Dr. Edward Berger
-Executive Director-
Edward Berger is a Professor of Engineering Education and Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University, joining Purdue in August 2014. He has been teaching mechanics for nearly 20 years, and has worked extensively on the integration and assessment of specific technology interventions in mechanics classes. He was one of the co-leaders in 2013-2014 of the ASEE Virtual Community of Practice (VCP) for mechanics educators across the country.
Dr. Jennifer DeBoer
-Director of Research-
Jennifer DeBoer is currently an Associate Professor of Engineering Education at Purdue University. Her research focuses on international education systems, individual and social development, technology use and STEM learning, and educational environments for diverse learners.
Dr. Jeffrey Rhoads
-Director of Practice-
Jeffrey F. (Jeff) Rhoads is a Professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University and is affiliated with both the Birck Nanotechnology Center and Ray W. Herrick Laboratories at the same institution. He also serves as the Associate Director of PERC: The Purdue Energetics Research Center and the Director of Practice for MEERCat Purdue: The Mechanical Engineering Education Research Center at Purdue University. Read More Dr. Rhoads received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees, each in mechanical engineering, from Michigan State University in 2002, 2004, and 2007, respectively. Dr. Rhoads’ current research interests include the predictive design, analysis, and implementation of resonant micro/nanoelectromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS) for use in chemical and biological sensing, electromechanical signal processing, and computing; the thermomechanics of energetic materials (including explosives, pyrotechnics, and propellants); additive manufacturing; and mechanics education. Dr. Rhoads is a Member of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), where he serves on the Design Engineering Division’s Technical Committee on Vibration and Sound. Dr. Rhoads is a recipient of numerous research and teaching awards, including the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award; the Purdue University School of Mechanical Engineering’s Harry L. Solberg Best Teacher Award (twice), Robert W. Fox Outstanding Instructor Award, B.F.S. Schaefer Outstanding Young Faculty Scholar Award, and Ruth and Joel Spira Award; the ASEE Mechanics Division’s Ferdinand P. Beer and E. Russell Johnston, Jr. Outstanding New Mechanics Educator Award; and the ASME C. D. Mote Jr., Early Career Award. In 2014, Dr. Rhoads was included in ASEE Prism Magazine’s 20 Under 40. To date he has authored more than 100 peer reviewed journal and conference publications and with his colleagues has conduct more than $19M in sponsored research with industry, the United States National Science Foundation, and the Departments of Defense, Energy, and Homeland Security.
Ruth Goelz
-Project Manager-
Ruth Goelz is the Research Operations Administrator for MEERCat. Ruth drives and supports a variety of multidisciplinary research and practice initiatives for MEERCat Purdue, overseeing and supporting the logistics, communications, and general operations for $9M in federally-funded research grants. Ruth works across multiple projects to provide the programmatic support needed to achieve center-level goals.
Dr. Fredy Rodriguez
-Postdoctoral Researcher-
Fredy Rodriguez is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Purdue University’s School of Engineering Education. His research interests primarily focus on conducting ethnographic studies in various fields, including the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Design Ethnography, Anthropology of Indigenous Social Movements, and Medical Anthropology. Fredy actively collaborates with other members of Purdue’s Mechanical Engineering Education Research Center, where he collects and analyzes qualitative data for multiple research projects. Additionally, he is involved in the preparation of manuscripts for publication based on these research endeavors.
Dr. Hong Tran
-Postdoctoral Researcher-
Hong Tran is a Post-Doctoral Research Associate for MEERCat. She taught high school science and math for about ten years prior to earning her Ph.D. in science education from the University of Georgia. Her primary research interests include teacher education, self-regulated learning, science and engineering practices, and climate justice.
Aziz Dridi
-Graduate Research Assistant-
Aziz is a PhD candidate in engineering education and works as a graduate research assistant for MEERCat. He specializes in data science /machine learning approaches applied to student-related data. Specifically, he applies cultural consensus theory and model-based clustering to characterize cultures and consensus.
Dr. Lisa Kaczmarczyk
Lisa Kaczmarczyk, PhD, is the owner of a program evaluation business that specializes in computer science and engineering education. Dr. Kaczmarczyk has extensive experience evaluating multi-institutional NSF funded STEM research projects at the primary, secondary and post-secondary levels and has served as project PI. Her expertise is in interdisciplinary computing and engineering education, outreach to women, girls and other under-represented groups, and computing for social good. In 2019 her paper “Identifying student misconceptions of programming” was awarded the “Top Ranked SIGCSE Symposium Paper of All Time”. Lisa is the external evaluator for the ICT grant which studies the Freeform classroom in multiple environments.