Research Writing & Ethics Interns

Sabrina Zhao is a first-year master’s student in the International Educational Development program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She received my Bachelor’s degree in Film & Media and Gender Studies from Queen’s University in 2023. Her research interests are situated at the intersection of media, education, and culture, framed within a decolonial perspective. She is particularly focused on exploring the technological and cultural factors influencing educational practices, with a specific emphasis on literacy, social justice, youth development, and teacher education. In collaboration with TC Next, she plans to organize informative panels dedicated to discussing Institutional Review Board (IRB) processes. These panels aim to provide a platform for open dialogue and comprehensive discussions surrounding the crucial aspects of navigating the IRB system. Additionally, she will create blogs specifically designed to address the distinct needs of international students, offering insights and guidance tailored to the unique challenges they may encounter in their academic journeys.

Jiayi is a second-year master’s student in Comparative and International Education program at Teachers College. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and International Relationship from Tongji University, China in 2022. Her research interests focus on literacy education, language ideologies and international organizations in global educational networks. 

During her time in the internship, Jiayi is planning to create a public presentation series in collaboration with GSLD on demystifying the IRB process and exploring international research settings and ethical considerations.

Jimin Kim is a first-year master’s student in the Clinical Psychology program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology at the Ohio State University in 2022. Jimin hopes to delve into the accurate and specific identifications of risk and protective factors, especially for suicide and depression in different stages of life, by integrating the latest technologies.

Lily is a second-year master’s student in the Clinical Psychology program at Teachers College. She received her Bachelor’s Degree from Johns Hopkins University in 2021 where she majored in Psychology and History of Science. Her undergraduate research focused on the relationship between temperamental dimensions and pediatric obsessive compulsive disorder. At Teachers College, she is a member of the Culture, Stigma and Psychosis Lab where she is researching first episode psychosis health inequities in Chile as well as late-life schizophrenia on untreated populations in rural China.

Jooyoung Jeon is a third-year doctoral student in the Science Education program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She received her Bachelor and Masters Degree in Science Education from Ewha Womans University, Korea. Her research interests intersect climate change and adaptation education and geology, using decolonial lenses. During her time in the internship, Jooyoung is planning to create a blog series and workshops on ethics related to using AI tools in research. In collaboration with TC NEXT, Jooyoung is addressing an issue that online and AI researchers in education face, especially in regards to professional development.

Gail is a first-year master’s student in the Clinical Psychology program at Teachers College. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Excelsior University in 2023. In addition to interning at the IRB, she is currently a Research Assistant at the Regulation of Emotion in Anxiety and Depression (READ) Lab at Teachers College, as well as an Office Associate at the Dean Hope Center for Educational and Psychological Services. Gail hopes to focus on providing mental health resources and community support to under-resourced communities, as well as exploring individual and group therapy in the context of emotional regulation and distress tolerance.

Diana is a first-year master's student in the Social-Organizational Psychology program at Teachers College. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from William Paterson University in 2020. Her previous research studied the influence of creativity on risk-taking behavior as well as the impacts of psychological distance. She hopes to explore employee mental health and well-being in work organizations.  

During her time in the internship, Diana created a blog series on understanding research bias, preparing for protocol deviation and adverse events, and using the IRB from a student perspective. She held consultation sessions with the Graduate Writing Center (GWC) and created an IRB resource for the GWC on relevant topics for protocol submissions. 

Jose La Rosa is a first-year doctoral student in the International and Comparative Education program. His research examines the impact of teacher policies and the role of governments in improving teacher quality in Latin America. Before joining Teachers College, he obtained a Master's in Public Policy from the University of Cambridge and an Ed.M. in International Education Policy from Harvard University; both under fully funded scholarships from the UK and Peruvian governments.

He is a policymaker with eight years of experience working for the Ministry of Education of Peru, where he designed and implemented educational policies at a national level with a special focus on introducing legislation to support teachers and school leaders. During his time working for the government, he held positions in the Department of Teacher Development, the Department of School Leadership, and the National Education Council of Peru. 

In collaboration with TC NEXT, Jose developed a handout for student researchers on how to navigate the NYC DOE IRB processes. Building from existing DOE IRB resources, Jose amalgamated existing information to create a comprehensive guide on how NYC DOE IRB and TC IRB collaborate. 

Stuti is a first-year master's student in the Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology at Teachers College. She aspires to make mental health resources equally accessible to individuals of all communities, work towards decreasing stigma around mental disorders, and support the overall well-being of individuals. As a student of psychology in India, she interned at multiple hospitals and got exposure working with patients of various disorders. There she emphasized providing psycho-education to patients, as well as their families, and taking into account the phenomenological perspective of the client while providing treatment. She is passionate about understanding how culture influences symptomatology and treatment, as well as how psychopathology can be prevented.

In collaboration with the Office of Graduate Student Life & Development, Stuti prepared a presentation on Demystifying the IRB for a master’s-and-doctoral-level student audience. In the presentation, Stuti provided an overview of the IRB protocol submission process and timeline. In addition to the live presentation, Stuti also recorded an on-demand video of the presentation and screen-recorded a tour of the IRB Website and Mentor IRB for asynchronous viewing. Stuti is currently finalizing a blog series on Research Ethics in Psychology where she provides guidance on recruiting participants with mental disorders.

Chloe received her Bachelor’s Degree in History from the University of Idaho in 2018 and Master’s Degree at Teachers College in 2022. Following her studies in Idaho, she accepted a position as the Education Fellow at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta Georgia. There, Chloe pursued research concerning the contemporary history of public policy and educational equity. While publishing content on notable historical figures and persistent inequity rooted in historic systems, Chloe engages with historical research and the interaction of contemporary American history and political identity.

Chloe’s professional aspiration is to connect public education with evidence-based research that defines historic systemic inequity in order to understand modern political systems, movements, and identity.

Chloe organized a poster, Leveraging the Benefits of Student Employees in the IRB Office. She developed this poster presentation for the 2022 Advancing Ethical Research Virtual Conference (AER20) which is hosted by Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R). She presented her program evaluation on Engaging the Student Worker Program (ESWP).  Drawing from student experience, the program evaluation identified that student employees outlined improved knowledge in research compliance and a deeper understanding of the TC IRB’s functioning.  

During her undergraduate studies, she was awarded a U.S. Department of State Boren Scholarship to study Urdu in India, where she first explored her interest in international education through her outreach work with Childline India. Her research interests include the role of education in rebuilding society in post-conflict contexts, human rights education, and advancing gender equality and non-Western epistemologies with the aid of education. 

In collaboration with TC NEXT, Hira launched a blog series, Conducting Culturally Responsive Research Across Borders, in which she conducted interviews with Teachers College research community who offered insights on culturally responsive ways to engage with communities across borders. Interviewing three researchers, Hira, explored how to navigate cultural nuances and adjust methodology according to local wisdom and leaders. Researchers shared how to prepare IRB protocols when conducting international research. 

Jona partnered with the Graduate Writing Center to provide one-on-one support with IRB writing. Jona created a blog series, A Lens Into Working with Vulnerable Populations, where she examined the challenges and opportunities of working with vulnerable populations, including best practices for participant recruitment and retention. This series includes interviews with seasoned researchers at Teachers College who provided insights on how researchers engage in study procedures and follow sound ethical practices. She also hosted consultations with the Graduate Writing Center to aid students with writing related to the IRB.

Natalie Greaves-Peters, MS, RDN, is a second-year doctoral candidate in Behavioral Nutrition in the Health & Behavior Studies Department at Teachers College (TC) Columbia University. Through her nutrition education, cooking, and gardening work as a Community Nutrition Dietitian with children and families living in socioeconomically-challenged NYC communities, Natalie developed a passion for food advocacy. She chose her field of study to help address global food equity issues from research, community, advocacy, and policy perspective. Being at TC has set her on the path to solving food injustice and health disparities issues experienced across underserved communities. For her dissertation, Natalie plans to develop a nutrition education design framework that targets nutrition education lessons taught at the K-12 level.

Natalie completed two projects during her IRB internship tenure. In the first project, she worked closely with the TC Internal Review Board (IRB) and the TC NEXT career office to provide one-on-one peer support sessions to doctoral students to help demystify the IRB process. Natalie created a project script for a podcast series focused on Careers in Research for her second project.

Jonthon Coulson is an advanced doctoral student in the Curriculum & Teaching department. He has taught for over 16 years from 4th grade to graduate schools in formal and informal contexts all around the world. He is a professionally certified K-12 ESL teacher with the New York State Department of Education, an alumnus of the Teach For America, Fulbright, and U.S. State Department English Language Fellows programs, an advanced open water diver, and a Vipassana meditator.

His research focuses on pedagogies that sustain and revitalize local wisdoms, especially those traditionally excluded from formal educational contexts. He has conducted this research in the Bronx and abroad; his dissertation research is being conducted in collaboration with Bajau communities in Southeastern Sulawesi who can dive to 70 meters on a single breath, remain submerged for over five minutes at a time, and are being sedentarized by governments and development organizations seeking to provide education for all, but not always in ways that are culturally responsive.

In concert with TC IRB and the Graduate Writing Center, Jonthon supported students conducting research in international contexts by generating draft documents that extend beyond the inherent ethnocentrism of federal IRB guidelines. He also facilitated a workshop to help students maintain a high ethical bar when outlining and planning research protocols that invite others into processes of knowledge co-construction.

Mine Cekin is a third-year doctoral student in Mathematics Education and an international student from Turkey. After finishing her undergraduate degree, she was awarded a fully-funded scholarship by the Turkish government to complete her masters' and doctorate abroad in Mathematics Education. She completed her master's at University College London and then arrived stateside to pursue a doctoral degree. What she likes most about mathematics is that, contrary to popular belief, it invites flexibility in solving the mathematical problems we encounter. She believes mathematics educators should highlight this to encourage mathematics learners to understand that everyone can do mathematics. As a researcher, she is interested in the teaching of middle school mathematics; in particular, she would like to find out how to improve students’ mathematical reasoning and proving skills.

As much as she likes improving herself in this field of interest, she relishes what New York City has to offer and is struck most by the diversity of cultures here, as well as the hustle and bustle of the city.

During her internship at the TC IRB, partnering with the Office of Graduate Student life & Development (GSLD), she will be focusing on demystifying the IRB processes for students.

Clara Haneul Yoon is a third-year doctoral student in the Music and Music Education program, where she also serves as the department's doctoral liaison. Clara received her Bachelor's and Master of Music from Juilliard with a concentration in violin performance. Her primary research interests lie in higher music education focusing on topics of stereotypes/perceptions of music majors at U.S. colleges and Asian-American faculty identities. 

During her time as a Research Writing & Ethics Intern, Clara spearheaded the design, development, and fulfillment of educational Institutional Review Board (IRB) sessions for Teachers College (TC) student body (i.e., “Demystifying the IRB”) through three, one-hour presentations focusing on research related topics (e.g., step-by-step guide on the IRB protocol/application process, recruiting study participants, writing for IRB vs. writing for participants, IRB Trivia Extravaganza, etc.) in partnership with the Office of Graduate Student Life & Development. A Q&A Blog with TC's IRB Compliance Director, Dr. Myra Luna-Lucero ("73 Questions with Dr. Luna-Lucero"), spotlighted Dr. Luna-Lucero's professional life and role as well as tips for TC students navigating through the IRB process.

Zahra Ladhani is a third-year doctoral student in Health Education at Teachers College (TC). Her research is focused on supporting schools in providing trauma-informed care to address the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) among adolescents. In particular, she is focusing on the subgroups of those with Autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders, chronic or terminal illness, traumatic brain injuries, and those from marginalized groups. She is particularly interested in this area as it focuses on the malleability of the adolescent brain such that, even after experiencing ACEs, it is a period of great opportunity where tailored interventions can still lead to healthy physical, emotional and social development.

Zahra is also a teacher and a counselor and has over ten years of experience working with parents, teachers, children, and teens. She thoroughly enjoys embracing the challenges and opportunities that come with our human development and supporting others in overcoming these challenges as well.

Through her internship with TC Institutional Review Board (IRB) and TC NEXT, she focused on demystifying the IRB process for doctoral students. This was achieved by providing one-on-one peer support to current doctoral students and by organizing doctoral student working groups led by recent graduates or current doctoral students with recent IRB approval.