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Current LIT Fellows

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Leadership in Inclusive Teaching Fellows

We are pleased to introduce the 2023–2024 Leadership in Inclusive Teaching Fellows.

LIT Fellows initiate a project during each academic year to support inclusive teaching and equitable outcomes for all students, as outlined in the IDEAL initiative. Please scroll down to learn more about each of the LIT fellows. 

  • Kayla Good (Department of Psychology)
  • Joseph Kelly (Department of Theoretical Chemistry)
  • Alexandra Stavrianidi and Jared Marx-Kuo (Department of Mathematics)
  • Bendix Kemmann and Caitlin Brust (Department of Philosophy)
  • Rachel Dubit and Micheal Duchesne (Department of Classics)
  • Akshita Rao, Will Yu, and Andrew Perley (Department of Bioengineering)
  • Julia Markel and Andrew Wu (Department of Computer Science)
  • Sonia Martin and Ahmed Elnahhas (Department of Mechanical Engineering)
  • Sebastian Arana, Ev Nichols, Mila Pamplona, Sophie Walton, and Billie Goolsby (Department of Biology)
  • Caitlin Chan and Emilia Cottignoli (Department of Art & Art History) 
  • Lingjia Xu (East Asian Languages and Cultures) 
  • Pedagogy Program Leads: Candice Kim (Graduate School of Education and School of Medicine) and Callan Monette (BioEngineering)
  • Lead LIT Fellows: Bendix Kemmann and Sonia Martin
  • Undergraduate Administrative Coordinator: Heidy Badillo (Science, Technology, and Society)

Emilia Cottignoli | Art & Art History

Emilia is a PhD student in the Art & Art History Department with a focus on Early Christian and Byzantine art and architecture. She is interested in aesthetics, light, water, the sea, reflections, mirrors, and gender. 

For her LIT project, she will be collaborating with Caitlin Chan and hosting workshops on teaching with images in image-based fields of study. The primary goal of the workshop series is to develop a practical set of pedagogical strategies for discussing difficult images with both care and rigor.

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Caitlin Chan | Art & Art History

Caitlin Chan standing in front of trees

Caitlin Chan (she/her) is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Art and Art History, with a minor in Feminism, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. She specializes in modern and contemporary art, with a current focus on contingent histories, grace in Minimalist form, and absence. In her pedagogical work, Caitlin is particularly attentive to the unsaid politics of projecting an image in the classroom for discussion. 

For her LIT project, Caitlin is working with Emilia Cottignoli to develop a workshop series on teaching with images. With this series, they hope to produce a practical set of pedagogical strategies for teaching and discussing difficult images with care and rigor.

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Kayla Good | Department of Psychology

Kayla Good

Kayla Good (she/her) is a PhD student in the Developmental area of the Psychology Department. Her research focuses on metatheories, or perceptions of others’ growth and fixed mindsets. In particular, she is interested in how we form these metatheories and how they interact with our own mindsets to shape our goals and behavior in educational contexts. Kayla’s interests were inspired by her experience teaching STEM subjects across a variety of age groups (from elementary schoolers to college students). Through these experiences, she learned just how critical inclusive teaching approaches are for ensuring that students benefit equally from opportunities to learn and engage in the classroom.

As a continuing LIT fellow, she is excited to expand the Psychology department’s inclusive teaching trainings for new TAs.

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Candice Kim | School of Medicine & Graduate School of Education

Candice Kim, smiling outdoors

Candice Kim, MS (they/them) is an MD/PhD in Education student. Their research focuses on how to improve training of future healthcare providers to care for patients from marginalized communities. Previously, they earned their BS and MS in biology from Stanford and conducted research in cancer biology and regenerative medicine. They have extensive experience developing curricula for myriad target populations, including K12, community college, undergraduate, graduate/professional students, and faculty. In the past, they worked with LIT fellow Cheyenne Payne to launch the STEM Mentor Network, a series of workshops to support inclusive mentoring practices for STEM graduate students and postdocs working with undergraduate research mentees.

As a Pedagogy Program lead, Candice is developing, implementing, and evaluating pedagogical programming and resources to support the LIT fellows and better equip them to advance equity-minded teaching practices in their departments and programs. 

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Joseph Kelly | Department of Theoretical Chemistry

Joseph Kelly, smiling outside

Joseph (he/him) is a PhD student in theoretical chemistry. He served as a TA trainer in the chemistry department for two years, striving to create engaging learning experiences for students. Joseph’s passion for STEM outreach education led him to become a mentor and leader in FAST, a program that supports under-resourced high school students in San Jose. During the past year, he has been mentoring undergraduates, supporting them through research and career exploration. 

As a LIT fellow, Joseph will be using his teaching and mentoring experience to expand the STEM mentor network with particular attention to upholding values of inclusivity and diversity.

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Bendix Kemmann | Department of Philosophy

Bendix Kemmann smiling in front of plants

Bendix Kemmann (he/him) is a PhD student in Philosophy. His research focuses on inference and the use of both formal and informal methods to better understand it. He has served, and continues to serve, as a teaching assistant for formal logic classes and loves working with other students. Bendix is particularly interested in making formal approaches to philosophical problems accessible. Bendix believes that philosophical inquiry benefits from a diversity of people, viewpoints, and methods, and wants to empower students to cultivate their own voices as philosophers in this shared space of inquiry.

For his LIT project, Bendix will be working with Caitlin Brust to gain a better understanding of the teaching-related experiences and concerns of students and teaching assistants in Philosophy, and to design a web-based repository of teaching strategies to help teaching assistants apply the insights gained in the classroom.

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Caitlin Murphy Brust | Department of Philosophy

Caitlin Brust, smiling

Caitlin Murphy Brust (she/her) is a PhD candidate in Philosophy of Education. She studies educational justice both philosophically and empirically, exploring what constitutes (un)just epistemic environments in U.S. higher education and how educators, students, and institutions can combat various forms of epistemic injustice within these environments. In both her research and teaching, she thinks a lot about intellectual friendship and mentorship in the formation of one’s academic identity and flourishing. To that end, Caitlin values building intellectual communities for students to reflect on their academic institutions as well as their ethical responsibilities as learners, researchers, and educators. 

For her LIT Fellowship Project, she will be collaborating with Bendix Kemmann to create accessible and sustainable online pedagogical resources for teaching assistants in the Philosophy Department.

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Lingjia Xu | East Asian Languages and Cultures 

Lingjia Xu with her arms crossed

Lingjia Xu is a Ph.D. student in East Asian Languages and Cultures, with her dissertation focusing on craftsmanship, labor, and technology in modern China. At Stanford, Lingjia has taught and will be teaching a variety of courses, including beginning and advanced-level Chinese language, Chinese literature, and East Asian cultures. As an enthusiastic educator, Lingjia actively engages with teaching principles related to East Asia in the U.S., seeking to address sensitive topics such as race, ethnicity, class, and gender.

As a LIT fellow, Lingjia will be holding a workshop series “How to Teach East Asia in the U.S. classrooms?” This series is designed to equip graduate students specializing in or interested in East Asian studies with the necessary skills to excel in teaching roles within the higher education system.

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Callan Monette | Department of Bioengineering

Callan Monette

Callan Monette (she/her/hers) is a Ph.D. candidate in Bioengineering. She works in the Fan Yang Lab developing tissue-engineered 3D cancer models. Within and beyond the lab, she is passionate about science education, outreach, and communication. Callan believes that communicating science in an accessible and equitable way is an essential skill and responsibility for every scientist, and she is committed to building these skills and creating training opportunities for scientists and engineers at every experience level to practice and value inclusive pedagogy. In addition to her work with LIT, Callan is a graduate teaching consultant with the Center for Teaching and Learning and a co-coordinator of the Bioengineering TA program.

As a Pedagogy Program lead, Callan is developing, implementing, and evaluating pedagogical programming and resources to support the LIT fellows and better equip them to advance equity-minded teaching practices in their departments and programs. 

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Andrew Perley | Department of Bioengineering

Andrew Perley, smiling in front of a waterfront

Andrew Perley (he/him) is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Bioengineering. He works in Todd Coleman’s lab with a focus on signal processing and understanding the electrophysiological mechanisms of the gut and the brain. He has always had a passion for helping others learn from a young age and continues to strive to learn new ways to provide learners with equitable opportunity. Andrew strongly believes that it is our job as educators to help students find confidence in their ability to learn and build community with others. In pursuit of building more inclusive and equitable systems in education, he strives to learn new ways to affect how we implement education at the department and school level.

As a LIT fellow Andrew serves as co-coordinator for the Bioengineering TA program and co-instructor for Bioengineering’s inclusive pedagogy class (BioE296).

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Will Yu | Department of Bioengineering

Will Yu, smiling in front of the ocean

Will Yu (he/him) is a Ph.D. Student in the Department of Bioengineering. He works in Nidhi Bhutani’s lab studying mechanotransduction pathways of aging, senescence, and osteoarthritis. Will is passionate about making science more accessible, engaging, and fun for anyone to take part in. Prior to Stanford, Will taught math and physics for students grades 9-12 at Phillips Academy in Andover, MA from 2018-2021 where he designed novel curriculum to address diversity in STEM higher education. He also uses his platform of 13,000 followers on Twitch.tv to host livestreamed conversations on topics like exciting new science discoveries or social justice and educational reform.

As a LIT fellow, Will serves as a co-instructor for BIOE296 Equitable and Effective Teaching in Bioengineering, and is excited to continue mentoring high school and undergraduate students in a research setting.

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Akshita Rao | Department of Bioengineering

Akshita Rao smiling in a lab coat

Akshita Rao (she/her) is a PhD student in the Bioengineering Department. Her research focuses on developing statistical models using non-invasive bio-measurements to help clinicians diagnose and track the severity of different neuro-related diseases, such as traumatic brain injury and facial paralysis. She was motivated to be a TA for BioE 296, Promoting Effective and Equitable Teaching in Bioengineering, after taking the course last spring quarter. The course explores best practices of inclusive pedagogy while introducing methods fundamental to communication, mentorship and community-building through guided discussions and workshops. 

As a LIT fellow, Akshita aims to continue promoting inclusive teaching strategies to foster a community of belonging and equity within engineering classrooms.

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Alexandra Stavrianidi | Department of Mathematics

Alexandra smiling and doing paperwork

Alexandra is a PhD student in Mathematics. Alexandra is interested in inclusive teaching, diversifying academia and improving student experiences in math classrooms using evidence-based methods. Alexandra has received the Robert Osserman teaching award and the Centennial Teaching Assistant award. She is the lead organizer for SWIMM (Stanford Women in Math Mentoring), the Noetherian Ring, the Math TA mentoring program and the financial officer for GMOO (Graduate Mathematics Outreach Organization). She has been a mentor for the DRP, SURIM, FLI, and OASES programs and strongly believes in the value of mentorship in the retention of underrepresented students in STEM. 

As a LIT fellow, Alexandra is partnering with Jared Marx-Kuo to learn more about student experiences in Mathematics at Stanford and create resources to support mathematics teaching assistants.

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Jared Marx-Kuo | Department of Mathematics

Jared smiling in front of a blank wall

Jared Marx-Kuo (He/him) is a PhD student in the mathematics department. Jared's research is focused in geometric analysis, specifically conformal geometry and minimal surfaces. He is an organizer for the Stanford Mathematics Directed Reading Program and has previously been a math instructor for the Leland Scholars program. Jared strongly believes that increasing compassion and accessibility are the most pressing goals within the math community.

As a LIT fellow, Jared is partnering with Alexandra Stavrianidi to learn more about student experiences in Mathematics at Stanford and create resources to support mathematics teaching assistants.

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Julia Markel | Department of Computer Science

Julia Markel, smiling and standing in front of a stone wall

Julia (she/her) is a PhD student in the computer science department. She works at the intersection of human-computer interaction and computational education, with specific interests in using multimodality (voice, text, gestures, etc.) for online learning experiences (e.g., textbooks, problem sets, discussion forums). Julia believes deeply in the power of peer teaching and is eager to explore how we can design and build tools to support peer teaching at scale and, more broadly, at a global level.

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Andrew Wu | Department of Computer Science

Andrew Wu smiling in a hat

Andrew Wu is a final year PhD student in Computer Science. His research spans formal methods, constraint-solving, and artificial intelligence, with a focus on bridging the gap between automated logical reasoning and machine learning. As an instructor at Stanford, he has co-designed and co-taught in consecutive years a new graduate level course on Automated Reasoning and designed new homework assignments related to AI safety. Through his teaching, he aims to create a community of learners that reflect critically on the risks and opportunities of computing technology.

As LIT fellows, Andrew and Julia will be developing and deploying TA training materials and methods for the computer science department.

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Micheal Duchesne | Department of Classics

Micheal Duchesne, smiling outdoors

Micheal Duchesne is a PhD student in Classics. His research focuses on enslavement, the experiences of the enslaved, and the construction of ethnic identities. His hope is to stress the humanity of people who have had it denied from them historically. His experiences both growing up in an impoverished community and working as an instructor there shaped his desire to work towards inclusion and removing the veil of invisibility surrounding people in similar conditions.

This year, he joins Classics LIT fellow Rachel Dubit in developing an upper-level graduate pedagogy class focused on inclusive, diverse, equitable, anti-Racist, and accessible course planning. This project is a continuation of the Classics department's involvement in the IDEAL pedagogy initiative.

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Rachel Dubit | Department of Classics

Rachel Dubit, smiling outdoors

Rachel Dubit (she/her) is a PhD student in Classics. Her research focuses on genre, gender, and landscape in Roman love poetry. As an instructor, she aims to bring increased relevance to studies of the ancient world through approaches to Ancient Greek and Latin pedagogy that are welcoming to students of all backgrounds and experiences. Because of her upbringing in rural Southwestern Virginia, Rachel is particularly passionate about making the Classics accessible and engaging to students who might not normally have the opportunity to encounter them at the secondary level.

This year, she and Micheal Duchesne are developing an upper-level graduate pedagogy class focused on inclusive, diverse, equitable, anti-Racist, and accessible course planning. This project is a continuation of the Classics department's involvement in the IDEAL pedagogy initiative.

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Sonia Martin | Department of Mechanical Engineering

Sonia Martin smiling outdoors

Sonia Martin (she/her) is a PhD candidate in mechanical engineering. Her research is in the field of energy systems; specifically in grid-scale battery modeling and electric vehicle charging optimization.

As a LIT fellow and lead fellow, she will work toward adapting the mechanical engineering teaching and course assistant training program to provide both practical skills as well as tools to educate students from a variety of engineering backgrounds. Especially in a field as diverse as mechanical engineering, her goal is to create a training program that equips TAs for inclusive teaching across lecture, lab, and project courses.

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Ahmed Elnahhas | Department of Mechanical Engineering

Ahmed Elnahaas in front of a white background

Ahmed Elnahhas (he/him) is a Ph.D. candidate in mechanical engineering at the Center for Turbulence Research, advised by Professor Parviz Moin. His research is in the field of wall-bounded turbulent flows. He focuses on developing novel methods for identifying dynamical processes between wall-bounded coherent turbulent structures and distilling this information into non-equilibrium reduced-order models for wall-modeled large-eddy simulations. His teaching experiences taught him that teaching is a skill that relies on more than one’s technical knowledge of the material but also on one’s ability to engage and connect with students of diverse backgrounds. 

As a LIT fellow, Ahmed will work toward adapting the mechanical engineering teaching and course assistant training program to provide both practical skills as well as tools to educate students from a variety of engineering backgrounds.  Especially in a field as diverse as mechanical engineering, the goal is to create a training program that equips TAs for inclusive teaching across lecture, lab, and project courses.

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Billie Goolsby | Department of Biology

Billie (she/they) is a graduate student in the Biology Department. She studies what makes poison frogs such great parents in the Lab of Organismal Biology led by Dr. Lauren O’Connell, and does Disability advocacy in her free time on an educational and institutional level.

Billie cofounded bioBUDS: Building up Developing Scientists with the rest of the teaching team to create a class that synthesizes community, science sharing, and advocacy. As a LIT fellow, she hopes to learn ways to improve BioBUDS, her own pedagogy, and contribute to making science education more equitable and accessible for all. 

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Ev Nichols | Department of Biology

Ev Nichols, smiling

Ev Nichols (they/them) is a PhD student in the department of Biology. They work in the lab of Dr. Kang Shen studying the molecular and cellular mechanisms of neurodevelopment. Ev believes that instruction is a fundamental duty of scientists in the classroom, the lab, and the public forum.

Ev co-facilitates bioBUDS (Building Up Developing Scientists) with the rest of the teaching team. As a LIT Fellow, they aim to expand resource networks for graduate students in instructing roles, both in the classroom as teachers and in the lab as mentors.

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Sophie Walton | Department of Biology

Sophie Walton in a hat

Sophie Walton (she/her) is a Biophysics Phd Candidate. She works with Dmitri Petrov and Benjamin Good to study evolutionary ecology in host associated microbiomes, such as the human gut microbiome. She has participated in the biobuds program as a mentor and guest instructor, and she is excited to join the biobuds team as a co-facilitator this year. Sophie believes that supportive mentorship is a key component of inclusive and equitable scientific training, and she aims to help facilitate strong mentor-mentee relationships through biobuds.

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Seba Toro Arana | Department of Biology

Seba Toro Arana in front of a plain background

Seba Toro Arana (he/him) is currently a grad student in the Moi Lab. He’s interested in understanding complex traits in plants such as drought tolerance with the end goal of breeding crops to be more resistant to climate change. He believes that teaching that is accessible and inclusive is key for a fair and just society.

Seba helps facilitate the bioBUDS (Building Up Developing Scientists) program with the help of the rest of the teaching team. As a LIT Fellow, he hopes to be able to help people in academia improve their teaching and mentoring skills.

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Mila Pamplona | Department of Biology

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Heidy Badillo | Program in Science, Technology, and Society

Heidy Badillo smiling in front of a windwo

Heidy Badillo (she/her/hers) is an undergraduate student pursuing a major in science, technology, and society (STS). Through her coursework and professional experiences, she engages in a multidisciplinary study that delves into the social and ethical implications of technological advancements. Heidy believes in CTL’s commitment to providing equitable and enriching educational experiences at Stanford.

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