The Bridging Team
Jennifer Knudsen
Jennifer Knudsen is the principal investigator and project director for Bridging. She is a Senior Mathematics Educator at SRI International's Center for Technology in Learning (CTL). She has designed innovative professional development programs and technology-enriched middle-school mathematics curriculum for 25 years. A former high school mathematics teacher in New York City Public Schools, she is devoted to promoting higher level mathematics learning for all students and has conducted her work in urban and rural communities.
Nikki Shechtman, PhD
Nikki Shechtman, Ph.D., is the co-principal investigator for Bridging. She is also a senior educational researcher at SRI International's Center for Technology in Learning.
She explores research-based, theory-driven approaches to understanding and improving engagement, teaching, and learning in mathematics—particularly for the most disadvantaged students. Her work has focused on productive dispositions for teaching and learning, mathematical argumentation, use of dynamic representational technology, and introducing productive playfulness into serious classrooms.
Shechtman has multiple quantitative and qualitative specializations, including rigorous assessment development methods, large-scale randomized field trials, small-scale design research, and laboratory experiments. Among several other projects, she leads the Math Engagement Project, an NSF-funded exploratory research project whose goal is to unpack the construct of “engagement” in the middle school math classroom. Her work has been published in journals in educational research, learning sciences, mathematics education, educational technology design, psychology, human-computer interaction, and play studies.
Teresa Lara-Meloy
Teresa Lara-Meloy’s is a mathematics education researcher in SRI’s Center for Technology and Learning. Lara-Meloy is passionate about finding better ways of teaching math to all kids, and improving the ways we support teachers. She is particularly interested in exploring the interesecting ways in which curriculum, technology, and professional development improve teaching and learning in classrooms and out-of-school activities.
Lara-Meloy currently designs materials for middle school mathematics students, teachers, and professional development leaders. She is an experienced professional development leader, working with in-service, pre-service teachers and out-of-school providers. She has designed and led the development of assessments in English and in Spanish. Over the years she has observed schools and classrooms for evaluation projects and provides research-based recommendations to some of CTL’s corporate clients.
Harriette Stevens, EdD
Harriette S. Stevens attended the University of Kansas where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Applied Mathematics and Master of Arts in Education, with a concentration in Mathematics. She received her Doctorate in Education, with an emphasis in curriculum and instructional design, from the University of San Francisco. For over 25 years, she directed a mathematics professional development program for K-12 teachers at the University of California, Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science. In this capacity, she worked with urban-school teachers and their students and designed various curricula to support students in succeeding in college and mathematics-based careers. In addition, she has taught mathematics at the community college and in secondary schools across the country.
Currently, Dr. Stevens is a consultant with the Mathematics Education Group and works with various school districts and SRI International. Her interests include a focus on strengthening teachers' knowledge of mathematics content and the ways in which this knowledge is used to advance student discourse and problem-solving skills.
Gucci Trinidad
Gucci Estrella Trinidad is a education researcher at SRI International's Center for Technology in Learning. Estrella Trinidad conducts international studies and develops and implements research programs across multinational contexts to understand the use of technology in education. Examples of her research are the design and implementation of the ITL Research and LEAP21 programs that examine innovative teaching and learning in eight countries, a survey of representatives from the Ministry of Education of 25 countries to describe national policies and programs related to information and communication technologies in education, and the development and evaluation of mathematics curricula in collaboration with researchers and educators in Singapore and London.
Estrella Trinidad has managed evaluations and randomized controlled trials of technology-based interventions, including the Scaling Up SimCalc project and subsequent implementations in other locations, working closest with teachers to support and understand the conditions that facilitate adoption and scaling and developing systems that facilitate distributed collaboration. Further, she leads professional development for educators and presents papers to international audiences, drawing on her prior experience as a teacher, school administrator, and management consultant.
Ken Rafanan
Ken Rafanan is a research social scientist at SRI International's Center for Technology in Learning. He develops learning activity systems integrating teacher professional development, curriculum, assessment, and technology designed to enhance learning of critical mathematics.
Rafanan's recent work has focused on the use of tablet computers structuring collaborative learning activities for learning early mathematics in preschools in the United States as well as the use of tablet computers in middle school mathematics in the United Kingdom. He currently co-leads the curriculum development and the delivery of professional development on the Cornerstone Mathematics project. He has helped develop assessments for use in preschools and elementary school, middle school and community college classrooms using an evidence centered design framework. Ken also contributes to CTL’s research efforts in informal learning environments.
Hee-Joon Kim, PhD
Dr. Hee-Joon Kim is an independent consultant in Mathematics Education. She received Ph.D in Mathematics Education from the University of Texas at Austin. She was born and raised in Seoul, Korea, where she is certified as a secondary math teacher. She has experiences in designing curriculum materials and researching teacher knowledge.
David Reider
David Reider is Principal Partner of Education Design, an educational consulting firm in Boston specializing in program evaluation for K12 and post-secondary projects in science, technology, and arts education. He has led evaluations for projects supported by NSF, NASA, NOAA, U.S. Dept of Education, and private foundations. Current projects include many that bring together technology and STEM learning, and range from NSF ADVANCE for minority women in academic careers (with USM and USA) to preschool math on iPads (Next Generation Preschool Math, with SRI, EDC, and WGBH) to Adolescent Girls and Identity through technology (CompuGirls, with ASU and University of Denver) to Complex Systems in High School Biology, with MIT). He is formerly Visiting Associate Professor at University of Massachusetts, Boston, where he directed technology learning programs and initiatives, Research Scientist at Boston College Lynch School of Education, and Research Scientist at BBN Systems and Technologies. He is formerly, formerly, formerly, a professional jazz musician.
Seth Meyers
Seth Meyers has been developing innovative educational technology solutions for more than 30 years. Currently principal of Simulation Curriculum, he has worked at Sesame Street, Scholastic, and other similar establishments. He sincerely hopes he has learned something in all that time. If not, he guesses the fame, fabulous wealth inherent to the field will just have to suffice. That or the gratitude of teachers & students everywhere.
Amy Hafter
Amy Hafter is a research scientist in SRI International's Center for Technology in Learning. She came to SRI with a background in teaching and teacher education. She was a mentor teacher in California for several years and was a curriculum development specialist, school partner, and teacher trainer at Northeastern Illinois University’s Chicago Teachers’ Center.
At SRI, Hafter has managed large-scale quantitative data collection efforts; run holistic and rubric-driven scoring sessions; developed surveys, field instruments, and scoring rubrics; and conducted site visits, performing observations, field interviews, and professional development sessions with teachers and administrators. Her work has focused on learning among preschoolers through community college-age students.
Her project work has included running the quantitative data collection for a five-year, $7 million study of Writing Professional Development for the National Writing Project and co-leading the Khan Academy Evaluation study with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
