Maya Israel, Ph.D. is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Technology in the School of Teaching and Learning at the University of Florida. She is also the research director at the Creative Technology Research Lab (CTRL; http://ctrl.education.illinois.edu). Dr. Israel’s research focuses on strategies for supporting students with disabilities and other struggling learners’ meaningful engagement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) with emphases on computer science education and Universal Design for Learning (UDL). She is currently PI on an NSF grant that examines instructional strategies that support students with disabilities and other struggling learners in successfully accessing computing instruction. She is also PI on an NSF STEM+C grant to create learning trajectories that align computational thinking with elementary math instruction. Dr. Israel was CS K-12 Framework author on the computational practices writing team. She has published in top-ranking journals such as Computer Science Education, Exceptional Children, Journal of Research on Technology in Education, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, and Computers & Education as well as in computer science education conferences such as SIGCSE and ICER. Lastly, she works with multiple school districts on meaningfully including all learners in K-8 computer science education.
Nikki Lanier
When asked why she has focused so much of her professional life onadvancing racial equity, Nikki Lanier will tell you it was anassignment passed to
