Dr. Palavi Aggarwal, Ed.D (2023-2029)
Dr. Pallavi Aggarwal, Ed.D, is a Postdoctoral Fellow at The University of Missouri - St. Louis (UMSL). She has recently completed her first year of translational research supported by the UMSL Charter School Translational Fellows (UMSL-CSTF) program. She moved from India to the United States in 2016. She has 6 years of experience teaching science and math to elementary and middle school students in a charter school in North Carolina and at the Ferguson Florissant School District in Missouri. She loves challenging her students with higher-order thinking content and motivating them to aim for higher academic and personal goals. As an educator, many aspects of teaching and learning intrigued her, and she wanted to know more, driving her to pursue her Ed.D. She completed her Ed.D degree at UMSL, granting her the chance to pursue being a postdoctoral fellow. This opportunity allowed her to extend her passion for research and learn new skills.
Dr. Debra Cole, PhD
Dr. Debra Cole, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Fellow at The University of Missouri - St. Louis (UMSL). She has recently completed her first year of translational research supported by the UMSL Charter School Translational Fellows (UMSL-CSTF) program. She is a long-time K-12 language educator. She has taught German, Language Arts, and ESL for over 20 years. She served as the Regional Coordinator for ELLs in 20 counties of West Central Illinois. She also established and directed the Beardstown Dual Language Enrichment Program in Beardstown, IL. Since moving to St. Louis, she has worked as the MELL Instructional Specialist for the St. Louis region. She was the founding coordinator for English Learner and Immigrant Education in the Hazelwood School District.
Dr. Paula Miller, PhD
Dr. Paula Miller, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Fellow at The University of Missouri - St. Louis (UMSL). She has recently completed her first year of translational research supported by the UMSL Charter School Translational Fellows (UMSL-CSTF) program. She graduated with her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in December 2022, and in May 2008, she also acquired a Master of Education Degree in Adult and Higher Education from UMSL. Since 2011, Paula has worked in several positions at UMSL, including graduate research assistant, graduate teaching assistant, and project/program research coordinator. She earned the Preschool Climate of Healthy Interactions for Learning & Development Observation Tool (CHILD) certification from Yale University. Paula has worked in the public and private school sectors for over 15 years in elementary, secondary, and higher education as an Information Systems/Information Technology Administrator for St. Louis Public Schools and Saint Louis University.
Dr. Taylor Lawson-Smith, Ed.D
Dr. Lawson-Smith is a Postdoctoral Fellow at The University of Missouri - St. Louis (UMSL), supported by the UMSL Charter School Translational Fellows (UMSL-CSTF) program. Dr. Lawson-Smith is a seasoned professional with over a decade of experience in STEM education for grades 6-12. With seven years dedicated to state assessment development, Dr. Lawson-Smith excels in content and bias review, cut score determination, item writing, and standard alignment. Her expertise extends to curriculum writing and development, bolstered by a doctorate in education focusing on curriculum and instruction. An internship with the Missouri House of Representatives sparked a deep passion for education, driving Dr. Lawson-Smith’s interest in systemic changes and education policy.
Dr. Jamie Martin, Ed.D
Dr. Jamie Martin, Ed.D., is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Missouri–St. Louis (UMSL). As part of the UMSL Charter School Translational Fellows (UMSL-CSTF) program, Jamie partners with school sites to address problems of practice, leveraging the Science of Learning for adult learners to improve instruction and student outcomes. Dr. Martin is a dedicated advocate for social justice in education. Her dissertation, titled Participation Mandatory, Learning Not Required: A Phenomenological Study of Diversity Training in Law Enforcement and Education, examines participants’ perceptions of their professional development experiences.
Dr. Dawn Thieman, Ed.D
Dr. Dawn Thieman, Ph.D., is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Missouri–St. Louis (UMSL), supported by the UMSL Charter School Translational Fellows (UMSL-CSTF) program. Dr. Thieman earned her Ph.D. in Teaching and Learning Processes from the University of Missouri–St. Louis. With 26 years of experience in K–12 education and eight years in post-secondary education, she brings a broad range of educational expertise to her work.
Dawn has served as a school district project coordinator and as a grant project coordinator for the UMSL College of Education. Her K–12 roles have included assistant superintendent of academics, director of student services, instructional coach, reading specialist, English learner specialist, and teacher.
Her academic and research interests focus on teacher preparation and development, curriculum, instruction, assessment, and instructional coaching for equitable, linguistically responsive, and culturally relevant teaching. She is especially interested in how these areas support teacher preparation for serving multilingual learners (MLs), ML program development in K–12 and post-secondary education, and educational policies impacting ML students. Her research interests also include AI literacy as a design partner and the learning sciences in curriculum, teaching, and learning, as well as Credit for Prior Learning/Prior Learning Assessment (CPL/PLA) as a process for recognizing adult learners’ prior experience and learning.
Dr. Jacob Steiss, Ph.D
Dr. Jacob Steiss, Ph.D, is a Postdoctoral Fellow at The University of Missouri - St. Louis (UMSL), supported by the UMSL Charter School Translational Fellows (UMSL-CSTF) program. As a former ELA and Social Studies teacher, Jake has spent the past 5 years designing and facilitating professional learning for novice and experienced teachers in Southern California as part of the WRITE Center. In addition to helping educators improve their literacy instruction, he conducted qualitative and quantitative research to increase knowledge about: student writing, how disciplinary thinking develops, and how teachers’ beliefs and practices affect student learning. Jake earned his PhD in Education at UC Irvine.
Dr. Kim Starkey, PhD
Dr. Kim Starkey, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Fellow at The University of Missouri - St. Louis (UMSL). A graduate of UMSL, her research involves Human Centered Design strategies to develop participant empathy and to create systems that work for the humans they serve. In her first year as a post-doctoral fellow, she learned how to utilize the tools of Translational Research, the Cycle of Inquiry, and Cognitive Coaching to better meet the needs of the site-partners. In the first semester, she worked in an elementary school on supporting teachers’ classroom management skills. In the second semester, she analyzed principals’ perceptions of first-year teachers’ challenges to support UMSL’s teacher preparation program.
Dr. Adriana Martinez, PhD
Adriana Martinez earned her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from The Ohio State University in 2025. Her research focuses on instructional practices that boost engagement and encourage students to focus on mastery. At Ohio State, Adriana partnered with elementary teachers to design, pilot, and evaluate a social studies curriculum. She also has experience teaching pre-service teachers and introductory statistics courses. Previously, Adriana worked with education nonprofit organizations on education policy and communications. She is passionate about research that bridges theory and practice to support quality teaching that allows each student to maximize their potential.
Dr. Pete White, Ph.D
Dr. White is interested in students’ experiences in school – specifically related to the processes and policies which exclude and punish students at disproportionate rates. Additionally, his interests include teachers’ role in the reproduction of harmful practices and how we can work in research-practice partnerships to disrupt and build a just educational system. Currently, Dr. White’s work involves how schools measure, evaluate, and adjust their Social-Emotional Learning programs at schools. Although varied in practice, a goal is to find common themes and ways to support schools in their programming and efforts to realize students’ full potential. This work also involves supporting schools to grow in their capacity to understand their own practice and to learn from the practices of others when isolation is the status-quo.
