Dr. Stacy Shaw is an Assistant Professor in Learning Science and Technology and Psychological Science at WPI. Her research focuses on understanding creative thinking in mathematics, how anxiety and other threat experiences affect mathematical cognition and reasoning, as well as how classroom experiences can affect performance and learning in STEM. More recently, she has become interested in the role of wakeful rest periods for learning and wellbeing. 

Dr. Shaw is currently not accepting students.

Alena received her Ph.D. from the Learning Sciences & Technologies program in Spring 2025. She earned her Psychology MA from Moscow State University, where she investigated how emotional burnout develops in teachers. After graduation, Alena studied how people interact with digital tools, working as a researcher and designer in tech projects for over 7 years. She came to WPI to learn the ways new technologies and data could be used to improve education. Her current research interests include (1) the interplay of anxiety and cognition in learning and (2) how it unfolds in the context of educational technologies.

Andrew McReynolds is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Learning Sciences & Technologies program at WPI. During his time at WPI, Andrew has researched the use of neural networks to provide feedback on classroom observations in preschools, analyzed the impact of randomly controlled trials in Assistments, and developed studies alongside Dr. Shaw to examine how students rest in postsecondary settings. Andrew's current research is examining the experience of Neurodivergent students in postsecondary settings, with special focus on periods of hyperfocus, use of study strategies, and what practices professors use that are helpful (or harmful) to student learning.

Personal Website - www.amcreynolds.com

Anna is a Ph.D. student in Physics at WPI who is interested in Physics education and a new affiliated graduate student in the CEDAR lab. They earned their bachelors in Robotics Engineering and Mechanical engineering at WPI, and currently teach physics labs and conduct research on how students learn in the physics classroom. 

Wilson is a Bachelor’s/Master’s student in WPI’s Learning Sciences & Technologies program. Wilson’s research interests involve the design of programming error messages and their impact on STEM identity, as well as the framing of computer science as a form of creative expression. Wilson is passionate about teaching and educational outreach and leads K-12 creative coding workshops around Massachusetts.

Mikayla is a current senior majoring in psychology with a minor in statistics and a concentration in biology. She is interested in how wakeful rest can affect the overall well-being and learning outcomes of college students. She is currently working with Dr. Shaw on a study about wakeful rest on learning and the impact of rest on stress.

McKenzie is a current senior majoring in Psychological Science. She is interested in studying mental health inequities and barriers to well-being throughout different stages of life. She is working with Dr. Shaw on a study about utilizing rest as a resilience resource for future stressful experiences.

Daisha is a rising junior majoring in Psychology with a concentration in Learning Science and Education, as well as a minor in Interactive Media and Game Development. She is passionate about exploring the intersection of psychology, education, and technology, particularly how creativity can enhance learning experiences and improve student engagement. Her interests include researching study habits that influence students' well-being, understanding the psychological factors that impact motivation and retention, and developing innovative methods to make education more inclusive and engaging.

Kaitlyn is a first-year transfer student majoring in Computer Science at WPI. She has a strong interest in cognitive psychology, particularly in understanding how the brain functions during learning and rest. Additionally, Kaitlyn is curious about the psychological processes behind habit formation and how they can help students succeed in school. She hopes to explore how human-computer interaction can be optimized to enhance educational experiences.

Danny Rahal, is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Together, him and Stacy Shaw have conducted work on the affective experiences of students in statistics classroom. Rahal's own research focuses on how social marginalization, with respect to low objective and subjective status and being treated as low status, can compromise health and well-being among adolescents from racial and ethnic minority and low-income backgrounds. He investigates how everyday discrimination and status relate to different aspects of health including daily stress processes, emotional well-being, mental health, substance use, and physiological systems including immune, autonomic, and hormonal processes.

UC Santa Cruz Site

Nicole is part of the Office of Sponsored Programs at WPI, working closely with the CEDAR Lab. Nicole coordinates the complicated grants used through the Learning Science & Technologies Program for research studies,  employing graduate students, and also reimbursements for travel-related expenses. Nicole is an avid cat lover, Red Sox fan, and enjoys a strong iced coffee.

Dr. Kirk Vanacore received his Ph.D. from the Learning Sciences and Technologies Program at WPI in 2024. He earned his Masters at Tuft University from the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study Human and Development. At Tufts, he worked as a graduate research assistant at the Center for Reading and Language Research studying and implementing effective pedagogy for dyslexic students. Kirk worked as a Senior Analyst at Lexia Learning, where he used data science to inform the development and improvement of educational technologies. Kirk's research interests include learning analytics, education data mining, causal inference in big data analysis, and effective pedagogies for neurodiverse populations. Kirk is now a Post-Doctoral Researcher under Ryan Baker. 

I am currently a fourth-year doctoral student in the Department of Computer Science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). I work with Professor Neil Heffernan in the ASSISTments Lab, which develops features and conducts research for the ASSISTments platform. My work specifically involves improving student learning on-demand through content generated by teachers. In addition, I research, collect, and disseminate Open Science and Reproducibility information such that researchers have a better understanding on how to implement these practices themselves.

Personal Website

Nellie is a rising sophomore at Stanford University who has been an REU student in the lab for Summer '23 and '24. She plans to major in data science, and is excited to work with Dr. Shaw on applications of generative AI in the statistics classroom, economic outcomes of statistics course-taking, and the design of quality statistics and data science courses grounded in theories from the learning sciences. Her other research interests include student perceptions of computational thinking and AI literacy.

Vy Ngo graduated with her Master's degree in learning science at WPI in 2022 studying how teachers' perceptions affect students' math performance and attitudes towards math, and how instructional technologies affect these relationships. Her goal is to promote equity and reduce gender gaps in education and work environments. 

Personal Website - https://sites.google.com/view/vyngo/home 

Chayanne graduated with her bachelor's in computer science in 2023! As the inaugural lab manager of CEDAR for two years, Chayanne conducted research on how students view mistake messages in math, organized studies around creativity and rest, and did an excellent job at keeping our lab up and running. We miss you already, Chayanne!

Paul is a recent graduate of the Psychological and Cognitive Science program at WPI with a concentration in psychobiology. Paul is also a first-generation student who completed WPI's Teacher Preparation Program to become a licensed high school biology teacher, and now is teaching high school biology!