The following list is current as of March 22, 2019 with individuals who are participating in the California Learning Lab proposal “Reimagining the Introductory Math Curriculum for Life Science Students: Technology-Supported Pathways for Equitable Achievement of Quantitative Literacy”:

Institution Name Title Project Role
Principal Investigators (*host institution responsible for receipt of funds/grant administration)
Santa Monica College (SMC) Jamey Anderson Professor of Chemistry, Department Chair; INCLUDES Alliance Co-Lead representing CCCs Co-PI
Jamey obtained a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from U.C.L.A. in 1995. His dissertation topic was on the photophysics and photochemistry of several organic molecules including functionalized fullerenes, and the plant pigment found in St. John’s Wort, hypericin. Before coming to SMC in 1998, he was an adjunct faculty member at Los Angeles, Pierce College and Rio Hondo College, as well as an instructor at CSU, Long Beach and UCLA. At SMC, Dr. Anderson has taught introductory, general, and organic chemistry. He is the lead faculty member in the SMC Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Laboratory, located in the basement of the science building. He regularly involves students in independent study classes using this wonderful resource. Jamey has been serving as the Co-Lead for the NSF INCLUDES Aspire initiative representing regional community colleges, and has been deeply engaged efforts to support faculty development initiatives targeting inclusive teaching practices and increasing diversity of teaching faculty regionally. He has represented this work at national meetings and conferences in the past three years. He participated in the Summer Institute for Scientific Teaching at UCLA in 2018, and is co-PI for this California Learning Lab proposal.
California State University Los Angeles (CSULA) Nancy McQueen Professor of Microbiology, Associate Dean of the College of Natural and Social Sciences; INCLUDES Alliance Co-Lead representing CSUs Co-PI
Dr. McQueen received her Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from the UCLA Medical School in 1986, followed by post-doctoral training in Biology at Beckman Research Institute at the City of Hope. She joined the faculty at California State University, Los Angeles, as an Assistant Professor in 1989. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 1995, and to full Professor in 2000. Dr. McQueen was the recipient of an Outstanding Professor Award at CSULA in 1997,  the CSU system-wide recipient of the Biotechnology Faculty Research Award in 2008, and a Cal State LA Distinguished Women’s Award in 2010. She is a licensed Clinical Laboratory Scientist in the state of California, and is an associate member of the American Society of Clinical Pathology. Dr. McQueen served as the Chairperson of the Biology Department for seven years and has served as Associate Dean of the College of Natural and Social Sciences since 2013. She continues to direct the Clinical Laboratory Scientist and Clincal Genetic Molecular Biologist Scientist Training Certificate Programs offered through the College of Professional and Global Education.
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Blaire Van Valkenburgh Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Associate Dean for Academic Programs, Division of Life Sciences; NSF IUSE PI Co-PI
Professor Blaire Van Valkenburgh holds the Donald R. Dickey Chair in Vertebrate Biology in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UCLA.  She is currently the Curator of the Donald R. Dickey Collection of Birds and Mammals and Associate Dean of Academic Programs in the Division of Life Sciences.  Dr. Van Valkenburgh received her Ph.D. in vertebrate paleobiology from the Johns Hopkins University in 1984. The focus of her over 110 publications is the biology and paleontology of carnivorous mammals, such as hyenas, wolves, and lions. She is an Honorary Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences and was elected a Fellow of the Paleontological Society in 2013. Dr. Van Valkenburgh has appeared in various television documentaries on prehistoric predators ranging from terror birds to sabertooth cats, and is a leading expert on the evolutionary biology of large carnivores, past and present. In her role as Associate Dean, Blaire has been a strong advocate for the revision of the Life Sciences Core Curriculum to revise curriculum to better enhance student learning, decrease disparity gaps, and increase use of evidence-based pedagogy in the classroom, serving as PI on multiple grant initiatives and fostering collaboration among the faculty.
Project Manager (PM)
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)
Erin Sanders O’Leary
Director of the Center for Education Innovation & Learning in the Sciences (CEILS); NSF IUSE Co-PI; NSF INCLUDES Alliance PI
Project manager (PM)
  Dr. Erin Sanders O’Leary has developed and taught an innovative laboratory curriculum involving course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) for Life Science STEM majors in MIMG. She also teaches LS7A, a large-enrollment (>300 students per section) freshman biology course called Cell and Molecular Biology. In her primary role as CEILS Director, she works in collaboration with faculty across the campus to inspire pedagogical change and provide resources to support the transformation of the teaching culture. In the last decade, Dr. Sanders O’Leary has been awarded millions of dollars in federal and foundation grants to support educational initiatives aimed at making UCLA’s teaching culture more innovative, inclusive, and student-centered. She is a published author and nationally recognized research scholar in science education. She was recently awarded a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award by UCLA’s Academic Senate for her extraordinary leadership and commitment to diversity initiatives that strengthen the teaching community and support the academic success of students historically underrepresented and underserved in higher education.
Project Coordinator (PC)
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Jessica Gregg Associate Director of Educational Development for the Center for Education Innovation & Learning in the Sciences (CEILS); NSF INCLUDES Alliance CoPI Project coordinator (PC)
Jess works on multiple initiatives involving the use of data analytics to inform curricular improvements and drive conversations with faculty and college leadership around student success. She facilitates many educational programs and training workshops targeting faculty, graduate students, and postdoctoral scholars. With expertise in instructional design, educational development, and educational counseling she provides individual support to faculty including observation of teaching, consultation on course design and active learning, and training on educational technology implementation. She additional works with groups and departments to implement initiatives such as peer observation of teaching.  She is a Co-PI on the NSF INCLUDES Aspire Award, leading regional and national collaborative efforts to increase diversity in the STEM professoriate across 2- and 4-year institutions.

The Advisor board includes the leadership team and the following:

Institution Name Title Project Role
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Alan Garfinkel Adaptive Learning Technologies Team & Hybrid Course Production Team Advisory Board, Adaptive Learning Technologies Team & Hybrid Course Production Team
Alan brings a 25-year record of applying the ideas of dynamical systems modeling to problems in physiology and medicine, especially cardiac electrophysiology and arrhythmias, vascular calcification, and neurophysiology. His work has been on the cover of PNAS, Circulation Research, The Journal of Clinical Investigation, The Journal of Physiology, and Science News. He developed and teaches the award-winning LS30 sequence “Mathematics for Life Sciences” as well as a new lower-division statistics course, and he is the lead author of the text Modeling Life, the text for the LS30 course. He has experimented with flipped classroom approaches and in this project, he will be leading the development of the video content for the hybrid/flipped LS30 course to be offered as a pilot at UCSC in conjunction with the UCSC faculty Deborah Lewis and Ralph Abraham.
Cal State University Los Angeles Silvia Heubach Professor of Mathematics Advisory Board  & Faculty Participant Years 2-3
Silvia Heubach has a Ph.D.  in Applied Mathematics from the University of Southern California and has been a faculty member at Cal State LA for nearly 25 years. She received the CSULA Outstanding Professor Award, and most recently the CSU Faculty Innovation and Leadership Award. She is dedicated to getting students excited about mathematics and to help students overcome the notion that they cannot do mathematics. She has served as the de-facto PI on an NIH grant to redesign the mathematics sequence for life sciences majors, where she worked with faculty from biology to integrate mathematics topics in the calculus courses with applications in life sciences courses. In addition, she created a new course on Discrete Mathematics Models to replace the usual trigonometry precalculus course. She also is the faculty Learning Community Coordinator for CSULA’s First In The World grant on Flipped Instruction, supporting the grant faculty in developing flipped lesson plans and incorporation of active learning into their classes. Most recently,  she completed the ACUE certificate on Effective Teaching Practices and has successfully integrated many of these best practices into her courses.
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Travis Lee Disabilities and Computing Coordinator Advisory Board
Travis works to improve access to online content for students, staff, and faculty with disabilities. Over the last five years, he has focused on Universal Design for learning and accessibility. Travis is currently a graduate student at the University of Colorado in working toward a Master’s degree in Information and Learning Technologies. His thesis is exploring how online and hybrid education can better serve students with disabilities. Travis is an instructional designer with over 13 years of experience in education and training technology and has worked in many industries within learning technology from software training, to military contracting, to K-12 and currently higher education. He was the lead designer of the University of Southern California Master of Teaching and Master of Social Work online degrees. He has led the design, development, and implementation of over 20 online courses at the University of California. He brings experience building stand-alone learning modules, reusable learning objects in Flash and html5, video production and editing and working with LMSs including Canvas, Moodle and Blackboard. He is focused on creating innovative and interactive learning for students of all ages with an emphasis on a simple and engaging user experience.
UC Santa Cruz Debra Lewis Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Associate Dean for Academic Programs, Division of Life Sciences; NSF IUSE PI Co-PI
Debra Lewis has developed and taught an adaptive + active learning version of College Algebra, and active, quasi-flipped versions of Linear Algebra and Systems of Differential Equations. Lewis led UCSC’s 2015 adoption of ALEKS PPL for math placement, and was the lead PI for the UCSC component of the UC Active Learning Technology Pilot, which investigated adaptively guided summer self-preparation for STEM coursework. She received a UC student success grant supporting development of the UCSC Math Coach placement support site in 2016-17 and continues to serve as math placement wrangler (data-driven targeted outreach, intra-campus liaison, planning, troubleshooting, placement activity and outcomes analysis). Lewis is a co-PI on UCSC’s NSF Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program grant (NSF #1340109), 2014-2019. She is the vice chair of the UC Academic Senate Committee on Preparatory Education, a participant in the 2019 UCSC Transforming STEM Teaching Faculty Learning Program, a member of the Reinvention Collaborative, and the UCSC administrator for the Tools for Evidence-based Action community. Lewis was the UCSC representative on the Santa Cruz County College Commitment mathematics task force (2016-18).
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Janice Reiff Professor in History & Special Assistant to EVC/Provost for Online Instruction Advisory Board
A recipient of a UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award and a holder of Waldo W. Neikirk Term Chair for Innovative Undergraduate Instruction, Dr. Reiff is shaping UCLA’s online curricular development and creating a team of instructional designers to work with faculty in bringing online and blended courses into UCLA’s learning environment.   In thinking about that environment, she is also involved in strategies that share these courses and the digital learning objects made for them with the schools that send students to UCLA and for students transitioning to UCLA. Dr. Reiff heads the Online Teaching and Learning Initiative committee that administers ILTI awards and RFPs supporting online instruction; she oversees associated instructional designers who will work with all faculty involved in course and module development.
 CSU Domingues Hills Philip Viera  Assistant Professor in Psychology  Advisory Board
Dr. Philip Vieira is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at California State Dominguez Hills, a primarily undergraduate, minority-serving institution. He has 10 years of experience teaching underrepresented students in higher education, including courses on learning and memory, neuroscience, and various topics courses for freshmen and senior seminars. At his current institution, he leads several initiatives designed to improve student learning outcomes and student persistence and retention. These include curriculum development for psychology majors (as chair of the departmental curriculum committee), assessment of student learning and pedagogical practices (as chair of the departmental assessment committee), training, implementation and evaluation of High Impact Practices (HIPs) in courses (as director of the university HIPs training program), and coordinator of the campus active learning program. Additionally, he has developed several online courses for the psychology program and is certified in both Quality Matters (QM) and Quality Online Teaching and Learning (QOTL) assessment methods for evaluating online course delivery and is active in the California State University system-wide online course community. Alongside his personal research program on behavioral neuropharmacology, Dr. Vieira is involved in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, piloting several methods for increasing minority student persistence in STEM, and has presented at several conferences on this topic.
 American Mathematical Association for Two-Year Colleges & Mathematics (AMATYC) Laura Watkins Professor of Chemistry, Department Chair; INCLUDES Alliance Co-Lead representing CCCs Co-PI
Dr. Laura Watkins has taught a variety of mathematics courses in higher education for 24 years.  She currently teaches mathematics courses ranging from arithmetic through linear algebra and differential equations, including pre-service elementary teacher courses, at Glendale Community College (GCC), in Glendale, Az. a member of the Maricopa County Community College District. GCC is a Hispanic Serving Institution with the latest IPEDS data showing 37% of students are Hispanic/Latino. Dr. Watkins research interests lie in the teaching and learning of mathematics. She previously served as Co-PI for the six-year, $9 million NSF-MSP project, Arizona Mathematics Partnership, providing professional development for middle-school mathematics teachers in seven partner school districts. In the past, Dr. Watkins led district-wide professional development efforts targeting the teaching and learning of developmental mathematics and currently serves on a district-wide project team tasked with developmental education redesign. Dr. Watkins is currently the PI of the four-year, $2.38 million NSF-funded project, Algebra instruction at community colleges: an exploration of its relationship with student success, seeking to understand the characteristics of faculty, students, and instruction that lead to success for all students in community college algebra courses. Additionally, she currently serves as the PI for an NSF-funded collaborative project involving the American Mathematical Association for Two-Year Colleges and the University of Colorado – Boulder that seeks to understand the difference professional development offered through Project ACCCESS makes for early-career community college math faculty.
Academy for Inquiry Based Learning (AIBL), Cal Poly San  Luis Obispo Stan Yoshinobu Professor of Microbiology, Associate Dean of the College of Natural and Social Sciences; INCLUDES Alliance Co-Lead representing CSUs Co-PI
Professor Yoshinobu is Director of the Academy of Inquiry Based Learning, and has been teaching courses in undergraduate Mathematics and Mathematics Education for 19 years.  His scholarly interests include active learning, inquiry-based learning (or IBL) in Mathematics, professional development of teachers, outreach, and inclusivity. Professor Yoshinobu has published peer-reviewed articles in undergraduate Mathematics Education, has been awarded more than $4 million in external funding to improve classroom instruction in Mathematics from the National Science Foundation and the Educational Advancement Foundation, is one of the leaders in a national movement in spreading IBL in college Mathematics, and writes regularly for The IBL Blog.  Professor Yoshinobu earned his Ph.D. from UCLA in the area of Real and Harmonic Analysis.

Faculty Participants will be collaborating on the adaptive learning module development and implementing modules in their courses.

Institution Name Title Project Role
Faculty Participants
Golden West College Gita Alemansour Mathematics Professor of Mathematics and Department Chair Faculty Participant Years 1,2,3
Gita Alemansour has been teaching mathematics at Golden West College (GWC), since fall 2015. As an immigrant, she started her higher education path at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) in 1984. After getting a degree in mechanical engineering in 1988 from UCI, she worked as an engineer in the private sector in Orange County, California, for seven years. After having two children, she decided to change her career to education and started a tutoring service while also teaching mathematics at a high school. Gita joined the master of a mathematics degree program at California State University, Fullerton (CSUF), and started working as a teaching assistant from the fall 2009 semester. After graduation, she taught mathematics courses at CSUF (Fullerton and Irvine campuses), Westwood College, Saddleback College, Irvine Valley College, and Chapman University. Gita has taught a variety of math courses such as, Elementary Algebra, Intermediate Algebra, College Algebra, College algebra for Brief Calculus, Pre-Calculus, Introduction to Statistics, A Brief Course in Calculus, Calculus 1, Calculus 2, Fundamental Concepts of Elementary Math/Math Education for K-8 teachers, Business Calculus, Mathematics for Liberal Arts Students, Linear Algebra, Trigonometry, Geometry, College Mathematics, and Physical Sciences. She started working as a full-time faculty in the fall 2015 semester at GWC. She has served as department chair of mathematics (basic skills and transfer levels) since July 2017. She is also involved in starting the engineering program by writing the curriculum for a few engineering courses. Finally, her duties also include serving in a number of committees, such as the Equity Squad Team, Council of Chairs and Deans, and more. 
Golden West College Steve Alemansour Professor of Mathematics Faculty Participant Year 1
Steve has taught mathematics as an adjunct professor for over 20 years. He has Masters degrees in Engineering and Mathematics and currently owns and operates a tutoring company located in Lake Forest, California, providing academic support and services for high school and college students which include total support for all math and science classes as well as test prep sessions for SAT and ISEE and helping students with their online classes. The proliferation of these classes has brought with it a huge demand for supplemental instruction and students look to us to provide them with the extra support. As a result of these demands, Steve is interested in strengthening online services for remedial as well as advanced classes. At Golden West College he is scheduled to teach a fully online class in Trigonometry in the Summer of 2019. In the past, he has taught hybrid Calculus I, II, and III as well as Business Calculus at the California State University in Fullerton.
Cerritos College Aemiro Beyene Professor of Mathematics Faculty Participant Years 1,2,3
Aemiro discovered his passion for teaching while tutoring at CSUN. He received his MS in Applied Mathematics from California State University Northridge (CSUN) in 2004 where he was teaching lower division courses. He has been a fulltime instructor since 2007 at various colleges. Seeing the challenges students face motivates Aemiro to seek out grants and special programs that enhance students’ access, completion rate, and overall learning experience. While teaching at Quinsigamond Community College(QCC) he was part of the Vision Project Grant (2012) where he was the Director and lead instructor for the Math Boot Camps. In 2014, he created the Math Pre-Assessment Workshop (MPAWs) for Cerritos College. He created both of these programs using online technologies. Currently, he is a member of the Online Teaching Committee with the Math Department at Cerritos College and teaches various Math courses offered online. He continues to seek out and implement innovative online teaching techniques to enhance the learning experience of our growing online student population.
 Mount San Antonio College Scott Guth Professor of Mathematics Faculty Participant Years 1, 2, 3
Scott Guth received his MS in applied math from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and joined Mt. San Antonio College’s Math and CS department in 1990.  He has written his own statistics text and works as an author for Carnegie Math Pathways (Statway). 
Cal State University Los Angeles Silvia Heubach Professor of Mathematics Advisory Board  & Faculty Participant Years 2-3
Silvia Heubach has a Ph.D. degree in Applied Mathematics from the University of Southern California and has been a faculty member at Cal State LA for nearly 25 years. She has received the CSULA Outstanding Professor Award, and most recently the CSU Faculty Innovation and Leadership Award. She is dedicated to getting students excited about mathematics and to help students overcome the notion that they cannot do mathematics. She has served as the de-facto PI on an NIH grant to redesign the mathematics sequence for life sciences majors, where she worked with faculty from biology to integrate mathematics topics in the calculus courses with applications in life sciences courses. In addition, she created a new course on Discrete Mathematics Models to replace the usual trigonometry precalculus course. She also is the faculty Learning Community Coordinator for CSULA’s First In The World grant on Flipped Instruction, supporting the grant faculty in developing flipped lesson plans and incorporation of active learning into their classes. Most recently,  she completed the ACUE certificate on Effective Teaching Practices and has successfully integrated many of these best practices into her courses. 
El Camino College Anna Hockman Professor of Mathematics Faculty Participant Years 1, 2
Anna Hockman has served as Mathematics Faculty at El Camino College since 2012 and has been in related math instruction positions since 2009. She has collaborated with industry and technology faculty to develop lessons for mathematics in the trades. She has worked with the math department to develop an accelerated pathway to Calculus 1 for STEM major, and she served as the Mathematical Sciences Division Curriculum Chair from 2014 – 2016.
Rio Hondo College Veronica Holbrook Professor of Mathematics Faculty Participant Years 1, 2, 3
Currently pursuing my Doctorate in Community College Leadership at CSU Fullerton with research interests centered around student success for Latinx students in the pursuit of transfer level math achievement. 20 years of experience working in education. Has taught a range from developmental math through Linear Algebra. Experience working with the online teaching initiative for transfer level algebra and flipped courses at CSUF in 2018. Rio Hondo Community College is primarily Latinx students with small percentages of other underserved populations.
San Francisco State University Eric Hsu Professor of Mathematics Faculty Participant Years 1,2, 3
Eric Hsu is Professor of Mathematics at San Francisco State University and Director of the Center for Science and Mathematics Education. He has led numerous STEM education projects: he is PI on SF CALL and co-PI on CS4SF, two NSF grants to broaden participation in computer science; he is co-PI on the Western Regional Noyce Alliance, teacher PD for the Western U.S.; campus PI on two regional partnerships with community colleges: Silicon Valley Engineering Technical Pathways and SF Bay Area Basic Skills Consortium. He has led four California Math Science Partnerships: twice with both SF Unified and San Rafael City Schools. He received an NSF CAREER Award in 2003 for his work on college math teaching. He was co-PI on Revitalizing Algebra, an NSF Math Science Partnership partnering with local school districts to improve the teaching of algebra; and was co-leader of PRIME and PRIME2 with SF Unified focusing on 4th and 5th grade math, TCAAP with San Rafael City Schools focusing on lesson study for grades 5-8, and ITEAMS with San Rafael City Schools working with 3rd-8th grade STEM teachers. He was a case study team leader for a large-scale national study of calculus teaching with the Mathematical Association of America. He received a Bachelors in Mathematics at Harvard, a Ph.D. in Mathematics from U.C. Berkeley studying operator algebras, and was a postdoctoral scholar at U.T. Austin with Uri Treisman. Eric will be teaching Calculus 1 in fall, and supervise both calculus and precalculus courses.
East Los Angeles College Daniel Judge Professor of Mathematics Faculty Participant Years 1,2,3
Daniel Judge teaches a wide range of mathematics classes at East Los Angeles college ranging from Algebra – Calc II. He has built out an extensive library of online video tutorials to support student learning in mathematics across topics.
Pasadena City College Xiaodan Leng Professor of Mathematics Faculty Participant Years 1,2,3
Dr. Leng has been extensively involved in curricular redesign and realignment initiatives related to Mathematics courses and course sequences at Pasadena City College (PCC). Her efforts have been focused on both non-STEM and STEM major courses, as well as courses that prepare students needing basic mathematical skills to successfully complete degree requirements in college-level math. Dr. Leng received a Distinguished Scientist Award from the MIND Research Institute for her original research on the theory of spatial-temporal reasoning for higher brain function.  This research led to the development of tutorials in Spatial-Temporal Math (ST Math) that are used by 800,000 students in 2,000 schools in 40 states. Her expertise in Spatial-Temporal Math earned her a series of grant awards to use the theory in Pre-Algebra curriculum and to create over 50 interactive computer animation tutorials to develop students’ abstract reasoning capacity in math studies from beginning algebra to differential equations. Also at PCC, Dr. Leng has initiated pilot efforts to incorporate Python in math classes. These efforts will serve as a starting point for the project proposed by PCC in its 2015 NSF IUSE grant application.
Humboldt State Sonja Manor Professor of Mathematics Faculty Participant Year 1
Sonja has been teaching mathematics at the college level since 1999 and has taught a wide range of courses from elementary algebra through calculus. She has experience teaching both face-to-face courses as well as online and has also developed online tutorials. Sonja is passionate about teaching mathematics in an exciting and understandable way to ensure students are engaged in learning and able to gain the skills they need to meet their goals.
Humboldt State Bori Mazzag Chair and Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science Faculty Participant Years 2, 3
Bori teaches mathematics courses at the undergraduate and Masters level and advises student research projects that use mathematical and computational techniques to solve biological problems. Bori’s primary interest is modeling signal transduction and she also has done some work in developing models for conservation biology. She is interested in learning about mathematical modeling outside of academia and the skill sets employers are looking for. Bori has collaborated on several grant initiatives including the NSF INCLUDES WATCH US Mini-grant. Leveraging the Mathematical Contest in Modeling to Support Undergraduate Women in Mathematics,  PIC Math: Mini-grant to develop and teach “Preparation for Industrial Careers in Mathematics” course at HSU, a grant entitled “Hybrid Math courses for Core Math Courses” Sub-award to redesign Math 115, Precalculus, and a CSUPERB Programmatic Grant: A curriculum development grant for developing a course “Introductory Mathematical Biology for Biotechnology”.
Mount San Antonio College David Mirman Chair and Professor of Biological Sciences Faculty Participant Years 1, 2, 3
David has 25 years of experience teaching biology at the community college and university levels. He has been at Mt. SAC since 2000 and department chair since 2004. He has developed curriculum in Genetics, one of the more math-intensive areas of undergraduate biology, and he has served on Mt. SAC’s college Outcomes committee.
El Camino College Kaysa Moreno Professor of Mathematics Faculty Participant Years 1, 2, 3
Kaysa has been mathematics faculty at El Camino College since 2007 and has taught at multiple community colleges throughout the greater LA area since 2005. Service roles at El Camino College include Campus Student Learning Outcomes Coordinator (2011 – 2014), Division Student Learning Outcomes Coordinator – (2008 – 2001), and Distance Education Committee Co-coordinator and member – (2016 – present). 
Mount San Antonio College Baochi Nguyen Faculty Participant Years 1, 2, 3 Professor of Mathematics
Born and raised in Vietnam, Baochi came to the US when she was 17 years old and is a proud graduate of the California Community College system. She went to Pasadena City College from 1993-1996 and transferred to UCLA where she received her B.S. in Pure Mathematics in 1998.  In 2003, she received her Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from MIT. While at MIT, she had the opportunity to be a teaching assistant during the semesters and math instructor during the summers. From 2003-2006, she took on a postdoctoral position at UCI conducting research in Mathematical Biology and taught courses ranging from Calculus to Foundation of Mathematics. She learned that she really enjoy the teaching aspect of her position, so she took on a 3-year lecturer position. The research fascinated me, but she realized her true calling is teaching. Her grandfather and her mother were math teachers back in Vietnam, which makes her a third-generation math teacher. With a passion for teaching, in 2009, she applied for a tenure-track position at community college and accepted a position at Bakersfield College. In 2010, she started at Mt. SAC as a full-time Mathematics Professor. She attributes a wonderful journey to her current position to the students, faculty, and staff. Baochi now teaches a full range of mathematics courses from Math 50-Prealgebra to Math 285 – Differential Equations and Linear Algebra.
Mt San Antonio College Kim-Leiloni Nguyen Professor of Biology Faculty Participant Years 1, 2, 3
Kim has been teaching Anatomy and General Biology at Mt San Antonio College since 2000.  She is an advocate of active learning and flipped teaching. She also conducts Biology education research.
Pasadena City College Katie Rodriguez Professor of Mathematics Faculty Participant Years 1
Ms. Rodriguez serving as Co-Principle Investigator of an NSF ATE eCURE grant at Pasadena City College (PCC).  This project uses undergraduate research as a platform for engaging students in STEM careers, improve STEM skills training, and to enhance critical thinking. eCURE includes a purposeful redesign of STEM curriculum including scaffolded research knowledge and skills across multiple STEM disciplines. Lead faculty on the PCC campus for the multi-institutional STEM Education Consortium (STEMEC) project, led by Cal State Los Angeles and sponsored by U.S. Department of Education. This is a collaboration among Cal State LA, Pasadena City College, and West Los Angeles College for pooling expertise and resources in STEM education to achieve the common goal of increasing undergraduate student success in STEM disciplines. Co-Director of an HSI STEM grant project at PCC funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The project is completing work on an environmental sciences degree pathway that is designed to implement NSF and National Academy of Sciences recommendations regarding effective strategies to increase degree completion of underrepresented groups in STEM. Liaison to Cal Poly Pomona to develop model transfer pathways and facilitate cross-campus projects with PCC students and faculty and Cal Poly Pomona students and faculty from the Biological Sciences and Environmental Engineering. Co-recipient of a $100,000 SASI Innovation grant to develop Pre-Health Sciences Pathway and bring technology to the classroom. Recipient of a $15,000 SASI mini-grant to design and pilot a new hybrid curriculum for non-majors General Biology (BIOL 11).
Cerritos College Michelle N. Stieber Professor of Biology Faculty Participant Year 1, 3
Michelle teaches introductory biology, and majors-level biology courses focusing on molecular biology and genetics. Michelle joined Cerritos College in 2011 after 3 years of serving as an adjunct faculty member at California State University, Fullerton, Pasadena City College, and Chaffey College. She earned a B.S. in Biology from UCLA in 1999 and her Ph.D. in molecular biology and genetics from the City of Hope Irell and Manella Graduate School in Biological Science in 2006. Michelle has been an administrator for two programs that provide summer research experiences for undergraduate and high school students. For two years, she was the coordinator for the Eugene and Ruth Roberts Summer Student Academy at the City of Hope. This competitive program offers summer research internships for high school and college students from all over the world. For four years, she served as a consultant and instructor for an NIH Science Education Partnership Award that brought a cohort of Duarte High School students onto the City of Hope campus to participate in a research project investigating the effect of DNA repair mutants in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Institution Name Title Project Role
Assessment Team – Responsible for project assessment in coordinating with LT
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Noelle Griffin CRESST Education Research Scientist Assessment
Noelle Griffin will serve as the assessment/evaluation lead for the project, leading study planning/design and providing oversight and quality control.  Dr. Griffin is Sr Associate Director at CRESST, and brings 20+ years of educational evaluation experience to the project, has led dozens of program evaluations for schools, school districts, IHEs, states, and national interventions.
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Glory Tobiason CRESST Education Research Scientist Assessment
Dr. Tobiason will manage the survey design, implementation, and logistical/coordination aspects of the assessment/evaluation activities.  Her work focuses on integrating qualitative and quantitative methods to understand instructor experience and instructional practice, with an emphasis on formative evaluation; recent projects include evaluations of a new pre-service teacher education model and of a national teacher development intervention focused on the use of formative assessment feedback.

Courselets Sub-Group I: Contextualized Learning Modules for Self-Assessment (LS30 “prequels”), Just-in-Time Teaching (LS30 supplements), and Transition Courses (LS20 supplements)

Institution Name Title Project Role
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Ava Ardnt Instructional Designer Consultant
Ava Arndt is an instructional designer with UCLA’s Online Teaching and Learning Initiative.  Prior to joining UCLA she spent 6 years with UCOP’s Innovative Learning Technology Initiative (ILTI) designing online and hybrid courses across the UC system.  In that time she lead the design, development and production of more than 20 hybrid and online courses. For this project she will be a partner in the development and implementation of hybrid LS30 pilot course and Courselets and PALMs adaptive learning modules.
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Will Conley Assistant Teaching Professor   Content
Will Conley is an assistant teaching professor (LPSOE) in the Department of Mathematics at UCLA. In the proposed project, he will be responsible for leading the development of the online adaptive learning modules. One of the original creators of the LS 30A and 30B course sequence, he helped to grow that project from a small pilot course to the large scale that it has achieved in recent years. Along the way, he has written dozens of exercises and in-class activities, with varying degrees of scaffolding, many of which are now included in the LS 30 textbook, Modeling Life. In addition to development of the learning modules for this project, he will also be involved in creating video content for the course, and testing all of the newly created materials in actual LS 30 classrooms.
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Eric Deeds Life Sciences Professor; Mathematics Instructor  Oversight
Prof. Deeds is an internationally-recognized expert on Quantitative and Computational Systems Biology.  His research focuses on building and analyzing dynamical systems models of complex systems, with a focus on cell signaling processes, and has published numerous papers on this topic in journals such as PNAS and Nature Communications.  He has also served as PI and co-PI on multi-institution research grants from both the NSF and FDA.  He has an extensive background teaching dynamical systems concepts to undergraduate and graduate life sciences students, and received a graduate teaching award from the Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of Kansas in 2013.  Prof. Deeds was recently recruited to UCLA to serve as the Director of the Life Sciences Quantitative Biology Curriculum. As Director, he oversees all initiatives related to improving and expanding the LS 30 courses at UCLA. Project roles: Principal Investigator; advisory board member; faculty participant and content contributor to adaptive learning modules (Courselets, PALMS); overseeing all study design and assessment activities; overseeing the development and deployment of new courses and adaptive learning modules with partner institutions.
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Alan Garfinkel Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Integrative Biology and Physiology  Content
Alan brings a 25-year record of applying the ideas of dynamical systems modeling to problems in physiology and medicine, especially cardiac electrophysiology and arrhythmias, vascular calcification, and neurophysiology. His work has been on the cover of PNAS, Circulation Research, The Journal of Clinical Investigation, The Journal of Physiology, and Science News. He developed and teaches the award winning LS30 sequence “Mathematics for Life Sciences” as well as a new lower-division statistics course, and he is lead author of the text Modeling Life, the text for the LS30 course. He has experimented with flipped classroom approaches and in this project he will be leading the development of the video content for the hybrid/flipped LS30 course to be offered as a pilot at UCSC in conjunction with the UCSC faculty Deborah Lewis and Ralph Abraham.
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Jukka Keranen Mathematics Instructor Disciplinary expert (math)
Jukka Keranen extensive experience teaching undergraduate courses in mathematics; Role in LS30 courses includes teaching, curricular development including writing problem solutions, instructor reference materials, and collaborating on a rewrite of the course textbook, and mentoring new instructors. Collaborator on developing materials for academic success workshops aimed at life sciences majors taking mathematics courses at LA Mission College, as a part of an NSF-funded research project on STEM student retention.
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Chris Lee Professor in Computer Science, Chemistry & Biochemistry; Courselets Developer Developer
In 2008 Chris founded and served as Chair of the Graduate Bioinformatics program, which has grown to 58 faculty and is one of the highest ranked nationally. In 2010 he developed a Big Data approach to identifying and fixing every educational blindspot for every student on every concept every day of class (Error Discovery Learning, EDL). As a software developer he implemented the first-generation EDL platform (socraticqs) and second generation (socraticqs2), and directed the student-acclaimed third-generation design (Courselets.org). Notably, he demonstrated for five years running that EDL dramatically reduced disparities, e.g. drop rate among women CS students from a data mining course. He is currently involved in a related project to reduce disparities in UCLA first-year chemistry. His EDL work has been recognized by approximately $1 million in research grants (from NIH, HHMI and other agencies) and peer-reviewed articles in top publications (e.g. CBE Life Science Education, and in a forthcoming Nature Springer book). All this has been grounded and tested in his in-the-trenches daily teaching in classes ranging from 20 to 200 students. He will serve as partner in the development of adaptive learning modules using the Courselets platform and its known best-practices. As architect of the pedagogical approach, he will lead a sub-group of the adaptive learning modules development team.
University of California Santa Cruz Debra Lewis Mathematics Professor  Consultant
Debra Lewis has developed and taught an adaptive + active learning version of College Algebra, and active, quasi-flipped versions of Linear Algebra and Systems of Differential Equations. Lewis led UCSC’s 2015 adoption of ALEKS PPL for math placement, and was the lead PI for the UCSC component of the UC Active Learning Technology Pilot, which investigated adaptively guided summer self-preparation for STEM coursework. She received a UC student success grant supporting development of the UCSC Math Coach placement support site in 2016-17 and continues to serve as math placement wrangler (data-driven targeted outreach, intra-campus liaison, planning, troubleshooting, placement activity and outcomes analysis). Lewis is a co-PI on UCSC’s NSF Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program grant (NSF #1340109), 2014-2019. She is the vice chair of the UC Academic Senate Committee on Preparatory Education, a participant in the 2019 UCSC Transforming STEM Teaching Faculty Learning Program, a member of the Reinvention Collaborative, and the UCSC administrator for the Tools for Evidence-based Action community. Lewis was the UCSC representative on the Santa Cruz County College Commitment mathematics task force (2016-18).
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Jane Shevtsov Mathematics Instructor Content
Dr. Shevtsov is an ecologist with expertise in modeling and analyzing ecological networks. She has worked on UCLA’s Life Sciences Quantitative Biology Curriculum in numerous capacities since its inception, co-authoring the textbook Modeling Life and developing all the computational labs used in the course. She also developed and facilitated a series of collaborative problem-solving workshops on LS 30 topics for UCLA’s Program for Excellence in Education and Research in the Sciences (PEERS), a program for underrepresented and disadvantaged STEM students. In addition to having taught LS 30A five times and LS 30B once, she is currently developing and teaching LS 20, a course designed to help students develop analytical skills before starting LS 30AB. She was an NSF DBER fellow during 2015-2018 and was a 2017-2018 Scientific Teaching Fellow. She is particularly interested in incorporating results from cognitive psychology into teaching. Project Roles: Primary responsibility is in co-leading the development of the adaptive learning modules (Courselets, PALMs), likely providing examples or modified problem sets from the textbook and exams as well as curating content submitting by other faculty for consideration in module development. As faculty contributor, also teach courses (LS30A, LS30B) and will help create/test out video content and in-class activities for a flipped course component as well as test out adaptive learning modules. Serving as lead instructor for a flipped transition course offered in summer 2021 for UCLA life science transfer students.

Courselets Sub-Group II: Writing-to-Learn-Math Modules (LS20)

Institution Name Title Project Role
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Ava Ardnt Instructional Designer Consultant
Ava Arndt is an instructional designer with UCLA’s Online Teaching and Learning Initiative.  Prior to joining UCLA she spent 6 years with UCOP’s Innovative Learning Technology Initiative (ILTI) designing online and hybrid courses across the UC system.  In that time she lead the design, development and production of more than 20 hybrid and online courses. For this project she will be a partner in the development and implementation of hybrid LS30 pilot course and Courselets and PALMs adaptive learning modules.
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Eric Deeds Life Sciences Professor; Mathematics Instructor  Oversight
Prof. Deeds is an internationally-recognized expert on Quantitative and Computational Systems Biology.  His research focuses on building and analyzing dynamical systems models of complex systems, with a focus on cell signaling processes, and has published numerous papers on this topic in journals such as PNAS and Nature Communications.  He has also served as PI and co-PI on multi-institution research grants from both the NSF and FDA.  He has an extensive background teaching dynamical systems concepts to undergraduate and graduate life sciences students, and received a graduate teaching award from the Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of Kansas in 2013.  Prof. Deeds was recently recruited to UCLA to serve as the Director of the Life Sciences Quantitative Biology Curriculum. As Director, he oversees all initiatives related to improving and expanding the LS 30 courses at UCLA. Project roles: Principal Investigator; advisory board member; faculty participant and content contributor to adaptive learning modules (Courselets, PALMS); overseeing all study design and assessment activities; overseeing the development and deployment of new courses and adaptive learning modules with partner institutions.
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Leigh Harris Director of Writing Programs  Consultant
Leigh brings extensive experience developing pedagogical materials and curriculum across-the-disciplines to promote foundational thinking and communication skills. She is a founding member and collaborator of UCLA’s WI+RE: Writing Instruction + Research Education, which are online tutorials for undergraduates. Extensive cross-campus curricular innovation efforts to implement cross-disciplinary writing assessments and writing-to-learn instruments. She is engaged in multiple projects to promote academic belonging and a growth mindset for URM students. Supervises a foundation-funded summer bridge program for UC- and CSU-bound students that incorporates STEM learning and math education alongside an introduction to college writing. In partnership with the UCLA Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Leigh administers a longitudinal study that uses a reflective reading and writing intervention to encourage students’ sense of belonging in higher education.
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Chris Lee Professor in Computer Science, Chemistry & Biochemistry; Courselets Developer Developer
In 2008 Chris founded and served as Chair of the Graduate Bioinformatics program, which has grown to 58 faculty and is one of the highest ranked nationally. In 2010 he developed a Big Data approach to identifying and fixing every educational blindspot for every student on every concept every day of class (Error Discovery Learning, EDL). As a software developer he implemented the first-generation EDL platform (socraticqs) and second generation (socraticqs2), and directed the student-acclaimed third-generation design (Courselets.org). Notably, he demonstrated for five years running that EDL dramatically reduced disparities, e.g. drop rate among women CS students from a data mining course. He is currently involved in a related project to reduce disparities in UCLA first-year chemistry. His EDL work has been recognized by approximately $1 million in research grants (from NIH, HHMI and other agencies) and peer-reviewed articles in top publications (e.g. CBE Life Science Education, and in a forthcoming Nature Springer book). All this has been grounded and tested in his in-the-trenches daily teaching in classes ranging from 20 to 200 students. He will serve as partner in the development of adaptive learning modules using the Courselets platform and its known best-practices. As architect of the pedagogical approach, he will lead a sub-group of the adaptive learning modules development team.
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Jane Shevtsov Mathematics Instructor Content
Dr. Shevtsov is an ecologist with expertise in modeling and analyzing ecological networks. She has worked on UCLA’s Life Sciences Quantitative Biology Curriculum in numerous capacities since its inception, co-authoring the textbook Modeling Life and developing all the computational labs used in the course. She also developed and facilitated a series of collaborative problem-solving workshops on LS 30 topics for UCLA’s Program for Excellence in Education and Research in the Sciences (PEERS), a program for underrepresented and disadvantaged STEM students. In addition to having taught LS 30A five times and LS 30B once, she is currently developing and teaching LS 20, a course designed to help students develop analytical skills before starting LS 30AB. She was an NSF DBER fellow during 2015-2018 and was a 2017-2018 Scientific Teaching Fellow. She is particularly interested in incorporating results from cognitive psychology into teaching. Project Roles: Primary responsibility is in co-leading the development of the adaptive learning modules (Courselets, PALMs), likely providing examples or modified problem sets from the textbook and exams as well as curating content submitting by other faculty for consideration in module development. As faculty contributor, also teach courses (LS30A, LS30B) and will help create/test out video content and in-class activities for a flipped course component as well as test out adaptive learning modules. Serving as lead instructor for a flipped transition course offered in summer 2021 for UCLA life science transfer students.

PALMs Group: Contextualized Learning Modules for Just-in-Time Teaching (LS30) and Transition Courses (LS20 supplements)

Institution Name Title Project Role
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Ava Arndt Instructional Designer Adaptive & online learning technologies expert
Ava Arndt is an instructional designer with UCLA’s Online Teaching and Learning Initiative.  Prior to joining UCLA she spent 6 years with UCOP’s Innovative Learning Technology Initiative (ILTI) designing online and hybrid courses across the UC system.  In that time she leads the design, development, and production of more than 20 hybrid and online courses. For this project, she will be a partner in the development and implementation of hybrid LS30 pilot course and Courselets and PALMs adaptive learning modules.
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Will Conley Assistant Teaching Professor (LPSOE) Mathematics Content
Will Conley is an assistant teaching professor (LPSOE) in the Department of Mathematics at UCLA. In the proposed project, he will be responsible for leading the development of the online adaptive learning modules. One of the original creators of the LS 30A and 30B course sequence, he helped to grow that project from a small pilot course to the large scale that it has achieved in recent years. Along the way, he has written dozens of exercises and in-class activities, with varying degrees of scaffolding, many of which are now included in the LS 30 textbook, Modeling Life. In addition to development of the learning modules for this project, he will also be involved in creating video content for the course, and testing all of the newly created materials in actual LS 30 classrooms.
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Eric Deeds Professor of Integrative Biology & Physiology Oversight
Prof. Deeds is an internationally-recognized expert on Quantitative and Computational Systems Biology.  His research focuses on building and analyzing dynamical systems models of complex systems, with a focus on cell signaling processes, and has published numerous papers on this topic in journals such as PNAS and Nature Communications.  He has also served as PI and co-PI on multi-institution research grants from both the NSF and FDA.  He has an extensive background teaching dynamical systems concepts to undergraduate and graduate life sciences students, and received a graduate teaching award from the Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of Kansas in 2013.  Prof. Deeds was recently recruited to UCLA to serve as the Director of the Life Sciences Quantitative Biology Curriculum. As Director, he oversees all initiatives related to improving and expanding the LS 30 courses at UCLA. Project roles: Principal Investigator; advisory board member; faculty participant and content contributor to adaptive learning modules (Courselets, PALMS); overseeing all study design and assessment activities; overseeing the development and deployment of new courses and adaptive learning modules with partner institutions.
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Alan Garfinkel Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Integrative Biology and Physiology at UCLA Content
Alan brings a 25-year record of applying the ideas of dynamical systems modeling to problems in physiology and medicine, especially cardiac electrophysiology and arrhythmias, vascular calcification, and neurophysiology. His work has been on the cover of PNAS, Circulation Research, The Journal of Clinical Investigation, The Journal of Physiology, and Science News. He developed and teaches the award winning LS30 sequence “Mathematics for Life Sciences” as well as a new lower-division statistics course, and he is lead author of the text Modeling Life, the text for the LS30 course. He has experimented with flipped classroom approaches and in this project he will be leading the development of the video content for the hybrid/flipped LS30 course to be offered as a pilot at UCSC in conjunction with the UCSC faculty Deborah Lewis and Ralph Abraham.
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Philip Kellman Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science Learning science expert & adaptive learning technologies expert
Phillip brings over 35 years of experience as a cognitive scientist and researcher in vision, cognition, and learning.  and more than 20 years of experience in applying cognitive science research to develop innovative learning technologies. His research has been recognized nationally and internationally, and he has received major awards including the William Chase Memorial Award from Carnegie-Mellon University, the Boyd R. McCandless Award from the American Psychological Association, a James McKeen Cattell Award, and the Wolf Aviation Prize. In 2015, he was one of a small group of scientists appointed to a White House working group on Neuroscience and Learning. He has been elected to the Society of Experimental Psychologists (SEP), and he has been elected a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science (APS) and the Psychonomic Society. In recent years, Kellman and colleagues have made important advances in understanding the principles of perceptual learning that make possible improved methods for teaching pattern recognition, deep understanding, and transfer. They have also pioneered advanced adaptive learning techniques that can be used to make any kind of learning more efficient and comprehensive. Combined perceptual and adaptive learning in PALMs (perceptual-adaptive learning modules) have been effectively applied in challenging STEM learning, medical learning, and other learning domains in work supported by NIH, NSF, ED, ONR, and the DOD Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) initiative. These efforts form a strong foundation for the development of PALMs in the proposed project.
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Jukka Keranen Academic Administrator, Life Sciences Core Education Content
Extensive experience teaching undergraduate courses in mathematics; Role in LS30 courses includes teaching, curricular development including writing problem solutions, instructor reference materials, and collaborating on a rewrite of the course textbook, and mentoring new instructors. Collaborator on developing materials for academic success workshops aimed at life sciences majors taking mathematics courses at LA Mission College, as a part of an NSF-funded research project on STEM student retention
University of California Santa Cruz Debra Lewis Mathematics Professor Consultant
Debra Lewis has developed and taught an adaptive + active learning version of College Algebra, and active, quasi-flipped versions of Linear Algebra and Systems of Differential Equations. Lewis led UCSC’s 2015 adoption of ALEKS PPL for math placement, and was the lead PI for the UCSC component of the UC Active Learning Technology Pilot, which investigated adaptively guided summer self-preparation for STEM coursework. She received a UC student success grant supporting development of the UCSC Math Coach placement support site in 2016-17 and continues to serve as math placement wrangler (data-driven targeted outreach, intra-campus liaison, planning, troubleshooting, placement activity and outcomes analysis). Lewis is a co-PI on UCSC’s NSF Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program grant (NSF #1340109), 2014-2019. She is the vice chair of the UC Academic Senate Committee on Preparatory Education, a participant in the 2019 UCSC Transforming STEM Teaching Faculty Learning Program, a member of the Reinvention Collaborative, and the UCSC administrator for the Tools for Evidence-based Action community. Lewis was the UCSC representative on the Santa Cruz County College Commitment mathematics task force (2016-18).
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Christine Massey Professor of Psychology in-Residence Learning science expert & adaptive learning technologies expert
Christine specializes in linking recent theory and research in cognitive science to education efforts in public schools, higher education, and cultural institutions. She has led a number of major collaborative research and development projects that combine research investigating students’ learning and conceptual development in mathematics and science with the development and evaluation of new curriculum materials, adaptive learning technology, and educational programs for students and teachers. A large current project involves basic and applied research using principles of perceptual and adaptive learning to create new web-based learning software to support community college students’ preparation for college mathematics. Dr. Massey was formerly the Director of Research and Education at the Institute for Research in Cognitive Science at the University of Pennsylvania and was a member of the cognitive science team for the national US Dept. of Education IES Research and Development Center for Cognition and Science Instruction. Her national service includes participating in National Academies of Sciences’ study committees on Defining Deeper Learning and 21st Century Skills and Designing Citizen Science to Support Science Learning. Dr. Massey received her B.A. from Wellesley College and her Ph.D. in psychology with a specialization in cognitive development from the University of Pennsylvania. She is an Eisenhower Fellow and has also been a Fellow in the Spencer Foundation/National Academy of Education’s Postdoctoral Fellowship program.
Institution Name Title Project Role
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Ava Ardnt Instructional Designer Instructional Designer
Ava Arndt is an instructional designer with UCLA’s Online Teaching and Learning Initiative.  Prior to joining UCLA she spent 6 years with UCOP’s Innovative Learning Technology Initiative (ILTI) designing online and hybrid courses across the UC system.  In that time she lead the design, development and production of more than 20 hybrid and online courses. For this project she will be a partner in the development and implementation of hybrid LS30 pilot course and Courselets and PALMs adaptive learning modules.
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Alan Garfinkel Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Integrative Biology and Physiology Vision and project lead; primary content contributor
Alan brings a 25-year record of applying the ideas of dynamical systems modeling to problems in physiology and medicine, especially cardiac electrophysiology and arrhythmias, vascular calcification, and neurophysiology. His work has been on the cover of PNAS, Circulation Research, The Journal of Clinical Investigation, The Journal of Physiology, and Science News. He developed and teaches the award winning LS30 sequence “Mathematics for Life Sciences” as well as a new lower-division statistics course, and he is lead author of the text Modeling Life, the text for the LS30 course. He has experimented with flipped classroom approaches and in this project he will be leading the development of the video content for the hybrid/flipped LS30 course to be offered as a pilot at UCSC in conjunction with the UCSC faculty Deborah Lewis and Ralph Abraham.
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Jessica Gregg  CEILS Associate Director for Educational Development  Consultant
 Jess works on multiple initiatives involving the use of data analytics to inform curricular improvements and drive conversations with faculty and college leadership around student success. She facilitates many educational programs and training workshops targeting faculty, graduate students, and postdoctoral scholars. With expertise in instructional design, educational development, and educational counseling she provides individual support to faculty including observation of teaching, consultation on course design and active learning, and training on educational technology implementation. She additional works with groups and departments to implement initiatives such as peer observation of teaching.  She is a Co-PI on the NSF INCLUDES Aspire Award, leading regional and national collaborative efforts to increase diversity in the STEM professoriate across 2- and 4-year institutions.
University of California Santa Cruz Debra Lewis Mathematics Professor  Content, Pilot Lead
Debra Lewis has developed and taught an adaptive + active learning version of College Algebra, and active, quasi-flipped versions of Linear Algebra and Systems of Differential Equations. Lewis led UCSC’s 2015 adoption of ALEKS PPL for math placement, and was the lead PI for the UCSC component of the UC Active Learning Technology Pilot, which investigated adaptively guided summer self-preparation for STEM coursework. She received a UC student success grant supporting development of the UCSC Math Coach placement support site in 2016-17 and continues to serve as math placement wrangler (data-driven targeted outreach, intra-campus liaison, planning, troubleshooting, placement activity and outcomes analysis). Lewis is a co-PI on UCSC’s NSF Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program grant (NSF #1340109), 2014-2019. She is the vice chair of the UC Academic Senate Committee on Preparatory Education, a participant in the 2019 UCSC Transforming STEM Teaching Faculty Learning Program, a member of the Reinvention Collaborative, and the UCSC administrator for the Tools for Evidence-based Action community. Lewis was the UCSC representative on the Santa Cruz County College Commitment mathematics task force (2016-18).
 University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Janice Reiff Professor in History & Special Assistant to EVC/Provost for Online Instruction Consultant
A recipient of a UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award and a holder of Waldo W. Neikirk Term Chair for Innovative Undergraduate Instruction, Dr. Reiff is shaping UCLA’s online curricular development and creating a team of instructional designers to work with faculty in bringing online and blended courses into UCLA’s learning environment. In thinking about that environment, she is also involved in strategies that share these courses and the digital learning objects made for them with the schools that send students to UCLA and for students transitioning to UCLA. Dr. Reiff heads the Online Teaching and Learning Initiative committee that administers ILTI awards and RFPs supporting online instruction; she oversees associated instructional designers who will work with all faculty involved in course and module development.