People

People

L4L end-of-the-year celebration group photo

Principal Investigator

Paola Uccelli

Paola Uccelli is Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the convener of the Language for Learning Research Team. With a background in linguistics, she studies socio-cultural and individual differences in students' language and literacy development throughout the school years.

Paola Uccelli speaking in classroom

Co-Principal Investigators

Christopher D. Barr
Dr. Barr is the Director of Assessment and Evaluation of STEM Programs at Rice University. He has been an evaluator and psychometric expert on several federally funded projects in education, natural science, and engineering. His focus is to conduct...
Headshot of Christopher D. Barr

Veronica Boix-Mansilla
Dr. Verónica Boix-Mansilla is an international expert in global and intercultural education. Her research examines conditions that enable individuals to understand and take action on the most pressing issues of our times (migration, sustainability...
veronica_profile

Beatriz Cardoso
Beatriz Cardoso, President of the Laboratório de Educação. She holds a Ph.D. in Education from the Universidade de São Paulo (USP) and a Specialization from the Institut Municipal d’Educació, Barcelona, where she worked with Prof. Ana Teberosky. Beatriz...
Beatriz Cardoso

Alejandra Meneses
Alejandra Meneses, Associate Professor, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Her research focuses on language for school literacy and science learning. She earned her doctorate in Linguistics at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso and...
Alejandra Meneses

Emily Phillips Galloway
Emily Phillips Galloway is Assistant Professor at the Peabody School of Education, Vanderbilt University. Rooted in her experiences as a former middle school reading specialist, her research explores the relations between school-relevant language...
Emily Phillips Galloway

Co-Investigator

Wenjuan Qin
Wenjuan Qin is an associate professor at the College of Foreign Languages and Literature, Fudan University, China. She received her doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her teaching and researching focus on language development as...
Wenjuan Qin

L4L Research Team Coordinator

Bailey Buchanan
Bailey Buchanan is a PhD student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education where she studies the intersection of linguistics and education in multilingual contexts. Her research explores language and literacy development throughout the school years...
Bailey

CALS Project Coordinator

Linda Andreev
Linda Andreev is an advanced PhD student at HGSE with a strong interest in language and literacy. Her dissertation examines teacher’s talk in the context of a discussion-based curriculum for English learners. Linda’s other research focuses on a)...
Linda Andreev

Current PhD students and Research Assistants

Josh Bednorz
Josh is a Research Assistant for the Language for Learning Team at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Eliot-Pearson Center for Child Study and Human Development at Tufts University. His research interests encompass developmental and...
Josh B.

Sining Tao
Sining Tao is a PhD student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she studies multilingual learners’ language and literacy development across diverse educational settings. She is particularly interested in practice-embedded research that (1)...
Sining Tao headshot

Nika Nabifar
Nika Nabifar holds a master’s degree in Education with a concentration in Language and Literacy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her work focuses on the role of dialogue and discussion in fostering engagement and improving reading...
Nika Profile Photo

L4L Visiting Scholars and Friends

Manar Hazzaa
HGSE Visiting Scholar (2022-2024)
Postgraduate Researcher, University of Leeds
Manar is an Egyptian award-winning children’s book author. She is currently a postgraduate researcher at the University of Leeds, UK. Her research focuses on studying attitudes and behaviors of adult readers when reading picture books to children. Hazzaa...
Manar Profile Photo

Ferda İlerten
HGSE Visiting scholar (2024-2025; 2019)
Lecturer, Yildiz Technical University/Istanbul
Ferda Ilerten is a researcher and lecturer specializing in bilingualism and foreign language education. Currently a visiting researcher at the HGSE under the TÜBİTAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye) postdoctoral research...
Ferda Headshot

Dongying Li
HGSE Visiting Scholar (2024-2025; 2019-2020)
Associate Professor, Nanjing Normal University
Dongying Li is currently an associate professor at the school of foreign languages and cultures in Nanjing Normal University. Her research interests mainly include second language writing, second language pedagogy and teacher education. Her work aims to...
Dongying headshot

Mike Thompson
Co-Founder + CEO of Groovelit
Mike is Co-Founder and CEO of Groovelit, an innovative technology platform that transforms writing instruction using gamification to make it engaging and accessible for every student. With a master's degree in Learning Design, Innovation, and Technology...
Mike headshot

Former L4L Members

Emilio Sánchez
Professor of Educational Psychology at University of Salamanca (Spain)

Claire Jo
Assistant Professor, Yonsei University
HGSE Ed.D.

Qihan Chen
Ph.D. Student, Boston College, Lynch School of Education and Human Development
Ed.M., Harvard Graduate School of Education