Four College of Education Graduate Students Win Conference Awards

Four College of Education graduate students won Fall 2017 Conference Awards from the NC State Graduate Student Association that enabled them to travel to and present research at educational conferences:

Megan Ennes, a doctoral candidate in science education. Ennes attended the European Science Education Research Association in Dublin, Ireland. Ennes and her faculty advisor, Professor of Mathematics Education Gail Jones, presented their research on science museum educators’ levels of self-efficacy in teaching, and they were able to meet educators from South America and Europe who were interested in helping them collect more data surrounding international science museum educators.

Katie Green, a third-year doctoral student in STEM education. Green will attend the annual meeting of American Educational Research Association in New York City in April 2018. Green and Professor of Literacy Education Hiller Spires will present their research regarding Chinese parents’ perspectives on international higher education. This presentation is based on data Green and Spires gathered in focus groups at Suzhou North America School in Suzhou, China.

Rob Moore, a doctoral candidate in teacher education and learning sciences. Moore attended the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) Annual Conference in Jacksonville, Florida. Moore gave several presentations at the conference, including a discussion about analyzing MOOC discussion forums where he presented his dissertation research. The data used in Moore’s presentation was provided by the Harvard University Vice Provost for Advances in Learning (VPAL) Research team. Additionally, Moore received the 2017 Immersive Learning Award from the AECT Division of Emerging Learning Technologies for his work designing e-learning modules in his full-time job role at the UNC School of Government.

Katie Smith, a third-year doctoral student in higher education. Smith attended the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) 2017 Conference in Houston, Texas. Smith and her faculty advisor, Associate Professor of Higher Education Joy Gaston Gayles, presented their research on gendered academia and workplace experiences of college women in engineering.

The highly competitive, merit-based awards provide up to $1,500 to reimburse students for the cost of traveling to and attending conferences.