Project Personnel

Beatrice Dias

Dr. Beatrice Dias (she/her) is an Assistant Professor of Digital Media, Learning, and Leadership in the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Leading at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Education. As a scholar, she grapples with broad questions about our humanity and society, with a particular focus on the intersections of technology and community. Bea formerly served as a project director and the co-director of outreach at Carnegie Mellon University’s Community Robotics, Education and Technology Empowerment Lab (CREATE) Lab, where her work focused on engaging with different communities of practice to explore the role of technology in society. She earned her undergraduate degree from Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. Following college, she worked in the private sector for two years before moving to Pittsburgh to complete her Ph.D. in Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. Bea embraces joy, believes in our collective wisdom, and practices freedom-dreaming.

Tinukwa Boulder

Dr. Tinukwa Boulder (she/her) is an Associate Professor of Practice and Co-Associate Department Chair in the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Leading (TLL) in the School of Education at the University of Pittsburgh. She is also the Director of Innovative Technologies and Online Learning in the Office of the Dean. She received her doctorate in Instructional Systems and Workforce Development at Mississippi State University. She has over 15 years of experience in higher education with expertise in instructional design, faculty development, project management, innovative technology integration, consultative leadership, and teaching at the college level. She has experience creating content using different instructional technologies to develop pedagogically sound online courses that accommodate the needs of diverse learners. She uses constructivist learning theory to guide technology integration and instructional design processes. Her instructional design philosophy entails understanding faculty and students’ pedagogical and technological needs and addressing them using evidence-based instructional design methodologies.

Michelle King

Michelle King (she/her) is a learning instigator and love activist. A true production of US foreign policy, she was born in 1968 to an African American father and an Ethiopian immigrant mother. She has long been fascinated by the ideas and values around identity. Michelle grapples with this life-long inquiry of being raised an “American” outside of her country and reconciling what that actually means now living in America. All of her intersectional identities and lived experiences are her “big data” which have deeply informed her praxis as a middle school, social science teacher for over 22 years and being human. (Photo credit: Martha Rial)