Hello, I'm Ali! I'm currently an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow at UC Santa Cruz. Prior to this, I got my Bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences at Rutgers University–New Brunswick and then went on to get my Master's in Biological Science Education at the Rutgers Graduate School of Education. After graduating, I taught high school biology and also worked at Khan Academy as a biology content fellow. After Khan Academy, I returned to school to get my PhD in Science and Math Education in the SESAME program at UC Berkeley.
I am determined to make undergraduate STEM education more inclusive, interpersonal, and interdisciplinary. I specialize in assessment evaluation, and design-based research. In my dissertation research, I measured the development of "Innovation Skills" in undergraduate students taking a Challenge-Based Learning course called "Bioinspired Design." In this course, students work in collaborative, interdisciplinary teams to sold design problems in society with design solution inspired by nature. In my postdoctoral research, I'm focused on assessing the impact of field-based courses on student learning outcomes.
