Meet the Team
And We are Hiring!!!
Rene Kizilcec
Principal Investigator
Rene is an Associate Professor in the Bowers College of Computing and Information Science at Cornell University. He studies behavioral, psychological, and computational aspects of technology in education to inform practices and policies that promote learning, equity, and academic and career success.
Justin Reich
Co-Principal Investigator
Justin is an Associate Professor in the Comparative Media Studies/Writing department at MIT. He studies online learning, and how teachers learn. Justin is a former high school history teacher, wrestling coach, and wilderness medicine instructor.
Ken Koedinger
Co-Principal Investigator
Ken is the Hillman Professor of Computer Science and Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University and the founder of PLUS tutoring. A pioneering innovator in education technology, he co-founded Carnegie Learning, Inc., which has delivered Cognitive Tutor-based courses to millions of students.
Rachel Slama
Partnership Director & Co-PI
Rachel is the director of the labor and workforce development program and a senior policy researcher at RAND. Slama previously served as co-director of the Teaching Systems Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a research and design lab comprised of learning scientists, engineers, and STEM education and simulation experts.
Doug Pietrzak
Technology Director
Doug is an educator at heart — a former CPS English teacher focused on equity who combines his passion of tech and education to drive impactful learning experiences and products at scale. He is one of the original members of Lynda.com and EdX and was a major contributor to education at Google. He is the CEO of Freshcognate.
Danielle Thomas
Interim Research Director
Danielle is a Systems Scientist faculty in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. She also is the Research Lead at PLUS tutoring, where Danielle has led her team in publishing considerable progress towards understanding tutor-student and human-AI interactions in learning.
Laura Schad
Project Manager
Laura is a Program Manager at the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science, where she plays a key role in driving strategic initiatives within the institution. She manages a diverse portfolio of research-focused programs and projects that foster innovation and collaboration across various domains of computing and information science.
Job Openings
Managing Director
Join the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science as the Managing Director of the National Tutoring Observatory (NTO). Lead a groundbreaking initiative to create the world's largest open-access tutoring dataset, collaborate with top educators and researchers, and drive innovation in education technology. This leadership role blends strategic vision, partnership development, and team management to ensure the success of this impactful project.
Research Director
Description coming soon
Partnership Manager
Description coming soon
Postdoctoral Scholar
Description coming soon