Devyn Shafer is a fifth-year doctoral candidate in Physics Education Research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Her research focuses on student transitions from high school to college engineering programs as well as high school physics teacher professional development. She has experience using both quantitative and qualitative research methods. As a mentor, she would be happy to help mentees think about research directions, find resources, and navigate the PhD process. She would also be willing to support mentees in sharing their work through writing, posters, and presentations.

Diana Sachmpazidi is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Maryland, College Park. Diana received her Ph.D. in Science Education/Physics at Western Michigan University in 2021. Her research interests lie in the area of departmental/institutional change, research on teams for instructional change, and student-group thinking in introductory physics labs. Currently, she is working on the Effective Practices for Physics Programs (EP3) project. This study focuses on understanding how departmental stakeholders within local departmental teams think about and change the culture of assessment. Diana enjoys swimming, hiking, and watching movies in her free time.

Alanna Pawlak is an Assistant Teaching Professor at the University of Washington Bothell. She earned her Ph.D. in Physics from Michigan State University in 2018. Her research focuses on collaborative learning environments in introductory physics, including collaborative student reasoning, group dynamics, and learning assistant teaching approaches. Prior to joining UW Bothell in 2021, Alanna taught courses at the University of Colorado Boulder and Front Range Community College, and she was a Research Associate on two institutional change initiatives at the University of Colorado Boulder. Alanna is happy to support mentees in navigating the Ph.D. process and job searches, particularly for folks considering teaching-focused positions.

Nick Young is a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Academic Innovation at the University of Michigan. His work uses educational data at scale to understand how to make higher ed more equitable. He earned his PhD in physics education research and computational mathematics, science, and engineering at Michigan State University. His dissertation studied the graduate admissions process in physics using machine learning. Outside of the lab, he regularly engages in science communication efforts.

I am in my 4th semester at Purdue University. I have completed my Physics core courses, and I am into PER.

I have moved to grad school after a long career as a Senior School Physics teacher for 30 years in Chennai, India. I have a personal physics laboratory back home where I used to design experiments. I had provided hands-on training for students and teachers to design experiments on their own. It has always been my endeavor to make learning of Physics  meaningful, engaging and fruitful for my students. 

I am now focusing on using Qualitative Research Methods in PER. I would also be exploring Quantitative Methods next semester. Inclusivity in Physics, e-learning, using technology in Physics Education, peer learning and hands-on learning are few of my interests. 

He is a Graduate/Visiting Lecturer.

I was physics teacher then I interested to design new curriculum for my class so I decided to apply for PER. 

My main interest in PER is concentrate on research about curriculum design by using research-based methods. I am main qualitative researcher. Also, I use machine learning in my research too.