Doctoral Student Profiles

Meet Our Doctoral Students

Teachers College is proud to showcase the diverse and talented group of doctoral student scholars within our academic community.

Michelle Guo

Ed.D. Student, Adult Learning and Leadership

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Organization & Leadership First-Generation College Student Student-Parent

Chengyuan Yao (He/Him/His)

Ph.D. Student, Measurement and Evaluation

I am currently a second-year Ph.D. student in Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City, where I am fortunate to be advised by Dr. Renzhe Yu and am a member of the AEQUITAS Lab. Previously, I earned a B.A. in Applied Mathematics with Minors in Data Science and Education from UC Berkeley. My research centers on Responsible AI, with a specific focus on Educational Data Science and Algorithmic Fairness. Please find more information on my personal website. https://ycy2619.github.io/ycy-columbia.github.io/

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Human Development

Holly Smith (She/Her/Hers)

Ed.D. Student, Music and Music Education

Holly Smith is a doctoral student at Teachers College, Columbia University, with research interests in rural elementary music education and best practices in elementary music instruction. She currently serves as the Elementary Music Educator at New Bremen Local Schools in Ohio, where she has taught for over a decade, and previously held the role of Gifted Intervention Specialist.

At New Bremen, she teaches general music classes, has assisted in developing reading enrichment programs for gifted learners, and founded an extracurricular elementary choir to expand music-making opportunities beyond the classroom. Her work is grounded in a commitment to children’s lived experiences and the role music plays in their social, emotional, and creative development.

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Arts & Humanities First-Generation College Student

Filippa Christofalou

Ed.D. Student, Art and Art Education

Dissertation Advisor: Olga Marta Hubard Orvananos

Filippa is dedicated to advancing public engagement, museum education, and participatory practices, with 20 years of experience in the field. Her work includes collaborations with prominent institutions worldwide, such as the Saatchi Gallery, National Maritime Museum in London, Art Institute of Chicago, Whitney Museum, MCA Chicago, National Archaeological Museum of Athens, and Hauser & Wirth. As a doctoral candidate in Museum Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, Filippa’s research bridges museum education, visitor studies, museum studies, and somatic practices. She investigates how body-based pedagogies in museum spaces can disrupt institutional violence, recalibrate epistemological imbalances, and foster more inclusive learning. With a multidisciplinary background in art and science, Filippa is also a performance artist and founder of *The Drama Science Lab*, a project series that uses the body as a medium to explore the intersections of art and science.

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Arts & Humanities First-Generation College Student Student-Parent

Ji Young Song (She/Her/Hers)

Ph.D. Student, Developmental Psychology

Ji Young (Christie) is a PhD student in the Developmental Psychology program, working under Dr. Sonya Troller-Renfree. Her research interests include, but are not limited to, understanding how poverty and early childhood stress impact children’s neurodevelopment and socioemotional well-being. She is experienced in data collection and processing of physiological markers, such as EEG and cortisol.
Ji Young earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, where she worked under Dr. Ki-Hak Lee in the School and Counseling Lab. She was awarded a Study Abroad Scholarship from the Korean Government to pursue her PhD.

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Human Development

Chukwuma Mueme (He/Him/His)

Ph.D. Student, English Education

Among my interests is to explore African and diasporic African fiction, not as part of a subfield of minority literature whose existence is willingly accommodated by western institutions, but as a corpus that transcends the domination of western epistemologies. Specifically, I try to dig into twentieth and twenty-first century novels from Africa and diasporic African localities and engage the cultural, material, and textual dimensions of these African and diasporic texts. The goal is to reimagine some pedagogy that appropriately teaches the principles of literariness and cognitive artefacts contained in these texts.

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Arts & Humanities

Yibing Zhou

Ph.D. Student, Behavioral Nutrition

Yibing Zhou is a Ph.D. student in Behavioral Nutrition at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her dissertation research focuses on studying the dietary pattern and diet quality of breast cancer survivors, and how these factors associate with health outcomes such as breast cancer recurrence, breast cancer mortality rates, and other co-morbidities. She is also interested in learning the impact of social determinants of health and acculturation status on the overall diet quality of the Asian descents within the breast cancer survivor population.

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Health Studies & Applied Educational Psychology

Lisette Boer (She/Her/Hers)

Ph.D. Student, English Education

Lisette Boer is a current PhD student in English Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing with concentrations in poetry and fiction, alongside graduate minors in Social Entrepreneurship and Digital Storytelling from The New School.

Her teaching experience includes but is not limited to leading creative writing workshops through Milk Press Virtual Workshops, serving as a teaching assistant at Maplewood Headstart, and facilitating a literacy mentorship program at Mitchell Elementary. Professionally, Lisette has served as a Research Assistant to The New School's Creative Writing Director. She has also worked with various literary organizations in marketing roles such as The Poetry Society of New York, The New School, and The National Book Critics Circle, playing a key role in organizing events like the National Book Critics Circle Ceremony, the PEN World Voices Festival, and The NYC Poetry Festival.

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Arts & Humanities

Susan Capote-Lamb

Ed.D. Student, Adult Learning and Leadership

Susan Capote Lamb is an Adult Learning and Leadership EdD student. She is a member of the Lonestar College System English faculty, and a Teachers College, Reimagining Education Institute facilitator.

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Organization & Leadership First-Generation College Student

Sumit Karn (He/Him/His)

Ph.D. Student, Comparative and International Education

Sumit Karn examines how ideas, innovations, and institutions diffuse across contexts and influence educational policies, reforms, and systems. He focuses on the processes through which certain ideas gain legitimacy while others fade, paying close attention to how global cultural and institutional norms interact with local dynamics. He pursues this work through the disciplinary lens of sociology and history, utilizing multiple and mixed-methods approaches. His work has appeared in journals such as Economic Analysis and Policy and Current Issues in Comparative Education.

Before starting his Ph.D. at Columbia, Sumit supported various impactful projects with organizations, including Bloomberg Philanthropies (Global Scholar program), the Gates Foundation (Ananya 3SI project with CDOT in Bihar, India), and Steps (DDA project of the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services). Before that, Sumit worked as a journalist for the Everett Herald newspaper in Washington, USA.

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International & Transcultural Studies First-Generation College Student

Joseph Marshall

Ph.D. Student, Philosophy and Education

Joseph is a third-year doctoral student in the Philosophy and Education program. His research interests include ethics, epistemology, and foundations of education. Joseph’s current research focuses on integrity in education, including how it is conceived of philosophically and cultivated in educational contexts. He is most drawn to the philosophies of Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Emerson, and John Dewey. Joseph obtained his M.A.T. in secondary science education while working as a Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellow in Georgia. He has five years of experience teaching and coaching in secondary schools.

Joseph is currently the coordinator of the alumni association for the Philosophy and Education program at Teachers College, the editor of the program handbook, and works in the Music and Music Education office. He has also worked as a teaching assistant for Ethics and Education (A&HF 4192) and was on the Graduate Student Committee for the Philosophy and Education program (2023-2024).

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Arts & Humanities First-Generation College Student

Katie Conroy (She/Her/Hers)

Ed.D. Student, Science Education

Dissertation Advisor: Felicia Mensah

Katie Conroy is a doctoral candidate in the Science Education program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is a graduate student assistant for the Interdepartmental Doctoral Specialization in Teacher Education, working under program director Professor Felicia Moore Mensah. Additionally, Katie has been a course assistant for various courses in the Science Education program at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her current research interests include the effectiveness of science teacher education programs for pre-service science teachers, specifically the recruitment, retention, preparation, and professional development of Black women science teachers. Upon completing her doctoral degree, Katie hopes to become a scholar-educator, centering BIPOC voices and experiences in science teacher education preparation.

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Mathematics, Science & Technology First-Generation College Student

Andrew Goldie (He/Him/His)

Ed.D. Student, Adult Ed Guided Intensive Study (AEGIS)

Andrew is currently researching the developmental transition between adolescence and adulthood, with particular interest in how learning, motivation, and autonomy evolve during this period. His work seeks to inform how educators and managers can better support early career professionals by understanding their unique developmental needs. Andrew's master’s thesis (2013) argued for a revitalization of vocational education in the United States through comparative analysis of peer country schooling models, particularly in Germany and the UK.

Andrew currently works as a school administrator for the Department of Defense school system (DoDEA) which serves the dependents of active-duty military members worldwide. He has taught in China, Korea, the Dominican Republic, Germany, and the United States.

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Organization & Leadership

Monica Silva (She/Her/Hers)

Ed.D. Student, Dance Education

Mónica Silva is an Associate Professor at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP) and a Doctoral Fellow in the Dance Education program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She also works as an Assistant at the Arnhold Institute for Dance Education Research, Policy & Leadership. At PUCP, she served as Head of the Academic Department of Performing Arts and directed the undergraduate Dance program, where she led curriculum reform and founded the PUCP Dance Company. She is part of the Studies in Dance and Scenic Practice research-creation group and has contributed to artistic and academic networks throughout Latin America. Her work bridges choreography, education, and research with a focus on contemporary dance, improvisation, and embodiment. Mónica holds a B.A. in Education from PUCP and an M.A. in Dance Education from NYU. Her current research explores the role of critical thinking and somatic experience in dance-making and pedagogy.

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Arts & Humanities First-Generation College Student

Issa Rooney (She/Her/Hers)

Ph.D. Student, Comparative and International Education

Issa is a doctoral student and graduate research assistant at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research interests include teacher identity and roles in the context of forced displacement.

Issa earned a Master of Arts in Teaching from Teachers College, Columbia University, as a Peace Corps Fellow in the Department of Mathematics, Science, and Technology. During her time at Teachers College, Issa also taught high school science at a project-based high school. She has worked with the International Rescue Committee's Youth Education team, supporting refugee education initiatives, and she has taught secondary science in Mozambique as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Currently, Issa serves as the Chair of Community Engagement for the New York City Peace Corps Association.

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International & Transcultural Studies

Meet Our Doctoral Students

Michelle Guo

Chengyuan Yao (He/Him/His)

Holly Smith (She/Her/Hers)

Filippa Christofalou

Ji Young Song (She/Her/Hers)

Chukwuma Mueme (He/Him/His)

Yibing Zhou

Lisette Boer (She/Her/Hers)

Susan Capote-Lamb

Sumit Karn (He/Him/His)

Joseph Marshall

Katie Conroy (She/Her/Hers)

Andrew Goldie (He/Him/His)

Monica Silva (She/Her/Hers)

Issa Rooney (She/Her/Hers)

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