海角社区

Inspired by IMSA鈥檚 mission statement and its congruence with his personal passion and commitment to end poverty, Dr. Torres believes that, 鈥渢his can only be accomplished if we have excellent, equitable education and learning systems for academically talented students and for all students, and I realized that I could accomplish my mission in life through partnership with those at IMSA who continue to be fully committed to igniting and nurturing creative, ethical, scientific minds that advance the human condition鈥� (2014).

Dr. Jos茅 M. Torres was named President of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy in 2014. He is a recipient of the Dr. Effie H. Jones Humanitarian Award (2014) from the American Association of School Administrators (AASA), an award honoring leadership in educational equity and excellence to those demonstrating an extraordinary 鈥渃ommitment to the advancement and mentorship of women and minorities in positions of leadership and/or demonstrate a commitment to address social justice issues among children, youth and adults in schools.鈥�

At the invitation of the Governor of Illinois, Dr. Torres serves on the advisory committee for the Governor鈥檚 Technology Advisory Group; and the Governor鈥檚 Cabinet on Children and Youth. He also serves on the Cost of Segregation Education Advisory Group; and on the board of directors of the Illinois Association for Gifted Children, the Governor鈥檚 P-20 Council and Advocate Sherman Hospital in Elgin, Illinois. 

He is the former School Superintendent of Elgin School District U-46 where he implemented a five-year accountability plan that established new benchmarks supporting the District's 40,000 students' efforts to achieve academic success. He served on the U.S. Department of Education鈥檚 Federal Equity and Excellence Commission (2011-2013) and provided recommendations for closing the achievement gap of English language learners. He is a past regional superintendent for the Chicago Public Schools and has worked in school districts in San Jose, CA; Anne Arundel, Baltimore; Rockville, MD; Washington, D.C.; and the U.S. Department of Defense Schools. 

Dr. Torres holds the degrees from the University of Maryland (College Park, Maryland): Bachelor Degree in General Studies (1983), Master of Education (1985), and a Doctor of Philosophy in Education Policy, Planning and Administration (1999). His hometown is San Juan, Puerto Rico. 

Jill Heinrich is a Professor of Education. She taught high school English for eleven years, and her research interests include religious literacy and separation of church and state in American public education, masculinity studies, comparative education in Belize, and poverty and education. Heinrich teaches an off-campus course in San Pedro Town on the island of Ambergris Caye in the country of Belize. Academic History PhD in English Education, University of Iowa, 2001 MS in Secondary School Administration, University of Iowa, 2000 MS in English, Illinois State University, 1989 BA in English, Northern Illinois University, 1985

How do you talk to kids about what鈥檚 going on with our planet and how they can make a difference? Peg Keiner, Director of Innovation at GEMS World Academy and the United Nations Ambassador for Chicago 鈥� Life on Land, is an expert when it comes to educating kids about the environments surrounding them, taking them right to the source to do so. Through field studies, exploration of nature preserves, and attending the climate march, Peg and her students are putting into action what they鈥檝e been learning in the classroom.  Peg is a National Geographic Education Fellow, a National Geographic Grosvenor Teacher Fellow, Apple Distinguished Educator, and a Google Earth Education Expert with over 15 years of teaching experience. She can offer informative and engaging ways to discuss with children what鈥檚 going on with our environment, and some easy ways for kids to make a real difference right in their neighborhood. 

Dr. Ashley Norris leads Meazure Learning's academic partnerships and works with organizations and institutions on developing policies, best practices and procedures to support their innovation, accreditation, and accessibility needs. She has spent nearly 15 years in higher education as both a faculty member and administrator across major institutions including University of Alabama and Samford University. Most recently, she served as the dean of programmatic accreditation and regulatory affairs at the University of Phoenix. There, she led thought leadership on ethics and integrity in education and continues to spearhead similar efforts for ProctorU鈥檚 key initiatives in academic integrity.

Dr. Brevik teaches courses in geology and soil science at Dickinson State University, coordinates the Environmental Science degree program, and advises undergraduate research. He has taught at Valdosta State University (Georgia) and Dickinson State University during his faculty career.  Dr. Brevik鈥檚 research interests include combining information from soil science and geology, soil genesis, and the impact of humans on soil properties and processes, as well as soil science history, education, and links between soil science and culture. He is an active member of the European Geoscience Union, International Union of Soil Sciences, and Soil Science Society of America.

Stephen Ritz is an internationally-acclaimed, award-winning educator, author of best-selling book, The Power Of A Plant, and founder of Green Bronx Machine.  Known as "America's Favorite Teacher," Stephen is responsible for creating the first edible classroom in the world, which he has evolved into the National Health, Wellness and Learning Center.

Using his acclaimed, proprietary whole-school curriculum designed around urban agriculture aligned to key school performance indicators that grow healthy students and schools, Stephen and his students have grown and distributed more than 115,000 pounds of vegetables in the South Bronx.  In the process, Stephen has moved school attendance from 40 percent to 93 percent daily and helped provide 2,200 youth jobs in the Bronx.

The State University of New York uses his curriculum to train elementary school teachers statewide in all content areas, while New York City Department of Education offers professional learning credits for all Green Bronx Machine professional development. The curriculum also is being used in hundreds of schools across the United States, and internationally in Colombia, Canada, Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and beyond.

Recently honored with the 2020 Change-Maker Award by NYC Food Policy Center, Stephen also has been recognized as a Top Ten Finalist for the Global Teacher Prize, and named as both a Global Humanitarian and Food Tank Hero.  He and his students have presented at the Obama White House three times, been featured on the cover of TIME for KIDS and are the subject of a new, full-feature documentary called, 鈥淕eneration Growth.鈥�  

Stephen is available to speak on topics, including:

Education
鈥� Education Post-COVID:  What Teachers, Students and Parents Will Need for Successful Transition Back to the Classroom
鈥� The 21st Century Education Ecosystem:  Linking Food and Nutrition to Learning and Academic Achievement to Workforce Development and Living Wage Jobs to Justice, the Environment and Fully Circular Economy Communities
鈥� Social-Emotional Learning
鈥� Project-based Learning
鈥� Compassion is the New Curriculum

Food Justice/Food Insecurity
鈥� Urban Farming
鈥� Food and Economic Justice through Ag 鈥� Urban, Rural, Suburban
鈥� Food Insecurity in the U.S.
鈥� The 21st Century Education Ecosystem:  Linking Food and Nutrition to Learning and Academic Achievement to Workforce Development and Living Wage Jobs to Justice, the Environment and Fully Circular Economy Communities

Community Health and Wellness
鈥� The 21st Century Education Ecosystem:  Linking Food and Nutrition to Learning and Academic Achievement to Workforce Development and Living Wage Jobs to Justice, the Environment and Fully Circular Economy Communities
鈥� Next Gen Sustainability Leaders
鈥� Childhood Obesity and Diabetes

Al is a well-known face in the education and EdTech community around the world, having spoken at events such as ISTE, Bett UK, FETC, OETC22, the World Education Summit, Middle East Teaching and Learning Conference; and DLAC. He is also author of "My Secret #EdTech Diary" and the best seller "My School Governance Handbook", plus his most recent book 鈥楳y School & Multi Academy Trust Growth Guide鈥�, as well as co-author of "A Guide to Creating a Digital Strategy in Education". Al is also an active writer about all things EdTech with articles published in The Journal, eSchool 海角社区, eCircuit, Forbes, TES and many more. Al鈥檚 unique insight comes from his 30+ years of EdTech and governance experience across multiple roles including CEO of NetSupport, chair of Multi-Academy Trusts, chair of his region鈥檚 Governors' Leadership Group, chair of his regional SEND Board, chair of the BESA (British Education Supplier's Association) EdTech Group and chair of his regional Employment and Skills Board. Al also sits on the Regional Schools Director's Advisory Board for the East of England and is a member of the Forbes Technology Council and sits on the advisory council for the Foundation for Education Development.

Lucy Bassett is a Professor of Practice at the University of Virginia鈥檚 Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and co-Director of the Humanitarian Collaborative, an applied research initiative focused on improving humanitarian response. Bassett鈥檚 research focuses on understanding how to best support young children in humanitarian and low-income contexts. Her recent work has involved evaluating the impact of programs for refugee and migrant children, assessing training and professional development needs for preschool teachers and school leaders, identifying models for childcare in emergency contexts, and understanding conditions of families and young children on the US/Mexico border. As of Fall 2022, she is launching a new project funded by the Lego Foundation to elevate children鈥檚 voices in emergency contexts and share their stories and experiences.

Before joining the University of Virginia, Bassett spent ten years as an education and social protection specialist with the World Bank leading projects and research on education and social protection at the World Bank, in countries from Bangladesh to Haiti and Serbia and Cameroon. Her practitioners鈥� perspective is further grounded by previous work at UNICEF, the World Food Programme, Save the Children, the International Food Policy Research Institute, and Peace Corps.

Bassett holds many high-level, international advisory roles. For example, she is a member of the Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies Early Childhood Development Working Group, Early Childhood Development Action Network Knowledge Fellows Steering Committee, and Research Forum on Early Childhood in Emergencies Steering Committee. She is also expert reviewer for numerous initiatives, such as the Lego Foundation鈥檚 Build a World of Play and American Institute of Research鈥檚 Scholars and Leaders Awards. In addition to her expertise in global early childhood research and practice, Bassett brings real-world experience as a pre-K teacher.

In addition to her expertise in international early childhood development, education, and childcare, Bassett focuses on feminist approaches to public policy and programming, co-creation and community engagement, and contemplative pedagogy. She won a University of Virginia All-University Teaching Award in 2021.

By keeping his finger on the pulse of national and global job markets, and most importantly, the professional aspirations of today鈥檚 college students, Burton equipped his team to deliver the best career services in the nation through helping Clemson students achieve their goals after graduation.

Under Burton鈥檚 leadership, the Center has been ranked No. 1 by The Princeton Review three of the last five years for providing guidance and resources to Clemson鈥檚 25,000 students. Recent data shows 90 percent of Clemson graduates are employed, planning to continue their education or are otherwise not seeking employment within six months of graduation.

Part of this success is due to the development of a platform of nine core competencies that Dr. Burton and his team developed to empower students to achieve their educational and professional goals. It also guides faculty and staff to help students realize their strengths and develop them in order to meet the demands of an evolving world. This work has informed similar efforts at universities all over the country, and the model itself has often been replicated at other schools.

Burton and his team also built Clemson鈥檚 on-campus internship program from scratch. The University Professional Internship/Co-op Program (UPIC) annually provides over 900 paid, on-campus internships to undergraduate students. The program gives students the opportunity to expand their knowledge and gain hands-on experience in their fields of study or interest, working alongside Clemson faculty and staff. UPIC has been instrumental in creating a campuswide culture that involves students in meaningful and relevant developmental experiences.

Burton is the recipient of the Fulbright International Education Administrators Award, the Provost鈥檚 Award of Excellence for professional accomplishments, and the Talent Development Award from the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities. In 2015, he was recognized as Outstanding Professor by Clemson鈥檚 undergraduate student government.

Burton started at Clemson in 1992, working in student financial aid until 1998 when he became assistant director of Cooperative Education. He has taught a variety of courses as an adjunct instructor in four of Clemson鈥檚 colleges, as well as at Southern Wesleyan University and Webster University.

Dr. Christy Galletta Horner is an associate professor in the School of Educational Foundations, Leadership and Policy in the Bowling Green State University College of Education and Human Development. Her research focuses on the role of emotional culture in the promotion of healthy individual and social functioning. Viewing emotions as sociocultural in nature, Galletta Horner prioritizes participants' perspectives while also seeking to uncover quantifiable links between emotion-related constructs and developmental outcomes. She also uses mixed-methods designs and creative methodological approaches to address the challenges involved in this line of inquiry. Galletta Horner aims to find ways emotional transactions can be leveraged in settings such as schools, after school programs, and social media sites to help individuals thrive in their environments. Galletta Horner holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh.

Professor Paul Howard-Jones is based in the University of Bristol鈥檚 Graduate School of Education, where his research is focused on issues at the interface of cognitive neuroscience and educational theory, practice and policy. He applies diverse research methods from computational brain imaging studies to classroom observations in order to understand learning processes and their potential relevance to educational learning. He is particularly interested in the processes by which games and learning games engage their players and can support learning. Professor Howard-Jones was formerly a member of the UK's Royal Society working group on Neuroscience and Education (2011). In 2020 he completed a fellowship at UNESCO (Geneva) focused on the relation of neuroscience to global educational and cultural contexts, and has authored numerous reviews and one of the first text books in this area (Evolution of the Learning Brain, Routledge, 2010). He has participated in many international academic and public debates regarding the interrelation of these two diverse subject areas and is currently implementing neuroscience into Initial Teacher Education at the University of Bristol (supported by the Wellcome Trust). He is more widely known for his contributions to Channel Four鈥檚 Secret Life of Four Year Olds and other broadcasts. His second book, A Short History of the Learning Brain, has just been published by Routledge, and he has been researching teachers鈥� attitudes and practices around climate change education. He currently co-ordinates the UK鈥檚 Climate Change Education Network.

Education
PhD Medical Physics, University of Exeter

Affiliations
2016 - 2020 - Senior Fellow at the International Bureau of Education (UNESCO)

Accomplishments
2018 - IMBES Translation Award (International Brain Mind and Education Society)

Brent Maddin's work focuses on reimagining the roles, and preparation, for a new educator workforce.

As the executive director of Next Education Workforce initiatives at Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Maddin works to empower individual educators and improve education systems. NEW combines innovative models of schooling to expand who is in the classroom and to rethink the structure of their roles.

Prior to ASU, Maddin was co-founder and provost at the Relay Graduate School of Education where he established the vision for the institution鈥檚 curriculum and managed teams focused on curriculum design, institutional research and program innovation. 

While at Relay, Maddin also founded TeacherSquared, a national center dedicated to increasing collaboration among teacher preparation institutions. He was a founding staff member of IDEA College Prep, and a nationally board-certified teacher in secondary science. 

Dr. Deborah Luckett, Associate Executive Director of ASSET, Inc., has spent her career working with educators and students alike to empower meaningful growth, inclusiveness, and resiliency. Dr. Luckett has been in a leadership role at ASSET Inc. since 2007. She is a former classroom teacher whose honors include Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year, Milken Family Foundation National Educator, and the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC) National Honor Roll Teacher. Dr. Luckett is a graduate of Westminster College (B.A.) and The Citadel (M.Ed. in Interdisciplinary STEM). Her doctoral work at Duquesne University focused on advocating for marginalized learners. Her dissertation title is Hidden Amongst People: Experiences of Black White Biracial Individuals with Microaggressions, Horizontal Hostilities and Identity Denial in Educational Settings. Dr. Luckett has experience teaching in urban and rural educational settings of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. Her contributions to ASSET include the Coaching and Resources for Educators (CaRES) and Partnerships for Advancing Learning in STEM (PALS) programs as well as professional learning for pre-service and in service educators.  

Sarah Toulouse is an experienced corporate, nonprofit and foundation leader with a passion for connecting people and building partnerships. Having worked in both corporate and nonprofit roles, Sarah has a distinct perspective of the way the two worlds collide and believes strongly in the power of coordinated community collaboration. Specializing in nonprofit management, corporate social responsibility, corporate philanthropy, community relations and employee engagement, Sarah is uniquely positioned to convene partners and harness creative solutions. Sarah joined the nationally recognized nonprofit ASSET Inc. in 2019 at a time of organizational transformation. As executive director she leads with purpose and vision, challenges boundaries of traditional thinking, and forges new opportunities to achieve student success through excellence in teaching. Prior to ASSET, Sarah was head of Corporate Social Responsibility and Executive Director of the Bayer USA Foundation, where she restructured Bayer’s giving model across the United States, fostered innovative nonprofit partnerships with organizations, and spearheaded an employee volunteerism program. She also led Bayer’s national Presidential award-winning Making Science Make Sense initiative to promote science literacy and STEM education. She has engaged in partnerships and programs with national education organizations, including the U.S. Department of Education, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, National Science Teachers Association, Achieve (now NextGenScience), Lawrence Hall of Science, STEM Leadership Alliance, and many more. Her vision and thought leadership have resulted in the creation of innovative strategies to advance access to STEM education in the United States. Sarah's journey to leadership roles was built upon a strong foundation of years of working in Corporate Communications for a global company. Having a big-picture view across businesses and functions solidified Sarah's philosophy that communication, relationships and cross-functional collaboration are the cornerstones of innovative success. Sarah graduated from Duquesne University with bachelor’s degrees in Journalism and Political Science, as well as a master’s degree in Communications.

Mark Warschauer is a Professor of Education and Informatics at the University of California, Irvine. A first generation college student and former community organizer for the United Farm Workers union, Dr. Warschauer began his educational career as a Spanish bilingual math and ESL teacher in San Francisco public schools. He has previously taught and conducted research at the University of Hawaii, Moscow Linguistics University, Charles University in Prague, and Waseda University in Japan, and served as educational technology director of a large educational reform project in Egypt.

Dr. Warschauer is director of the Digital Learning Lab at UC Irvine, where, together with colleagues and students, he works on a range of research projects related to digital media in education. In K-12 education, his team is developing and studying cloud-based writing, examining new forms of automated writing assessment, exploring digital scaffolding for reading, investigating one-to-one programs with Chromebooks, and analyzing use of interactive mobile robots for virtual inclusion. In higher education, his team is looking at instructional practices in STEM lecture courses, the impact of virtual learning on student achievement, the learning processes and outcomes in Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs), and the impact on students of multi-tasking with digital media. The DLL team is also exploring new approaches to data mining, machine learning, and learning analytics to analyze the learning and educational data that result from use of new digital tools.

Dr. Warschauer is author and editor of a wide range of books, including, most recently, Learning in the Cloud: How (and Why) to Transform Schools with Digital Media and Japan: The Paradox of Harmony. He is founding editor of Language Learning & Technology journal and has been appointed inaugural editor of AERA Open. He is active on Twitter @markwarschauer, where he posts on a wide range of professional and personal issues, and occasionally blogs at Papyrus 海角社区. He is a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association.

Mike is the co-founder and CEO at Swing Education. Mike鈥檚 love of innovation and passion for education guides our team, much like it did when he served as the Director of Technology at Rocketship Education.

Tyrone Howard, a professor of education in the School of Education and Information Studies (SEIS) at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), is the 2023-2024 President of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). 
In addition to being the Pritzker Family Endowed Chair at SEIS, Howard is the director of the UCLA Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children and Families and director of the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools. A former elementary and high school teacher, Howard translates research into practice in his professional learning work with thousands of P–12 educators across the United States and several other countries each year. His research focuses on the sociology of schools, teacher education, the education of Black boys, urban education, and educational equity.
Howard has published several books including Why Race and Culture Matter in Schools: Closing the Achievement Gap in America’s Classrooms and Expanding College Access for Urban Youth: What Schools and Colleges Can Do. He has authored over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and other academic publications, included in publications such as Review of Research in Education, Journal of Teacher Education, Teachers College Record, and Journal of Higher Education. He has been featured or quoted by the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, CNN, Education Week, and more.
Howard was elected as an AERA Fellow in 2017 and is a member of the National Academy of Education. He served as an elected member of AERA Council from 2015 to 2018. Howard was section co-chair and equity and inclusion officer for AERA Division G—Social Context of Education, served on the AERA Nominating Committee, and currently chairs the AERA Fellows Committee. Division G presented him its Early Career Award in 2007 and Outstanding Mentoring Award in 2017. He has served on editorial boards for AERA’s peer-reviewed journals Review of Educational Research and American Educational Research Journal.
Upon becoming AERA president in 2023, Howard succeeded Rich Milner, Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair of Education at Vanderbilt University. Howard assumed the AERA presidency in April 2023, at the close of the association’s 2023 annual meeting.

When John was 10 years old, he walked down the hallways of Stuarts Draft Middle School to find his locker and classes on what he believed was a normal "back-to-school" night. However, the moment he walked through the door frame of Room 30, he met his sixth-grade science teacher, Ms. Cross. From that moment on, he knew he wanted to be a teacher - not just any teacher, but a teacher as influential as Ms. Cross. That moment in Room 30 where he met Ms. Cross still fuels his drive as a teacher. Yet, his single greatest accomplishment, if asked, is his family. If you have ever worked with John via Zoom, WebEx, Google Meets, or Teams, you have almost certainly met each member of his immediate family through their impromptu cameo appearances. John lives in Waynesboro, Virginia with his wife Danielle, a  fellow educator, their two children, Tessa and Jackson, and Labrador retrievers, Bella and Dukes. Oh, and Tessa and Jackson affectionately call Ms. Cross, Grandma Sally. 
Outside of being a husband and father, John is a bestselling author and has worked with schools, classrooms, and teachers all over the world on the translation and application of the science of learning to the classroom, school, and home environments, and what works best in teaching and learning. He has worked with teachers and leaders in Australia, Canada, Egypt, England, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, South Korea, Thailand and all across the United States.
John is a Professor of Education in the College of Education at James Madison University. In 2015, John was awarded the inaugural Sarah Miller Luck Endowed Professorship. In 2021, John was honored with an Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia. Most recently, he was named a Madison Scholar in the College of Education.  At James Madison University, he continues to work with pre鈥憇ervice teachers and graduate students, as well as actively pursues his research interests including the science of learning, the design and measurement of classroom environments that promote student engagement and learning. 
The work of John and his colleagues has been presented to the United States Congress, Virginia Senate, at the United States Department of Education as well as the Office of Science and Technology Policy at The White House. 
John began his career in Augusta County, Virginia, teaching mathematics and science to a wide range of students. Since then, John has authored multiple articles, reports, book chapters, and eleven books including  (Corwin Press, 2013),  (Corwin Press, 2018), both with Ann Miller, and , with Doug Fisher, Nancy Frey, and John Hattie (Corwin Press, 2018). He recently finished a book focusing on clarity, , with Kara Vandas (Corwin Press, 2019), as well as , and  both with Doug Fisher, Joseph Assof, Sara Moore, Nancy Frey, and John Hattie (Corwin, 2019), all with Corwin Press.  and  with the same author team plus Kateri Thunder hit the shelves in March of 2019. He is also the past co-editor of the Teacher Educator’s Journal. 
In 2019, John and his colleagues developed a new framework for developing, implementing, and sustaining professional learning communities: .  Focusing on sustained change in teacher practice, the PLC+ framework builds capacity within teacher-led teams to maximize student learning.  The books, , ,  will support this work in schools and classrooms.  
John and his colleagues have also focused a lot of attention on the process of implementation – taking evidence-based practices and moving them from intention to implementation, potential to impact through a series of on-your-feet-guides around , , , and the . In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, John and his colleagues developed the  (SAGE). In November of 2020,  (ASCD) was released, followed by  (Corwin Press),  (Corwin), an educational textbook on teaching science in the inclusive early childhood classroom,  (Routledge), and  (Corwin).
Continuing his collaborative work with colleagues on what works best in teaching and learning, , , and , all with Corwin Press, were released in 2021.  In 2022, John and his colleagues released  and .  As we inch closer to 2023, John and his colleagues are partnering with schools and classrooms across the globe to explore those questions that are on the minds of teachers and instructional leaders.  For example, how does assessment work?  What about scaffolding?  How do we create rigorous and relevant tasks?  The drive behind all of this work is best articulated by the quote, "that every learner deserves a great education, not by chance, but by design."

Cathy McKay teaches in the Physical and Health Education Teacher Education (PHETE) program in the department of kinesiology and is a faculty member in the JMU Graduate School. In addition, she is the executive director of the . Her teaching responsibilities include School Health Content, Instructional Strategies for Health Education, The Profession of Teaching, Diversity in the Schools and Research Methods for PHETE. McKay is passionate about relational leadership, equity and inclusion, and teacher education pedagogy.
McKay’s research focuses on social inclusion, changing attitudes and perspectives toward disability, and Parasport education and awareness. She enjoys research that is rooted in contact theory, and that applies contact theory in educational settings. She also conducts research related to teacher education, sexuality education and relationships in education.
McKay empowers undergraduate and graduate students to experience the joy of research. She is a research fellow with the Research Council of SHAPE America.
McKay earned a bachelor's in kinesiology from James Madison University, a master's in community health education from Virginia Tech and a doctorate in adapted physical education from the University of Virginia, with specialty areas in teacher education pedagogy and curriculum and instruction.

Vaziri teaches undergraduate courses in business analytics, business statistics, and management science, and graduate MBA courses in decision making and data analytics.
Vaziri’s research focuses on business analytics, ranking methods with applications to sports, and academic motivation in higher education.
Vaziri earned a bachelor's degree in Industrial and Operations Engineering at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and a doctorate in Industrial Engineering at Purdue University.