Tiffany Barnes is Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at NC State University. She received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in Computer Science and Mathematics, and the Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from N.C. State. Dr. Barnes has served as chair or program chair for many conferences, including ACM SIGCSE, Educational Data Mining RESPECT, STARS Celebration, and Foundations of Digital Games. Tiffany Barnes has served on the boards for ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education (2010-2016), the International Educational Data Mining Society (2011-present), and IEEE Computer STC Broadening Participation, and as Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies (2016-2022). Dr. Barnes received an NSF CAREER Award for her novel work in using data and educational data mining to add intelligence to STEM learning environments. Dr. Barnes is founding Co-Director of the STARS Computing Corps, an NSF-funded consortium (2137317) that has involved 78 colleges, universities, and organizations, 100+ faculty/staff, and 2300+ college students in research, service, and outreach (to over 140K K12 students), to broaden participation in computing. Dr. Barnes is currently working on NSF-funded projects to provide data-driven intelligent tutoring support in STEM (2013502) and creative programming (1917885), teach AI to middle schoolers (2405862), prepare high school teachers to teach computing (1542922, 1346922) and robotics (2318343), help K12 teachers partner with AI to support computational thinking into their courses (2405854), support the CS ed research community (2213792), and provide research experiences to undergraduates (1950607).

Dr. Xiaoyi Tian is a research scientist who joined the Game2Learn lab in Fall 2024. She earned her Ph.D. in Human-Centered Computing from the University of Florida and holds an M.S. in Information Science from the University of Pittsburgh and a B.S. in Management Science from Anhui University in China. Dr. Tian's research focuses on computer science and AI education, human-computer interaction, and collaborative learning. By leveraging human-centered design methods and artificial intelligence techniques, she aims to enhance K-12 AI education and promote productive collaboration among young learners. Her work has received best paper awards at the Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE) and the Learning Analytics and Knowledge (LAK) conferences. At the Game2Learn lab, she directs the STARS AI Scholars program, which provides college students, teachers, and faculty with opportunities to learn about AI and engage in K-12 outreach projects that broaden participation for historically excluded groups in AI.

Marnie is a program manager who joined the Game2Learn lab in the Spring of 2019 on the Beauty and Joy of Computing (BJC) projects. She has a master’s in Technology Education and holds a Career and Technical Education teaching license. She currently works on several projects providing support, including CS Frontiers, BJC, ExCITE, SRCA-REU, SRCA-RET, and Infusing Computing. During the 2022-2023 school year, she is teaching High School Cybersecurity and AP Computer Science Principles. Because of her passion for CS K-12 Education, she is a part of several groups, Computer Science Teacher Association (NC Chapter President), NCWIT Aspirations Regional Affiliate (Durham East), and CS4NC/NC ECEP Alliance.

Rachel joined the lab in Spring 2017. She is interested in intelligent chatbots, Educational Data Mining (EDM) and machine learning. She is currently leading a project to use undergraduate computer science CS 0/1 student survey responses to predict persistence in computer science by subsequent enrollment (SE).

Amy is a PhD student who joined the lab in Fall 2018. She is working on broadening participation in computing through high school computing interventions as well as by joining the STEM+C team. Amy helps conduct field studies in K-12 classrooms and supports teachers in creating coding projects using block-based programming environments.

Erynn is a PhD student who joined the lab in Fall 2020. Her research interests are improving the educational experience through computer science. Erynn enjoiys dancing, binge watching TV, and traveling.

Nazia is a PhD student who joined the lab in Fall 2020. Her research interests are data mining and machine learning. She is currently working on the Deep Thought project.

Ally is a graduate researcher who joined the lab in Spring 2021. Ally is very interested in using HCI methods to help improve and design educational tools and has helped conduct user studies and analyze the results for GradeSnap and PEDI (Piazza Explorer Dashboard for Intervention). Ally has also worked on the PlanIT project by designing, implementing, and analyzing a study to compare its effects on students to a paper storyboarding planning tool. Ally has mentored undergraduate researchers and K12 teacher researchers. Now, Ally is investigating what moments trigger negative self-assessments in novice programmers using Snap!. In her free time, Ally enjoys playing tennis and serving as the STARS co vice president in an effort to provide computing activities to local high school and middle school students.

Heidi is a third year student in the Game2Learn lab who joined in Spring 2022. Her primary interests are the intersection of education, cats, NLP, crochet, and machine learning, with a particular love of under-resourced languages. She is currently researching the efficacy of positive feedback in CS education.

Benyamin is a Ph.D. student who joined the lab in Spring 2022. His research interests are mainly computer science education, generative AI, and educational technology. He is passionate about enhancing education through AI and large language models, using them to develop personalized, intelligent support systems for both educators and students. He spends a lot of his spare time listening to music, watching TV shows, singing, and playing guitar.

Sandeep is a Ph.D. student who joined the lab at the end of Spring 2022. He is interested in human-computer interaction and understanding how people learn. Sandeep is currently working on how a team of programmers collectively seek information as a team and support them. Sandeep enjoys playing video games or traveling when he has some free time.

Yasitha is a Ph.D. student who joined the lab in Spring 2022. He's passionate about computer games research and is currently working on the BOTs project. His current research focuses on how players' spatial skills and game design affect their performance and perceived difficulty in a game designed for programming education. His work aims to improve learning through games and interactive environments. In his free time, Yasitha enjoys playing video games, watching TV shows, and practicing archery.

Sam is a 2nd year PhD student who joined the lab in Fall 2022. He is interested in understanding what skill set is best suited for those wishing to become software engineers, and discovering which institutions teach those skills most effectively. He is currently working on a platform to integrate data from online tools used by students, and analyze when they need aid via data mining and machine learning techniques.

Tithi is a PhD student in the Game2Learn lab who joined in Fall 2022. Her primary research interests are machine learning, AI for social good and HCI. She has a strong desire to contribute to the improvement and design of interactive and accessible technology that might greatly improve people's lives. She is currently investigating data-driven approaches used in learning environments to enhance students' problem-solving skills and learning. In her free time, she loves listening to music, walking and talking with friends.

Kimia became a member of the lab in Spring 2023, Her field of interest is Computer Science in Education, with a particular focus on Data Analytics and Machine Learning. She is currently working on Deep Thought project where she explores effective ways to enhance students' learning. Beyond her academic pursuits, she enjoys reading books and staying active by going to the gym.

Arun, a Master's student, joined the lab in January 2024. He is passionate about advancing education and previously lead teaching initiatives to teach Science and Math to K-12 students. He is now working on enhancing education experiences through AI and data-driven strategies.