Doctoral Students Honored
A dozen new PhDs were honored and gifted regalia before the 2025 convocation celebration during the second annual doctoral robing ceremony at Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy.
The ceremony recognized graduates from SESP’s three pioneering doctoral programs—Human Development and Social Policy (HDSP), Learning Sciences, and the joint Computer Science + Learning Sciences program. Each of these programs was among the first of its kind in the nation and continues to inspire innovation in education and research.
Three faculty members—Yang Qu, Jen Munson, and Matthew Kay—also marked milestones, each celebrating the graduation of their first doctoral advisee.
Human Development and Social Policy
HDSP students examine how policy affects people—and how people, in turn, influence policy—across the human lifespan.
Learn more about our newest graduates:
Nicole Guarino
Dissertation: “The Contexts That Make Me”
Committee: Jonathan Guryan (advisor and chair), Mesmin Destin, Terri Sabol
Guarino studied how social class impacts motivation and outcomes in higher education. “Nicole had a crystal-clear idea of what she wanted to study the first day she got here and stuck to it,” said advisor Jon Guryan. “She has a commitment to precision and getting it right.”
Julia Honoroff
Dissertation: “A Multilevel Exploration of Early Care and Education Policy”
Committee: Terri Sabol (advisor and chair), Diane Schanzenbach, P. Lindsay Chase-Lansdale, Marci Ybarra
Honoroff researches how families navigate early education systems. “She gets under the hood to understand how policy actually works,” said advisor Terri Sabol.
Next step: Honoroff received a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania.
Pictured: Terri Sabol (l) and Julia Honoroff
Phoebe Lin
Dissertation: “Geographies of Citizenship: Immigrant Communities and Placemaking in Uptown, Chicago”
Committee: Tabitha Bonilla (advisor and chair), Quinn Mulroy, Ana Aparicio
Lin explored citizenship and community-building among immigrants. She was part of the graduate student team studying the impact of guaranteed income in Evanston. “She taught me to be critical and thoughtful,” said Advisor Tabitha Bonilla
Matias Martinez
Dissertation: “Peer Victimization and Mental Health”
Committee: Claudia Haase and Ofer Malamud (advisors and co-chairs), Vijay Mittal, Gregory Elacqua
Martinez examined how bullying affects youth mental health. He also received the DevSci Graduate Student Fellowship. “He’s a creative and insightful scholar whose work is always careful,” said advisor Ofer Malamud.
Next step: Postdoctoral scholar at Vanderbilt University
Photo: Claudia Haase (l), Matias Martinez, Ofer Malamud
Beiming Yang
Dissertation: “Parental Burnout: Implications on Family Dynamics and Adolescent Development”
Committee: Yang Qu (chair), Emma Adam, Claudia Haase
Yang’s research connects family stress to adolescent development using both surveys and neuroscience. His latest study looks at the cycle between parental burnout and family conflict with teens.
Next step: Postdoctoral scholar at the School of Education and Social Policy
Photo: Yang Qu (l), Beiming Yang
Learning Sciences
The Learning Sciences program is for people who want to learn about learning. It integrates cognition, social context and design to improve how people learn.
Katarzyna (Kasia) Pomian Bogdanov
Dissertation: “Tracing Science Teachers’ Engagement with Curriculum Materials Over Time”
Committee: Bruce Sherin and Brian Reiser (advisors and co-chairs), Megan Bang, Andy Elby
A member of the OpenSciEd team, Pomian Bogdanov studied how science teachers develop and refine their teaching approaches. She is also interested in how students and educators use silliness in the classroom to create better learning environments.
Next step: Assistant professor of science education, Florida State University
Pictured: Bruce Sherin, Kasia Pomian Bogdanov, Brian Reiser
Sarah Larison
Dissertation: “Exploring the Co-Construction of Teachers’ Productive Noticing”
Committee: Miriam Sherin and Jen Munson (advisors and co-chairs), Kavita Kapadia Matsko, Jennifer Richards
Larison, a former elementary teacher, focuses on how educators learn to notice and build on student thinking. “She’ll be teaching a lot of us—teachers will benefit,” said Advisor Miriam Sherin.
Charles Logan
Committee: Sepehr Vakil (advisor and chair), Eva Lam, Antero Garcia
Logan, a former high school teacher, focuses on critical approaches to educational technology and student empowerment. His latest article, Generative AI and the (Re)turn to Luddism, looks at how the idea of "Luddism"—resisting new technology—has been used in the past and today, especially in response to AI in education.
Alisa Reith
Dissertation: “Political Spectacle and Institutional Resistance to Change in Chicago's Struggle for Schools without Police"
Committee: Sepehr Vakil (advisor and chair), Eva Lam, Quinn Mulroy, Jeannette Colyvas
Reith, who analyzed the debate over the presence of police in Chicago schools, focuses on how people challenge institutions through public protest and discourse. Her dissertation work combines public records research with computational and archival methods. She is the winner of a National Science Foundation Research Traineeship.
Computer Science + Learning Sciences
This joint program between the School of Education and Social Policy and the McCormick School of Engineering explores how technology can support learning across all ages and contexts.
Maryam Hedayati
Dissertation: “The What, How, and Why of Visualization Literacy”
Committee: Matthew Kay (advisor), Eric Alexander, Michael Horn, Bruce Sherin
Hedayati designed training programs to improve data literacy and was a pioneer in computer science teaching support at Northwestern. “She made a teaching program in computer science that didn’t exist before," said Advisor Matthew Kay.
Jacob Kelter
Dissertation: “Learning Across Scales:
Committee: Uri Wilensky (advisor and chair), Bruce Sherin, Paulo Blikstein
Kelter, who received a prestigious Presidential Scholarship, built computational models and co-designed curricula to teach STEM from a complex systems perspective with both the CT-STEM project and the Northwestern materials science and engineering department. “Jacob is brilliant, incredibly passionate, dedicated and doesn’t settle for easy answers," said Advisor Uri Wilensky.
Next step: Kelter is executive director of a new initiative expanding NetLogo at the School of Education and Social Policy.
Natalie Araujo Melo
Dissertation: “‘I Threw Myself Back Toward Unreason’”
Committee: Marcelo Worsley (advisor and chair), Jolie Matthews, Frieda McAlear, Casey Philip Wong
Melo’s work explores how Black scholar-activists challenge inequity in computing education. She founded The Papaya Project to rethink fairness in computer science. “She’s leaving an indelible mark on the university,” said advisor Marcelo Worsley.
Pictured: Natalie Melo (l) with Advisor Marcelo Worsley
Photos by Tammy Wen