Research Laboratory (EDRL) at UC Berkeley. Originally, I’m from Maine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also teach a course on Embodiment in Education, LAI 689SEM<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Contact information:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Department of Learning and Instruction
University at Buffalo
vflood@buffalo.edu
(716) 645-2455 (LAI department)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Graduate and Undergraduate Researchers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Kaiyun Xiao<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Graduate Research Assistant<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Kaiyun is a doctoral student in the UB Graduate School of Education, Department of Learning and Instruction. Her research interests are embodied interaction, teacher education, and bilingual education. Prior to joining UB, she earned a master’s degree in Bilingual\/Bicultural Special Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. Kaiyun received her undergraduate degree at the University of California, Davis, where she studied Biological Sciences and Japanese. Email: kxiao25@buffalo.edu<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Minghui Zhu<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Graduate Research Assistant<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Minghui is a doctoral student in the UB Graduate School of Education, Department of Learning and Instruction. Her research interest is embodied interaction and argumentation in science education. Prior to UB, she earned her master degree in Curriculum and Instruction at East China Normal University (ECNU) in China. Email: mzhu26@buffalo.edu<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Affiliate Faculty<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Benedikt W. Harrer, Ph.D.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

he\/him\/his<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clinical Associate Professor, Physics<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Benedikt is the Co-Principal Investigator on the EISLab project Dialogic Gesture in Physics (DiGEST Physics). His research centers on how people learn and teach physics in highly interactive formal and informal environments, particularly in the context of energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personal Website<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Lab Alumni<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Margaret Andersen<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Undergraduate Research Assistant<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Mars is a Junior in pursuit of a Physics B.S and a Mathematics B.A. In addition to the EISLab, they have been working with UB’s Molecular Beam Epitaxy System and are hoping to go to graduate school for condensed matter physics.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Leah Bartlo<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Graduate Research Assistant<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Leah is a doctoral student in the curriculum, instruction and the science of learning program in the Department of Learning and Instruction and a Presidential Fellow in the Graduate School of Education. Leah’s research interests include learning science and early childhood.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Li Battista<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Undergraduate Research Assistant<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Li is a senior in the undergrad program with a major in English, and a minor in Korean. She is heavily interested in linguistics and education behind it.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Emma Teresa Booth<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

she<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graduate Research Assistant<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Ter is a former secondary mathematics teacher now pursuing a masters in the learning sciences at UB. She is interested in the creation of learning environments where new patterns of movement can be explored through embodied mathematics pedagogy. She is particularly curious about the benefits mathematically informed movement offers individuals with adverse childhood experiences through the exploration of relational structures that make up mathematics, the body, and community.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Nicholas Cisco<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Graduate Research Assistant<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Nicholas is a master\u2019s student in the Library and Information Science program. Prior to attending UB, he got his BS in Physics from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Here, he first experienced Physics Education Research while taking courses with faculty who worked in the field. He now hopes to utilize his own experiences in learning physics towards furthering the research goals of the EIS Lab.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Victoria Czech<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

she\/her\/hers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Undergraduate Research Assistant<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Victoria is currently a senior undergraduate in chemical engineering, with a math minor. Her research interests include medicine, vaccines, and chemistry.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Nova Crowe<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

he\/they<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Undergraduate Research Assistant<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Nova is an undergraduate physics major interested in astrophysics education. He is passionate about non-verbal communication and the process of learning physics. They are also secretary of the Society of Physics students and enjoy tutoring others.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Jade Dennis<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Undergraduate Research Assistant<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Jade is an undergraduate senior studying English at the University at Buffalo. She enjoys working in the Department of Learning and Instruction as she looks towards a career in Higher Education. Her research interests include resilience in STEM classrooms, and she is curious to see how gesture in learning plays into this.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Charles Freeman<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Undergraduate Research Assistant<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Charles is currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in mathematical physics. As he is in the early stages of his research career, he is still exploring his specific areas of interest within the field. He has a strong passion for education and takes pleasure in mentoring students in STEM courses.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Akshay Kedari<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

he\/him\/his<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graduate Research Assistant<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Akshay is a first-year doctoral student in the curriculum, instruction and the science of learning program in the Department of Learning and Instruction. He is interested in designing and developing socio-culturally appropriate educational programs and innovative teaching-learning resources for rural students in remote parts of India.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Seoyeon Lee<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Graduate Research Assistant<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

As the Graduate Assistant for Program Operation at the UB Teacher Residency Program, a Ph.D. student in Curriculum, Instruction, and Science of Learning, and a former high school teacher, Seoyeon strongly advocates for culturally responsive lessons, beneficial to both monolingual and multilingual students and underscore the often-underappreciated role of embodiment in the education. Her research interests span math education and English as a New Language (ENL) education, STEM education, and the inclusion of Social Emotional Learning in teacher development programs.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Stacy Scheuneman<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

she\/her\/hers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graduate Research Assistant<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Stacy is a doctoral student in Curriculum, Instruction and the Science of Learning at the UB Graduate School of Education Department of Learning and Instruction. She has over five years of teaching experience in formal science education, and several more in informal educational settings. Her research interests include collaborative learning in physics and chemistry and the design of learning technologies.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Challa Zirek<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

she\/her\/hers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Undergraduate Research Assistant<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Challa is an undergraduate student pursuing a combined BA\/EdM degree in Physics\/Adolescent Physics Education. In addition to her interest in physics, she also finds the impact of student-educator interactions on student performance intriguing.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Derek Zurenda<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

he\/him\/his<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Undergraduate Research Assistant<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Derek is a junior undergraduate studying Geology\/Earth Science Education. He is interested in hydrogeology, biogeochemistry, and science communication.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Virginia J. Flood, Ph.D. she\/her\/hers Lab Director I am an Assistant Professor of Learning Sciences in the Department of Learning and Instruction at UB. My research is focused on embodied … Continue reading Researchers<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":488,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-16","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/steminteractionlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/steminteractionlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/steminteractionlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/steminteractionlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/488"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/steminteractionlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16"}],"version-history":[{"count":44,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/steminteractionlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":636,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/steminteractionlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16\/revisions\/636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/steminteractionlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}