Our Team
Researchers
Dr. Laura Ascenzi-Moreno
Co-Principal Investigator, Brooklyn College, CUNY
Laura Ascenzi-Moreno is an Associate Professor and Bilingual Program Coordinator in the Childhood, Bilingual, and Special Education Department at Brooklyn College. She received her doctorate in Urban Education from the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center in 2012 and has been at Brooklyn College since. Her research focuses on the literacy development of emergent bilingual students, the development of teacher knowledge, and how both of these intersect with equity. Her publications can be found in Literacy Research and Instruction, Language and Education, Schools: Studies in Education, and Language Arts Journal.
Dr. Ralph Vacca
Internal Evaluator, Fordham University
Ralph Vacca specializes in the use of design methodologies to explore how digital media can be developed and used to support emotional wellbeing, with a particular focus on the role of culture and data. Before joining the Fordham faculty, he co-founded a successful technology company focused on the design of mental health simulations.
Marcos Ynoa
Research Assistant, The Graduate Center, CUNY
Dr. Christopher Hoadley
Principal Investigator, New York University
Chris Hoadley is an Associate Professor in the Educational Communication and Technology Program, the Program in Digital Media Design for Learning, and the Program on Games for Learning at New York University. He has over 40 years experience designing and building educational technology, and has researched connections between technology, learning, and collaboration for over 30 years. His research focuses on collaborative technologies, computer support for cooperative learning (CSCL), and design-based research methods, a term he coined in the late 1990s. Hoadley is the director of dolcelab, the Laboratory for Design Of Learning, Collaboration & Experience.
Dr. Lauren Vogelstein
Postdoctoral Associate
Lauren Vogelstein is a postdoctoral fellow on the PiLa-CS project. She recently received her PhD from Vanderbilt University in Learning & Design where she studied choreographic ways of knowing as generative sites for STEM learning, design, and analysis. In her new role, she will bring her expertise on designing for students to leverage out of school practices in computational learning as well as furthering methods for equitable and sustainable interdisciplinary design partnerships.
Sarah Radke
Research Assistant, New York University
Sarah Radke is a PhD Candidate at NYU's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development in the Department of Teaching and Learning, Mathematics Education. She serves as a Graduate Research Assistant for the PiLaCS project. In this role, she has both professional development and research responsibilities. She works directly with teachers to design and implement computer science activities in their classrooms as well as with other members of the PiLa-CS team in the implementation of professional development meetings for these teachers. As part of the research team, Sarah is involved in ongoing analysis and writing as well as working with other team members to develop ethnographically-informed case studies of multi-lingual computer science in the "real world" to inform the team's syncretic approach to studying literacies.
Dr. Jasmine Ma
Co-Principal Investigator, New York University
Jasmine Ma is an Associate Professor in mathematics education with an interest in learning across settings, leveraging out of school practices in classroom instruction, representational tools and systems, and equity.
Dr. Wendy Barrales
Former Research Assistant,
The Graduate Center, CUNY
Wendy is an Ethnic Studies educator, scholar-activist, and founder of the WOCArchive. As a first-gen Chicana and daughter of formerly undocumented Mexican immigrants, Wendy works to center her family's stories in her research, community organizing, & classroom. She is a former public school educator working predominantly with young women & gender expansive youth of color with a focus on the power of storytelling through art. Wendy is also part of the New York Collective of Radical Educators (NYCoRE), where she has co-facilitated annual Inquiry to Action Groups (ItAGs) where teacher study groups engage in one topic of interest and develop action projects. Wendy’s research explores the intersections of gender and race within an arts based feminist centered high school ethnic studies course.
Dr. Sara Vogel
Research Scientist, CUNY
Sara Vogel supports PiLa-CS partner teachers to integrate CS into meaningful conversations with their multilingual students, collects and analyzes data, coordinates the creation and study of professional development materials, and manages project interns. Former Instructor/Adviser at Bank Street College, she received her doctorate in Urban Education from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York in 2020. She researches at the intersection of bilingual, social justice, and computing education. She has worked as a formal and informal, bilingual K-12 and teacher educator of language, literacy, and technology in the United States and across Latin America.
Dr. Kate Menken
Co-Principal Investigator, Queens College, CUNY
Kate Menken is Professor of Linguistics at Queens College and a Research Fellow at the Research Institute for the Study of Language in Urban Society at the CUNY Graduate Center. Her research interests include language education policy, bilingual education, and emergent bilinguals in secondary schools.
Britty Cohen
Research Assistant and Instructional Designer, NYU - Steinhardt, Digital Media Design For Learning
Britty is educational technology enthusiast, a firm believer in the use of technology to close the gaps in society and provide everyone with an equal opportunity. She has experience working in the Israeli Ed-Tech ecosystem in all areas, including early-stage start-ups, the ministry of education, and Israel's biggest and oldest Ed-Tech provider, the Center of Educational Technology as both an online learning designer and project manager.
Britty holds a B.A/B.ed from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem and a teaching certificate from The Kerem Institute and is currently a graduate student at NYU's Digital Media Design For Learning program.
Our Team
Interns and Volunteers (2018-2024)
Sarane James
Undergraduate Intern, Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College, CUNY
Sarane James is a student studying Creative Writing at the Macaulay Honors College at CUNY Hunter College. She has had both creative and journalistic writing published in places such as the Girls Write Now annual anthology and Newsweek magazine. She is currently writing a novel and aims to use the power of storytelling to provide greater understanding of each other and bring us closer as human beings.
She has had a hand in writing the content of many PiLa-CS resources, including the Our Approach and FAQ pages, as well as the case study documents.
Mulan Fu
Animation Intern, NYU Tisch
Mulan is an award-winning filmmaker, animator, and illustrator currently based in New York City. Her commercial work ranges from 2D cel animation, motion graphics, illustration to animated production creative development. She has recently graduated from the Film and Television major at New York University Tisch School of the Arts and is currently pursuing a master's degree in educational game design at Teachers College Columbia University.
Darylennys German Aponte
Undergraduate Intern, Medgar Evers College, CUNY
Darylennys German is a Psychology Student with a minor in Social Welfare at Medgar Evers College. She is a very empathetic person who also loves helping people. She is presently a College Assistant serving within a peer-to-peer mentorship capacity. Some of her duties include strategizing, troubleshooting, and guiding first-time freshmen to navigate college successfully.
Peter Huu Tran
Volunteer
Heesoo Hong
Volunteer
Raya Hudson
Undergraduate Intern, NYU - Tisch
Raya Hudson is a Junior majoring in Film & TV Production at NYU Tisch School of The Arts. She has interests in screenwriting for television and editing for both film and television. She is currently completing her minors in computer science and web development and applications and hopes of encouraging youth in the power of computer science. She wishes to use her films and television to show how interesting computer science can be. With both interests she found the message of PiLa-CS meaningful in widening the scope of computer science to the youth.
Ostavo Palacios
Undergraduate Intern, City College of New York, CUNY
Ostavo Palacios is a Computer Engineering student at the City College of New York. He is currently part of the PiLa-CS team. He is really into web designing and loves programming! One of his goals in life is to get more minority students interested in coding.
Rui Su
Volunteer, Graduated from Digital Media Design for Learning program at Steinhardt NYU
Rui Su is an instructional designer and a learning designer with project and program management experience. Designing for effective e-learning experience with alignment to the organization's strategies. After working in the industry of learning and development for a few years, Rui decides to find her link back to research on teaching and learning effectiveness and educational equity.
Rivka Salem
Undergraduate Intern, CUNY Brooklyn College
Rivka Salem has experience in the education field working with children as young as 3, to the age of 10 being both an assistant teacher and a tutor. She is passionate about both education and technology and that’s why she saw PiLa-CS as a perfect opportunity for her interests. She hopes one day to be teaching tech skills to students of all ages. Rivka believes students should be taught coding skills at a young age as technology is a great and important part of our future.
Danielle Fuller
Animation Intern, NYU Tisch
Danielle is an animator and writer studying at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Her work includes animation, photography, documentaries and various short films. As an artist Danielle hopes to explore a wide variety of mediums and subject matter.
Staci Steinfeld
Undergraduate Intern, Baruch College, CUNY
Staci Steinfeld is a Public Affairs student with a minor in Psychology at CUNY-Baruch College. She is passionate about social justice and education reform, which led her to join the Pila-CS team as a summer intern. Her experience as a youth coordinator encouraged her to pursue a career as a child advocate attorney and sparked her interest in the public and nonprofit sectors. Staci is looking forward to her time at Pila-CS and helping more students learn how to code!
Jade Marte
Undergraduate Intern, CUNY Medgar Evers College
Jade Marte is a Senior majoring in computer science at Medgar Evers. She has participated in several programs in computer science such as google CSSI and Data science and web development workshops. Jade also has experience in different computer languages for example HTML, CSS, JavaScript and others, she is more comfortable with C++, HTML and SQL with coding. Certainly Jade is working on becoming a tutor in her college to help other students in the computer science major understand what they are learning.
Ezra Posner
Animation Intern, NYU Tisch
Ezra is a visual artist and storyteller who recently graduated from NYU Tisch. While he mostly makes animations and comics, he also enjoys graphic design, screenwriting, and illustration. Regardless of the medium, Ezra enjoys exploring stories about queerness, identity, and politics. Ezra designed the PiLa-CS logo!
Adriana Pascal
Undergraduate Intern, Steinhardt, NYU
Adriana Pascal is a Teaching Social Studies, Grades 7-12, major. She began tutoring at 14-years-old and working with students encouraged her to pursue a degree in education. PiLa-CS gives her the opportunity to help black and brown students communicate with each and their teachers through coding. She is very passionate about making black and brown children feel as though culture is welcome in the classroom, and should not be left at the door. She is very excited for this experience.
Kyla Yujiri
Undergraduate Intern, NYU - CAS
Kyla Yujiri is a Senior majoring in Computer Science at NYU with minors in Game Design and Mathematics. She has been coding for over seven years now, and is currently most interested in Full Stack Web Development. Because Computer Science has had a powerful impact on both Kyla’s life and career, she wants to see it become more accessible and interesting to underrepresented groups in the field. As an intern at PiLa-CS, she hopes that she can help make that possible.
Practice Partners
Etna Abreu
Bilingual Science
Ana Rebeca Castillo
Bilingual Language Arts
Mike Gentle
Science
Miguel Guity
Science, Math, Special Education
Evelyn Linares
Principal
Ashley Guílamo
Bilingual Language Arts
Jeanette Marte
Bilingual Coordinator & ENL
Lakisha McDaniel Luke
Principal
Miguel Quezada
Bilingual Math
Olga Quiles
Principal
Karen Silfa
Bilingual Science
Christy Crawford
Director of Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education, CS4All
Our Professional Learning Community
Catherine Romero, Hillcrest HS
Deliann Morales, P.S. 95 The Gravesend School
Ilka Stoessel, PS/IS 224
Jacqueline DuFont, School for Human Rights
Jinyu Liang, SFUSD
Kimberly Sánchez, International High School at Lafayette
Kristi Jones, 02M296 - HS of Hospitality Management
Melissa Hannon, PS 131 Brooklyn
Melissa Nicolardi, International High School at Lafayette (21K337)
Patricia Davis, Brooklyn High School of the Arts
Patricia Elfers-Wygand, Stephen A Halsey JHS 157 Q (28Q157)
Richard Gross, PS 220 Q Edward Mandel
Robin Rivadeneira, Aviation HS LIC
Rose Ann Valerio, PS 220 Q Edward Mandel
Susan Murray, Abraham Lincoln I.S. 171
Théa Williams, Brooklyn Arbor Elementary School
Advisory Board and Dissemination Partners
Dr. Brigid Barron
Professor, Stanford University
Dr. Leigh Ann Delyser
CS for All
Dr. Karen Brennan
Associate Professor, Harvard School of Education
Dr. Ofelia García
Professor Emerita, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York
Francisco Cervantes
Program Manager, College of St. Scholastica
Dr. Patricia Ordóñez
Associate Professor, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras
Christy Crawford
Director of Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education, CS4All
NYC Department of Education
Dr. Tapan Parikh
Associate Professor, Cornell Tech