Who I Am

I am a Research Scientist of Computer Science at North Carolina State University. At NC State, I work closely with Tiffany Barnes and faculty at Digital Transformation of Education (DTE) cluster. I earned my Ph.D. degree in Human-Centered Computing at University of Florida, advised by Kristy Boyer. I earned my Master’s degree in Information Science at University of Pittsburgh, where I worked closely with Erin Walker and Amy Ogan (Carnegie Mellon University). I received my Bachelor’s degree in Management Science from Anhui University.

Recent Updates

• Publication (Feb 2025): One paper “What Does It Take to Support Problem Solving in Programming Classrooms? A New Framework from the K-12 Teacher Perspective” is accepted to the ACM conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) 2025 - Lake-breaking work. This work was led by Ally Limke and co-authored with Saminur Islam, Bahare Riahi, Xiaoyi Tian, Marnie Hill, Veronica Catete and Tiffany Barnes.

• Publication (Dec 2024): Two first-authored presentations accepted at American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting 2025! See you in April, 2025 at Denver, Colorado!

• Upcoming Position (July 2024): This Fall, I will be joining NC State University, Department of Computer Science as a research scientist working with Tiffany Barnes.

• PhD Dissertation Defense (May 2024): I passed my PhD dissertation defense on May 28th. Huge thanks to my advisor, Kristy Boyer, and my committee members, Maya Israel, Jaime Ruiz, and Eric Ragan for their time invested and incredible support!

What I Do

My research intersects the domains of Human-Computer Interaction, AI in Education, Collaborative Learning, and Computing Education. I use human-centered design methods and artificial intelligence techniques to enhance human learning and cultivate productive collaboration, especially among young learners.

My research particularly aims to answer a key question: How can we effectively build learning environments and student modules that foster human learning in computing? Digital learning systems can do more than just presenting learning concepts and proper pedagogical feedback; they should be able to provide empowering and engaging experiences to learners.

You can find my research projects here.