OUR TEAM
FACULTY, STAFF, & STUDENTS
The project is hinged on contributions from a multidisciplinary, cross campus effort made up of professors, undergraduate and graduate students from the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE), Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), Computer Science and Engineering (CSE), and Psychology departments, and the Teaching + Learning Commons (T+LC) at UCSD. Together we work towards finding the most beneficial form of oral exams, and to develop an instructional assistants training program that properly prepares the instructional team for effective oral exams administration.
Principle Investigator: Dr. Huihui Qi
Dr. Huihui Qi is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California San Diego. She teaches a range of mechanics and engineering design courses. Her research in engineering education is to investigate pedagogical approaches that support engineering students' success, promote deep learning and critical thinking, and trigger and sustain students' intrinsic learning motivation, help students to become effective self-regulated learners through lectures, learning activities, assessments, and learning space design.
She is the PI of two NSF funded project
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Empowering engineering students to become more effective and self-regulated learners: A course-integrated intervention to promote the transfer of learning skills​
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For the Statics and Solid Mechanics classes she teaches, Dr. Qi designed and implemented oral exams and associated assignments (explanatory think-aloud homework questions, and guided group discussions) to promote students' deep learning and metacognition.
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Email: huqi@ucsd.edu
Dr. Nate Delson
Role in NSF Project: Co-PI
Dr. Nathan Delson is a Senior Teaching Professor in the Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at UC San Diego. As a Teaching Professor at UCSD he introduced a freshmen hands-on design course, expanded the capstone design course, and started a course on product design and entrepreneurship. His research in engineering education includes methods to increase student motivation, creativity, teamwork, and integration of theory into design projects. He has co-developed a software application that uses freehand sketching on touchscreens to improve students’ spatial visualization abilities and their persistence. Delson was the founding faculty director of the EnVision Arts and Engineering Maker Studio (2016-2019). He has co-founded two companies and holds over 10 patents.
Dr. Marko Lubarda
Role in NSF Project: Co-PI
Dr. Marko Lubarda is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at UC San Diego. He is dedicated to engineering pedagogy and enriching students' learning experiences through curriculum design, teaching innovations, and support of undergraduate student research. His teaching andresearch activities are in the areas of mechanics, materials science, computational methods, engineering mathematics, and magnetic nanotechnologies. Dr. Lubarda's education research explores peer dynamics, social learning, the role of language in learning, metacognitive development, professional identity formation, academic integrity, and educational technology.
Dr. Carolyn Sandoval
Role in NSF Project: Co-PI
Dr. Carolyn Sandoval is the Senior Director of Instruction and Pedagogy and Director of the Engaged Teaching Hub in the Teaching + Learning Commons at UC San Diego. In these roles, she leads efforts that promote faculty and student success in teaching and learning. She has worked in higher education for over 30 years and has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in learning theories, research methods, and social justice education. She has published several peer-reviewed articles and serves as a co-PI on multiple NSF education grants.
Dr. Curt Schurgers
Role in NSF Project: Co-PI
Dr. Curt Schurgers is a Teaching Professor in the UCSD Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. His research and teaching are focused on course redesign, active learning, and project-based learning. He also co-directs an undergraduate research program, Engineers for Explorations, in which undergraduates spearhead real-world engineering challenges that impact the world of exploration and resource conservation. Curt Schurgers received his B.S./M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium) and his Ph.D. from UCLA.
Dr. Leal Klement
Role in NSF Project: Senior Personnel
Leah Klement is the Training Manager for UC San Diego's Office of Ethics & Compliance. In this role, she advises on and supports ethics and compliance training design, assessment, analytics, and strategy on the divisional and campuswide level. Prior to working for the Office of Ethics & Compliance, Leah served as an Education Specialist at UC San Diego's Teaching and Learning Commons. At the Commons, she worked with campus educators to advance student-centered, equitable, and effective teaching practices, and was a key partner on several education research projects. Her work focuses on creating more innovative, inclusive, and open learning opportunities for all UC San Diego learners.
Dr. Josephine Relaford-Doyle
Role in NSF Project: Senior Personnel
Dr. Josephine Relaford-Doyle works to help UCSD instructors and faculty use powerful research-based methods in their teaching practice.  She also supports instructors in creating inclusive classrooms in which all students feel valued, supported, and empowered. Josephine has taught mathematics at a large public high school for five years. She also taught in the Advancement via Individual Determination (AVID) program and was an AVID faculty developer in active learning and focused note-taking. She finished her PhD in Cognitive Science at UCSD in 2022; her research focuses on the relationships between everyday concepts and mathematical knowledge, and is intended to help mathematics instructors better calibrate their assumptions regarding students’ background knowledge.
Dr. Alex Phan
Role in NSF Project: Senior Personnel
Dr. Alex Phan is the inaugural Executive Director for Student Success in the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego. Prior to his appointment, he has served as an engineering instructor teaching across multiple divisions, including the Jacobs School of Engineering (Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Eng., Dean's Office Unit) and UC San Diego Division of Extended Studies. His teaching interests and expertise are in experiential learning, holistic education models, active learning environments, and metacognition. In his current role, he leads the IDEA Student Center, a prolific student-centered resource hub at the Jacobs School that serves as a model for student success units across the country.
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Dr. Sahar Baghdadchi
Role in NSF Project: Senior Personnel
Dr. Saharnaz Baghdadchi is an Associate Teaching Professor at UC San Diego. She is interested in scholarly teaching and employs active learning techniques to empower students to attain an expert level of critical thinking. Her expertise facilitates students' journey towards connecting facts with practical knowledge to tackle complex engineering challenges. She excels in crafting innovative assessments and explores their impact on enhancing students' learning outcomes and fostering an inclusive educational environment.
Dr. Maziar Ghazinejad
Role in NSF Project: Senior Personnel
Dr. Maziar Ghazinejad is an associate teaching professor of Mechanical andAerospace Engineering at UC San Diego. Ghazinejad's research expertise centers around advanced materials, nanotechnology, engineering mechanics, and design. As an engineering educator, Ghazinejad applies active learning techniques to develop curricula and pedagogical models for engineering design, mechanics, and advanced manufacturing. He was named a 2020-2022 Changemaker Faculty Fellow and a recipient of the UCSD 2022 Distinguished Teaching Award at UC San Diego for his contribution to engineering pedagogy. Learn more: https://jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/node/3628
Dr. Minju Kim
Role in NSF Project: Senior Personnel
Dr. Minju Kim is a postdoctoral scholar at Engaged Teaching at the UCSD Teaching+Learning Commons. Minju received her Ph.D in Experimental Psychology at UC San Diego. Minju promotes the implementation of evidence-based teaching practices in classrooms through research and consultations. For this project, Minju has developed training materials for teaching assistants for creating an equitable learning environment. She also conducted quantitative analysis on the value of oral exams as early diagnostic tool. Minju is interested in promoting metacognitive learning skills for deep conceptual learning and self-guided learning.
Dr. Celeste Pilegard
Role in NSF Project: Senior Personnel
Dr. Pilegard received her Ph.D. in Psychological and Brain Sciences from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research falls at the intersection of cognitive psychology and educational psychology: she is interested in how we learn and how, as a consequence, we should teach.  A major focus of her research is facilitating transfer-- that is, helping students apply what they've learned to new situations. Areas of investigation include educational games, spatial skills, metacognition, gesture, and multimedia learning.
Dr. Mia Minnes
Role in NSF Project: Senior Personnel
Mia Minnes is a Teaching Professor and the Vice-Chair for Undergraduate Education in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at UC San Diego. In addition to research related to Automata Theory and Computability education, she works on projects that support professionalization pathways for students, including industry internships, TA development, and ethics and communication. Her work has been supported by grants from UC San Diego, NSF, and industry partners. She is the recipient of the UC San Diego Senate Distinguished Teaching Award and the Jacobs School of Engineering Teacher of the Year - CSE award.
Joanna Boval
Role in NSF Project: Project Advisor
Joanna Boval serves as the Director of the Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD) at UC San Diego, which determines and facilitates reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities across campus colleges, divisions, and programs. She has served in various leadership roles on the Staff Association and the Veterans Staff Association and works on various system wide initiatives and projects, including the Management Skills Assessment Program (MSAP).
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Xuan Gedney
Role in NSF Project: Research Assistant
Xuan Gedney is a fourth year undergraduate student at UC San Diego majoring in Aerospace Engineering. Xuan assists with data processing by analyzing student responses to oral exams and helps to create visual aids for conferences. She became interested in how oral exams help students learn after taking oral exams as a student, and administering them as an IA. Xuan hopes to become a graduate student and earn a Masters in Aerospace Engineering. Outside of school, Xuan’s hobbies include hiking, reading, and attempting to learn how to play the piano.
Tony Wang
Role in NSF Project: Research Assistant
Tony Wang is a third year undergraduate student at UC San Diego with a major in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Data Science. Tony has been a research assistant at the Pedagogy Design Lab to study, analyze and visualize the data from students' responses to oral exams in order to learn the effects of oral exams on engineering students' learning. Tony is passionate about mechanical designing and fun mechanisms, and tries to further his interests in industries and real world projects. Outside of school, Tony enjoys running and photography.
Torus Washington II
Role in NSF Project: Research Assistant
Torus Washington II is a PhD student in the Nanoengineering department where his research broadly focuses on nanomedicine and targeted cancer drug delivery. He completed his undergraduate education at Georgia Institute of Technology (2010-2015) and his Master’s at University of Central Florida (2015-2017). His primary teaching interests include the role of student interest in learning and teaching for knowledge retention. He has served as a graduate teaching consultant for over 4 years at Engaged Teaching at the UCSD Teaching+Learning Commons. Within the role, he most enjoys building relationships and one-on-one interactions with others while completing the great work and research conducted at the Engaged Teaching.
ADVISORS
We thank our project advisors for their feedback and advice for project and research improvement.
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