Graduate Lounge - December 2008

The NERA Researcher
Vol. 46, Issue 4, p. 16
December 2008

The Graduate Lounge

The year 2009 marks the third year of NERA Graduate Student Issues Committee (GSIC). The GSIC members are excited to continue working toward the committee’s mission, which involves supporting the professional development of NERA graduate students and reaching out to new graduate students in an effort to increase the diversity of institutions, represented at NERA.

At the NERA 2008 conference, the GSIC organized two sessions specifically for graduate students. One session was designed for graduate students to meet and provide ideas/suggestions to support the involvement and professional development of NERA graduate student members. In the second session, Asil Özdoğru talked about stressors and coping mechanisms in the lives of graduate students followed by Dr. Christine Harmes from James Madison University and Andy Leibowitz from the Educational Testing Services who provided valuable information on preparing one’s curriculum vita and the interview process for job applications. GSIC thanks our presenters for a very interesting and informative session.

This year the GSIC will welcome two new members. Currently, the GSIC consist of five members:

Carol Barry (barryclATjmu.edu) is in her second year of the Assessment and Measurement program at James Madison University. She is interested in a variety of topics in applied measurement and statistics. These interests include applications of structural equation modeling, growth modeling, and mixture modeling. At a broader level, she is interested in the test development and validity process. Her substantive research interests include motivational topics such as self-efficacy, help-seeking, and achievement goal orientation.

Megan France (francemkATjmu.edu) is in her first year of the Assessment and Measurement program at James Madison University. Her substantive research interests include variables related to college students’ relatedness with their peers and the university environment such as university belonging, attachment, and mattering. She is also interested in applications of structural equation modeling. Megan is serving as the 2008-2009 chair for the GSIC.

Andri Ioannou (andri.ioannouATgmail.com) is a doctoral candidate in the Educational Technology program at the University of Connecticut . Currently, she is working on her dissertation titled “Supporting Collaborative Learning in Online Environments:
The Promise of Wiki Technology”. Her interests include computer-supported collaborative learning, online learning, and Web 2.0 technologies for learning, networking, and collaboration.

Christine Shea (csheaATeduc.umass.edu) is a doctoral candidate in the Research Evaluation Methods Program at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Currently, she is working on her dissertation titled "Using a Mixture IRT Model to Understand Second Language Learner Performance on Large-scale Assessments". Her interests include equity issues that arise when measuring student achievement and school success, and validity theory and its application to accountability at the local, state and federal levels.

Asil Ali Özdoğru (http://www.albany.edu/~ao7726/) is a doctoral candidate in educational psychology at the University at Albany, SUNY and a program associate in Policy Research Associates. His research looks at out-of-school time across cultures, humor in learning, educational technology, and issues in criminal justice and mental health. A member of NERA since 2004, Asil served in various capacities including as a regular proposal reviewer, conference volunteer, membership committee member, and the founding chair of GSIC.

For more information about GSIC and past Graduate Lounge sections, please visit our blog at http://neragsic.blogspot.com/