Current Members
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Xinyue Lu Xinyue Lu is a Ph.D. candidate in the Multilingual Language Education program. She is also a field supervisor and research associate at OSU. She receives her BA in English and an MS in TESOL. Her academic and research interests include bilingual and world language education, sociolinguistics, and academic language socialization. Her research project, “An Interdisciplinary Approach to Mapping Linguistic Landscapes in Education,” was one of the winning projects funded by the EHE GSIRI in 2019-2020. This project aims to map the multilingualism of Columbus using the ArcGIS system to match the linguistic data to the demographic data on socioeconomic status and language diversity across the city. The results will then be used to create an interdisciplinary unit for developing both language learning and critical awareness of social, economic, and political issues. |
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Barbara Sanchez Barbara Sanchez is a doctoral candidate in the Kinesiology, Health & Exercise Science program. Her current research interest is in female reproductive exercise physiology where she is studying menstrual cycle phase and human performance. She hopes to expand upon this research to broaden the knowledge on how various exercise and nutritional approaches impact aspects women’s health to better empower and advocate for the health and wellness of women and girls. Barbara also serves as a GTA, teaching hands on laboratory components of the undergraduate Exercise Science curriculum while assisting the operations of the Faculty and Staff Fitness Program and Clinical Exercise Testing Lab. Alongside these duties, Barbara serves as the representative of the Human Sciences Department in EHE’s Graduate Student Advisory Council. Her aspirations in GSIRI are to enhance the collaborative environment amongst the graduate students in the college and promote teamwork, investigative curiosity, and powerful friendships that would last for years to come. |
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Onur Özkaynak Onur is a doctoral student in Multilingual Language Education (MLE). He received his M.A. in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) from Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey, and his B.A. in English Language Teaching (ELT) from Gazi University in Ankara, Turkey. He is also a holder of the Diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (DELTA) from Cambridge University. Before joining OSU, he taught English as a foreign language (EFL) at the college level in Turkey for eight years. He is the current President of the Graduate Student Working Group for Foreign Language Research and Teaching (FLRT). His research interests include language teacher education, translanguaging practices of emergent bilinguals, educational sociolinguistics, Global Englishes, and multilingual language education. |
Past Members
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Julie Fitz Julie is a doctoral candidate in Educational Studies, specializing in Education Policy. Her research focuses on processes of marketization in K-12 education. Her current projects include a mixed methods exploration of the usage of scripted curricula within Ohio schools (for which she and her collaborators received a 2019-2020 GSIRI grant), a cross-state comparison of policies regulating virtual charter schools run by for-profit providers and their impact on the teachers employed by these schools, and a network analysis of the Indianapolis education reform nonprofit, the Mind Trust. |
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Abena Anyidoho Abena Anyidoho is a doctoral candidate with the Quantitative Research Evaluation and Measurement program in the Educational Studies department. She is interested in evaluating programs aimed at enhancing students learning experiences. Her current research focuses on examining the quality of instruments used by the Ohio State Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP). The program is aimed at supporting racial/ethic underrepresented students pursuing majors in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). She currently works with the assessment team at the Centre on Education and Training for Employment (CETE) as a graduate research assistant. |
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Dr. Eric McChesney
Eric McChesney is a postdoctoral associate at the University of Pittsburgh. He works with the UBelong Collaborative studying psychosocial interventions for minoritized STEM students that enhance their sense of belonging, performance, and persistence. He received his Ph.D. in Higher Education from OSU, his M.A. in Education from the University of Florida, and his B.A. in English Literature from Denison University. He is a co-founder of GSIRI and serves the initiative in an emeritus and advisement capacity. |
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Busra Ceviren Busra Ceviren is a Ph.D. candidate in the Quantitative Research, Evaluation, and Measurement (QREM) Program. She received her BSc in Science Education and MA in Primary Education from Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey. Busra serves as a GRA at the Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy (CCEC), managing databases and conducting statistical analysis on the IES-funded project aimed at understanding practices in early childhood classrooms that support children’s oral language development. She holds an additional GRA appointment with the Office of Research, Innovation, and Collaboration (ORIC), maintains the funding opportunities database, and creates and updates records within the EHE’s proposal and award tracking database. Her research interest includes latent change score modeling, multilevel modeling, planned missing data designs, and research data management. Busra is a co-founder of GSIRI and served on the leadership team from 2018 to 2022. |
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Dr. Sahra Ahmed Sahra Ahmed is a graduate of the Educational Policy program at The Ohio State University College of Education & Human Ecology. Her dissertation titled, The role of education in cultivating educational capabilities in Kakuma refugee camp in Northwestern Kenya, examines how protracted refugee situations are affecting young people and their educational experiences. Sahra is a strong leader, voracious researcher, passionate educator, and noted author, who is committed to understanding the impact that systems, policies, leadership, and education have on refugee and immigrant youth, both domestically and abroad. |
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Marcos Rivera Marcos D. Rivera is a Postdoctoral Researcher on the Research and Program Assessment team in the Office of Student Academic Success. He conducts interdisciplinary, mixed-methods research with an emphasis on college student access, success, and retention. Marcos’ current projects include multi-year studies on assessing the impact of Open Education Resources; evaluating and optimizing academic interventions and programs; and strengthening open-access to selective campus transfer pathways. He was a 2016-2018 Holmes Scholar and a 2017-2018 OER Research Fellow. Marcos earned his Ph.D. in the Department of Educational Studies at The Ohio State University. Prior to completing his degree, he worked as an administrator in enrollment services and student affairs at New York University, Semester at Sea, University of Richmond, and Rutgers University-Camden. |