I’m a PhD candidate and data scientist at the University of Minnesota’s Learning Informatics Lab, where I apply computational and qualitative methods to explore questions about human learning and effective instructional design.

Specifically, (1) how people set, shift, and achieve their goals; (2) how individuals get stuck / unstuck; (3) the influence of digital environments -- their design and informational content -- on goals and behavior; and (4) the learning processes that occur along the way.

I explore these questions in various contexts — software, games, schools — with a mission to develop tools and interventions that enhance learning outcomes and augment goal achievement for everyone. My prior work has involved analyzing goal dynamics using unsupervised learning techniques, applying sequence mining to understand emergent behaviors during problem-solving activities, and modeling the ways students engage with smartphones when learning.

My research and collaborations have been published in ISLS, LAK, ICQE, and other venues. For more context, please visit my GitHub or download my CV.

With my work, I aim to contribute to the development of more goal-sensitive AI systems and interfaces, that can meet users where they are, and dynamically assist in calibrating complex goals in various contexts.

Research Interests: Human-Computer Interaction, Human-Centered Data Science, Instructional Design, Human-AI Partnership, Generative AI, Goal Setting, Problem Solving, Measurement