PEOPLE

Joseph E Michaelis
Director and Principle Investigator
Joe is the Director of the Learning + Interest + Technology Lab. Joe's research focuses on social interactions between children and robots in learning contexts. Interest development is at the forefront of this work, and each project is designed to utilize the social interactions with robots to support robot-assisted learning and interest in STEM domains.

Rabia Ibtasar
Graduate Research Assistant
Rabia is a PhD student at the Learning Sciences Research Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her research focuses on improving the experience of women in computer science learning environments and fostering a sense of belonging for young learners in this field.
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Paul Hatch
Graduate Research Assistant
Paul is a PhD student at the Learning Sciences Research Institute at the UIC. Prior to joining LSRI, he practiced industrial design at a global consultancy. His interests are in technology to aid learning, interest development, and visualization methods for conceptualization and collaboration.

Samuel Arnold
Graduate Research Assistant
Sam is a PhD student at the Learning Sciences Research Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Sam's research focuses on designing educational technologies for improving student engagement and motivation while learning.

Md Anisur Rahman
Graduate Research Assistant
Anis is a PhD student in Computer Science at UIC. Anis's research focuses on User Interface designs for educational technologies. He has experience in HCI and as a full-stack software engineer including JavaScript, CSS, accessibility and UX design and contributes to open source and privacy initiatives. He enjoys cricket, chess and ping pong.

Veronica Grosso
Graduate Research Assistant
Veronica is a PhD student in Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Undergraduate Research Assistants


Hope Jo
Research Assistant
Hope Jo is an undergraduate student majoring in Computer Science + Design at the University of Illinois Chicago. She enjoys teaching students programming, graphic design, and is interested in researching more about computer science outreach.

Isaac Felix
Research Assistant

Isaac Felix is an undergraduate majoring in computer science at UIC.
Alumni
Sylvia Joseph
Research Assistant

Ese Omene
Research Assistant


Halli Lecanlale
Research Assistant


Aishat Durojaiye
Research Assistant
Fernando Mantilla
Research Assistant


Aliza Lisan
Graduate Research Assistant
Zara Bangash
Research Assistant

Ravel Valdez
Research Assistant


Haeun Kim
Research Assistant

Emily Carroso
Research Assistant

Meghan Guo
Research Assistant

Daniyal Siddiqui
Research Assistant


Sarah Athar
Research Assistant


Hilda Mendoza-Avila
Research Assistant


Kelsey Schultz
Research Assistant


Angie Salguero
Research Assistant


Grace Pnacek
Research Assistant

Cecilia Heineke
Research Assistant


Kessie Olekanma
Research Assistant


Rose Maxime
Research Assistant


Seema Khan
Research Assistant

Samhita Chandu
Research Assistant

Amanda Wolski
Research Assistant

Seyfal Sultanov
Research Assistant
