Meet Our Doctoral Students

Doctoral students in the School of Education are committed to advancing their fields through thoughtful, innovative research. They are deeply involved in the community and gain hands-on experience through apprenticeships, practica, internships, faculty research and grants, and more. Meet some students from across our Ph.D. and Ed.D. programs!

Jean Molly Ameru (she/her/hers)

  • Research Focus: Critical Race Theory/DisCrit, navigating AI in Inclusive Special Education instruction
  • Teaching Assistant
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Gideon Banson

John Beecher

  • Research Focus: Sustainability of Inclusive Postsecondary Education programs in US
  • SOE Director of Budget and Administration, Syracuse University
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Nikkia Borowski (she/her)

Calissa A. Brown (she/her/hers)

ParKer Bryant (she/her/we)

Caitlin Cafiero (they/she)

  • Research Focus: Epidemic polio and “disabled” as an identity category
  • Teaching Assistant
  • Email | Website

Scott Catucci (he/him)

  • Research Focus: Outdoor education and recreation and student belonging
  • Associate Director for Outdoor Recreation, Syracuse University
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Yanbei Chen (she/her/hers)

  • Research Focus: Emerging technologies; learners’ social-emotional wellbeing; inclusive, resilient approaches to technology integration in education
  • Teaching Assistant
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Ying Chen (she/her)

  • Research Focus: How AI tools can enhance students’ learning experiences and collaboration
  • Research Assistant
  • Email | ResearchGate Profile

Dellareese Cofield-Martinez (she/her)

  • Research Focus: Intergroup Dialogue
  • Associate Dean of Student Engagement, Vanguard University
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Jersey Cosantino (they/them/theirs)

Easton Davis (he/him)

  • Research Focus: Somatic practices through healing circles for Black educators.
  • Teaching Assistant:
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Kennia Delafe (she/her/hers)

  • Research Focus: Academic success and identity in Hispanic-Caribbean students
  • Assistant Director, Project Advance, Syracuse University
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Kate Feldmeier Franz

  • Research Focus: Core literacy programs to support writing instruction
  • Teaching Assistant
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Becky Groat (she/her)

  • Research Focus: Principal burnout
  • Principal, Salem Hyde Elementary School, Syracuse City School District
  • Email

Tamara N. Hamilton (she/her/hers)

  • Research Focus: Academic and career goals of Black women undergraduate STEM majors
  • Director of Program Initiatives, Center for Student Excellence, Syracuse University
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Julie Harnett (she/her)

  • Research Focus: How preservice teachers navigate experiential pedagogies
  • Teaching Assistant/Research Assistant (Center for Experiential Pedagogy and Practice)
  • Email | Website

Carrie Ingersoll-Wood (she/her)

  • Research Focus: Community cultural wealth of first-generation college students, summer bridge programs
  • Director, Disability Cultural Center, Syracuse University
  • Email | LinkedIn

Leytisha Jack (she/her)

  • Research Focus: Use of agentic intelligent systems in AI to optimize pedagogical and practical workflows in higher education
  • Graduate Assistant (Online Learning Services)
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Ethan Jackson (he/him)

  • Research Focus: Accessibility in education, employment, and social activities in the Global South for people with disabilities
  • Teaching Assistant
  • Email

Morgan Jacobs (she/her)

  • Research Focus: Sexuality, sex education, and college students with intellectual disability within inclusive postsecondary education
  • Teaching Assistant
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Qitian Jiang

  • Research Focus: Immersive technologies in STEAM education, AI-assisted instructional design, technology-mediated learning
  • Research Assistant
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Kimana Kibriani (she/her/hers)

  • Research Focus: School leaders’ understanding of Muslim culture and religion and Muslim students’ experiences in k-12 settings
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Lucy Winnie King

Amanda Kingston (she/her)

  • Research Focus: Pre-service teacher, ecofeminism/ecojustice
  • Teaching Assistant
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Titus Kisakye

  • Research Focus: Pre-service teachers’ preparation and understanding of mathematics selected topics through problem solving
  • Teaching Assistant
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Nataliya Kolesova (she/her/hers)

  • Research Focus: Participation in World Para Dance Sport and cultural narratives about disability, embodiment, and inclusion
  • Instructor: FYS 101 First Year Seminar
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Sarah Litt

Yang Liu (she/her/hers)

  • Research Focus: Immersive virtual reality and AI in technology-enhanced learning
  • Intern: Office of Institutional Effectiveness
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Amona Major (she/her)

  • Research Focus: AI integration in online learning environments to foster equity, belonging, and effective teaching and learning
  • Teaching Assistant
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Gabriel Matthews (they/them)

  • Research Focus: Decolonial theory, right to opacity, mad studies, abolitionist university studies
  • Teaching Assistant
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Atiya McGhee (they/them/theirs)

  • Research Focus: Blackness, Black/fat/crip women’s mediations
  • 2025-2026 AAUW Dissertation Fellow, past Teaching Assistant
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Conor Miro (they/them)

  • Research Focus: Queer trainees in mental health counseling education/supervision
  • Graduate Assistant
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Min Paing Moe (he/they)

  • Research Focus Equity, inclusion, and social justice in education, experiences of transnational students and educators in migratory and cross-cultural settings.
  • Teaching Assistant
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile | Google Scholar Profile

Lourdes “Lulú” Morales (she/her/ella)

  • Research Focus: Linguistically diverse students and monolingual and hegemonic language ideologies; Editorial Assistant: Journal of Literacy Research
  • Teaching Assistant
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Kristin Moses (she/her/hers)

Anis Munfarikhatin (she/her)

  • Research Focus: Teacher identity, mathematics literacy, and sociopolitical contexts, justice-oriented mathematics education
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Dwayne Murray

  • Research Focus: Student veteran transition from military service into higher education
  • Deputy Executive Director, Office of Veteran and Military Affairs
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Irene Mutegi (she/her)

  • Research Focus: Mathematics resilience, realistic mathematics education, mathematics teacher education
  • Teaching Assistant
  • Email

Constance Ojwando

  • Research Focus: Problem solving strategies among preservice mathematics teachers
  • Research Assistant
  • Email

Eunji Park (she/her)

Sara Petit-McClure (she/her)

  • Research Focus: Diverse learners’ self-perceptions of preparedness of preservice teachers
  • Teaching Assistant
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Cam Powell (he/him)

  • Research Focus: Supporting inclusion efforts through elementary peer mentorships
  • Teaching Assistant
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Treasa Praino (she/her)

Shontoria “Tori” Pratt

  • Research Focus: Black feminist theory, intersectionality, and epistemologies of resistance, epistemic violence against Black queer youth
  • Teaching Assistant
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Maria del Mar Aponte Rodriguez (she/her/hers)

  • Research Focus: How Puerto Rican women navigate predominantly white institutions (PWIs) in the continental US
  • Director of the Center for Global Education, Capital University
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Jill Scatena (she/her)

  • Research Focus: Iterative intervention and data review cycles as catalysts for transformative equity within multi-tiered systems
  • Teaching Assistant
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Kahyen Shin (she/her)

Calistus Simiyu (he/him/his)

Fridgo Tasman (he/him)

Xihe Tian (she/her)

Breana Nieves Vergara (she/her/ella)

  • Research Focus: Examining the lived realities of staff of color at PWIs post-Affirmative Action
  • SOE Assistant Director of Graduate Admissions and Recruitment
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Etije Mehdori Walker (She/her/hers)

  • Research Focus: The effectiveness of charter school for marginalized students
  • Teaching Assistant
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Rebekah Wallis (she/they)

  • Research Focus: Inclusive teaching practices, pre-service teacher development, equitable access to education, disability studies.
  • Research Assistant
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Yuyue “Stella” Wang (she/her/hers)

  • Research Focus: Emerging technologies and students’ learning processes
  • Research Assistant
  • Email | Website

Elena Williams (she/her)

  • Research Focus: Career readiness courses and persistence, belonging, and career confidence among undecided liberal arts students
  • Director of First Year Advising, Office of Student Success
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile

Hemalathaa Kasiviswanath Yuvaraja (she/her/hers)

  • Research Focus: Augmented reality iPad app for psychomotor skill learning
  • Teaching Assistant
  • Email | LinkedIn Profile