Over the past 4 years MMSA has been growing our capacity to do research and evaluation on both the projects we design and to work with others interested in identifying the impact of their professional development programs. Our research team includes some of the most well respected researchers in the field like Dr. Sue Allen and Dr. Jan Mokros; up and coming research talents like Dr. Scott Byrd and our executive director Dr. Ruth Kermish-Allen; and our outstanding team of research assistants Kate Kastelein and Alexandria Brasili, who gather, analyze, and write about educational data across our many MMSA projects.
Our highly-skilled team possesses unique educational and experiential expertise. From backgrounds in NSF research, to journalism, social justice and teaching, our team is up to nearly any research task. And some of those tasks may surprise you. Recently, Sr. Research Scientist Sue Allen travelled to Oregon to observe children constructing obstacle courses for live badgers as part of the STEMeX program. Kate Kastelein and Alex Brasili, Research Associates at MMSA, hopped on an early morning ferry to Chebeague Island to interview kids at the Chebeague Island School about their WeatherBlur citizen science investigations. A recent Saturday found Sr. Researcher Jan Mokros in Machias testing her pulse with an oximeter as part of the Teen Science Café First Responders series. Research Scientist Scott Byrd filmed a series of instructional videos in South Berwick to be used in an online assessment tool for our virtual coaching program ACRES.
What’s up next for our team? You may see us checking out a STEM camp in Oxford Hills, or Down East conducting surveys with teachers participating in summer workshops through the 3D-TSE program. If you’d like to learn more about our team of research superheros, read their bios here.
