About

Joyce Malyn-Smith, project Principal Investigator (PI), is a Distinguished Scholar at EDC and a national expert on STEM career development and workforce education. She leads a body of work that explores how to enhance STEM learning and support people in using their STEM skills, knowledge, and dispositions to pursue productive and rewarding careers. Her projects develop industry/education connections in computational thinking, big data, artificial intelligence (AI), and other advanced technologies. Malyn-Smith’s research focuses on the future of work and its implications for lifelong learning. She investigates the foundational skills K–20 students need to prepare for work at the Human-Technology Frontier. She holds an EdD from Boston University in business/career education and bilingual education leadership.

Neil Schiavo is an expert in educational equity and evaluating and leading large-scale education initiatives. He oversees the evaluation elements of the project. He brings deep understanding of culturally responsive approaches, systems-change, quantitative and qualitative research methods, and student-centered approaches for instruction and assessment. Prior to his role on the team, Schiavo led evaluation and research projects for a variety of federal and philanthropic funders, with recent projects including the Sherwood Foundation funded evaluation of a district-wide equity initiative in Omaha Public Schools; the “Assets and Needs for Advancing Educational Equity in New England,” a comprehensive assessment of the field of educational racial equity in the region funded by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation; and, the evaluation of the Zeroing in on Math initiative in Boston Public Schools.

Anne Wang leads the PACE DSC technical assistance team, supporting DSC teams in using the continuous improvement process to spearhead their district CS initiative. She co-wrote a guide for building a culture of continuous improvement and supports districts in establishing continuous improvement systems.

Deborah Boisvert is a Senior Project Manager at EDC and serves as a member of the PACE DSC technical team, supporting DSC teams with the computer science content knowledge to spearhead their district CS initiatives. She also is the Executive Director of CSforMA, Inc. which serves as the Massachusetts Regional Partner for Code.org providing the infrastructure for the CS Discoveries yearlong professional development and ongoing PLC and technical assistance for educators in this grant.

Nadia Foster brings solid leadership in what she likes to describe “population health improvement to ensure equitable public education and community health access”. Nadia’s work in K-12 systems was instrumental in working with district teams across the Commonwealth to design and implement small learning communities and/or Boston Pilot School autonomies. Nadia’s most recent work has focused on developing and implementing student success programming focused on college access & persistence plus early college & career awareness for middle school youth. In addition, she was able to leverage her experiences as an education community organizer to ensure state-wide health care reform access to the under-resourced.

Dr. Beryl Hoffman is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Elms College in Western Massachusetts. Her research interests are in computer science education and broadening participation in computer science for female and minority students. In her NSF and Google research grants, she develops curriculum and trains teachers for AP high school and college courses involving mobile apps, Java, and robotics. In the PACE project, she works with rural Western Mass middle schools as part of the Technical Assistance team.

Kirsten Peterson, project Professional Development Design Lead, is an expert in online instructional design and interpersonal learning. At EDC she has spent the past two decades creating innovative, effective learning experiences for diverse groups of learners. She brings extensive expertise in managing complex initiatives, facilitating professional learning communities, and scaling and sustaining online learning programs. As co-PI of the National Science Foundation-funded Online Professional Development for Exploring Computer Science (ECS) initiative, Peterson and her colleagues are designing, implementing, and researching capacity-building online professional development for ECS teachers. Nationwide, she has led teams of online curriculum developers, instructors, media developers, and technical specialists in providing custom online development and consulting services for K–12, higher education, cultural institutions, nonprofits, and other organizations. She holds a BA in English Literature from Montana State University and an EdM in Technology in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Anne is the Director of STEM at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Anne also represents DESE on the grant leadership team.

Heidi Larson provides communication and social media support to the project. A digital education specialist and senior manager at EDC, she leads and co-leads initiatives that build capacity to improve learning throughout the lifespan. Heidi specializes in educational technology, training and technical assistance, instructional design, product development, networking and collaboration, professional development, and communications strategy.

NJ is the Digital Literacy and Computer Science Program Coordinator at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. NJ also represents DESE on the grant leadership team and supports the grant’s Technical Assistance team.

Leana Nordstrom is an expert in communications, event management, product management, and fostering peer-to-peer professional learning at EDC. She leads the design of publications, infographics, videos, websites, and events that advance efforts to improve the quality and equity of education, with a special focus on STEM education and early learning. Nordstrom heads up communications and network-building for EDC’s Oceans of Data Institute, First 10, and CADRE (Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education), creating content and managing social media, newsletters, and websites. Nordstrom facilitates a community of practice comprising 80+ members from two- and four-year colleges working to build industry-aligned data programs. She has also managed event planning for multiple projects at EDC, including regional and global events for the Amgen Biotech Experience Program Office. Before EDC, Nordstrom worked at Public Interest GRFX and served in the Peace Corps as an Environmental Education Extension Agent in Senegal, W. Africa. Nordstrom holds a BA in Environmental Studies from Bates College and received her PMD Pro Certification as a project manager from APMG International. She is proficient in German and fluent in English.

Cecilia is an American Evaluation Association Graduate Education Diversity Internship (GEDI) intern who has an M.S. in occupational therapy. She is assisting with equity literature review, data analysis, and interpretation for PACE.

Xinxin Zhang is a research associate at EDC and serves as a data analyst to the project team on evaluation. Her prior experience includes federally-funded research initiatives focused on STEM education and college and career readiness programs, such as career academies and work-based learning, dual enrollment programs, STEM project-based learning interventions, and the development of children’s computational thinking skills.