Assisting Dr. Chris Thomas with research including work on projects related to democracy, education law, and other topics of mutual interest along with other duties, such as teaching, as assigned.

The AI-SAC serves as a liason between the AI2 center and the UF student body. The committee directors are responsible for helping facilitate educational and professional experiences for students interested in AI, including participation in AI days competitions, research labs, and other academic activities.In my role, I am building a network of graduate student mentors from each field to guide undergraduate mentees through the process of making a space for themselves in AI research related to their majors.

Summer fellowship involving half-time work with a local non-profit paired with half-time work for elected officials from the NOLA school board and the Louisiana state senate researching and developing policies to help the unique decentralized charter district of the Orleans Parish better serve students and families.

Post-grad continuation of graduate research assistantship with the Lastinger Center for Learning at UF.

Manipulated data from Lastinger Center servers using SQL, Azure Synapse Analytics, DataGrip and RStudioAided supervisor with literature reviews by finding and summarizing key points from relevant publicationsShadowed supervisor in Lastinger Center team meetings related to data access, agendas, and research productsPerformed thematic analyses with a deductive, theoretical approach to make sense of qualitative survey dataCo-authored papers for conferences and journals by contributing literature reviews, analyses and results write-upsSupervised undergraduate student lab assistant in activities pertaining to Virtual Learning Lab research

Worked with the Institute for Student Achievement division, primarily on projects evaluating and supporting continuous improvement of the Women of Color in Education Collaborative. Also contributed to the analysis of data from school outreach initiatives.

Advised organization on existing literature and future research endeavorsDesigned multiple studies addressing supervisor’s research questions informed by past studiesObtained IRB Exemption determination for cross-sectional study on the effect of teachers’ attachment security and other internal experiences on their classroom management abilities and their students’ subsequent behaviorObtained consent from corresponding authors for the use of existing survey instrumentsWrote additional survey items addressing novel research questions to be used alongside existing measuresFacilitated pretesting and discussed potential improvements with members of the target demographicRecruited survey participants online via social media, emails to sponsor’s subscribers, and word of mouthAutomated spreadsheets to compute compound variables from participants’ survey responsesPerformed various statistical analyses as appropriate, including exploratory structural equation modelingAuthored an academic manuscript and contributed chapters to the sponsor’s book on trauma-informed teaching

Met biweekly with the PI and RA team to discuss progress on ongoing lab assignments and new plansRegularly presented updates on my independent projects to the other RAs to help Dr. Wang demonstrate the full research process, including study design, IRB approval, recruitment, survey administration and data analysisImproved upon peers’ analytical plans for hypothesis testing and performed various statistical analyses in SPSSDesigned visual aids and helped translate findings into reader-friendly blurbs for symposium poster presentationContributed to code book development for verbatim data from survey responses and attended related trainings

Designed longitudinal archival study into the effect of Covid-19 on social media users from different countriesDeveloped coding scheme based on past literature into mass trauma and world assumptionsObtained IRB Exempt approval for two independent supervised studiesPerformed small pilot study for educational purposes, then identified flaws, developed improved methodological and analytical plans, and repeated the experiment with larger sampleTrained study team of three peers from mentor’s lab to apply coding schemes for interrater reliabilityCoded over 45,000 statements from 337 participants who met the inclusion criteriaPerformed statistical analyses and translated findings into an academic manuscript with visual representationsAuthored comprehensive literature review and connected findings from the new data to existing researchCoordinated a collaboration between the University of Florida and Light Blue Learning to support a research opportunity with limited funding

Shadowed court-appointed guardians in their advocacy and representation of the indigent elderly, disabled, and mentally ill by accompanying them to ward visits, support team meetings, and continuing education courses while documenting visit/meeting summaries and case management events, which I then submitted to the central elder affairs information database according to state protocols.

Performed clerical work to gain general professional experience and skills on an as-needed basis, including assisting with reception, template creation, data entry, service provider contact management, and the maintenance of up-to-date digital and physical case records for over 100 wards

Observed and aided middle school teachers at Branford High in language arts, social studies, career education, and general education for self-contained ESE during 3 separate education/teaching classes at North Florida College and the University of Florida, totaling 12 months of servicePerformed basic clerical duties and classroom management assistance by distributing and organizing papers, keeping students on-task, supervising students in the teacher’s absence, enforcing classroom rules, and providing additional instruction and help to students upon requestProvided individualized instruction to ESE students in a location separate from other students as needed, successfully resulting in mastery of attempted learning goals in both language arts and mathematics

Initially served as a volunteer peer tutor before graduating and starting a small tutoring businessMarketed, managed, and delivered tutoring services to students in the local communityDesigned and administered pretests based on graded assignments and tests provided by clientsDesigned individualized lesson plans based on pretest performance and discussions with students and parentsCorresponded with clients’ instructors for insight into observed behaviors, needs, and progress over timeSuccessfully taught 2 early elementary students to write, identify phonetics, and comprehend beginner readingsImproved multiple clients’ scores in 7th grade mathematics, algebra 1 & 2, geometry, and introductory statisticsProvided academic advice, motivation, and on-call support to clients as neededHelped clients develop general study skills and build confidence in their academic abilities