Conference Volunteers

Dommie is a graduate student at the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy. She is interested in the overlooked place of environmental education in the Uganda secondary school curriculum and how it influences students' understanding of environmental pollution.

Kelly is an elementary school teacher. She is from Lima, Peru, where she worked as a public servant for the Ministry of Education of Peru, leading the team that developed the assessment instruments to evaluate the content and pedagogical content knowledge of elementary and middle school teachers in Mathematics. Her research interests include teacher education, critical mathematics education, mathematical mindset, teachers' beliefs about mathematics teaching and learning. Currently, she is working as a Mathematics Teacher Educator at Innova teaching School, a Peruvian institution that prepares teachers.

Solmaz Khodaeifaal is a Ph.D. candidate in the Faculty of Education—eTAP: Curriculum and Pedagogy—at Simon Fraser University. She has a background in Applied Physics-Atomic, Business Administration, and Education. She is a UBC alumna in Master of Curriculum and Leadership, Faculty of Education. Her focus is on students’ engagement, participation, preferences, their active roles in learning physics (particularly females), and how these factors are related to their achievement in their lives and schools. Moreover, she focuses on the positive and efficient impacts of an extracurricular and enrichment after-school program on the student’s physics content learning. Solmaz is Director and Instructor of the Science Circles Program at Math Potentials Inc., an independent education extracurricular and enrichment organization with particular expertise in teaching mathematics and mathematical science.

Vanessa is a graduate student in the Department of Educational Studies. She is an academic librarian with experience in science librarianship and teaching information literacy. Her current research is grounded in both of these areas, and examines the intersection of teaching and research in science in higher education.

Conan is an incoming student from Hong Kong who will begin his MA in Science Education at UBC this September. He is passionate about science education and has been creating free educational content available on YouTube.

Malihe is a mathematics teacher who recently finished her Master of Arts in mathematics education degree at the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP) at UBC. She is looking forward to starting her PhD in EDCP in September of 2021.  She is a former mechanical engineer who enjoys showing her students the applications of mathematics. Her research interests include the effects of immigration on learning mathematics, bilingual students and math,  mathematics in different cultures and language, the role of immigrant parents on children's learning in math, and real life math.

Elizabeth is a Ph.D. student and research assistant at the Okanagan School of Education, UBC-Okanagan. Her research explores how a richer awareness of students' identity formation in and through secondary STEM learning environments might offer insights for educators in building STEM learning cultures that recognize, challenge and support a diversity of students in STEM learning. She brings to her research over 20 years of STEM teaching experience at the K-12 and post-secondary level.

Kate has a B.Ed. in Science Education and an M.Ed.  in Earth Science Education. She is a recent graduate of the UBC Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy. Her current research focuses on climate change education in the science curriculum.

Dr. Kyle Stooshnov is an educational technology researcher currently working on a project called Spacious Mirror for UBC's Faculty of Education. He has been involved with Reimagining Literacy Education as a postdoctoral fellow and Inanimate Alice's ST&RT with Alice proposal for the National Science Foundation. One of the courses he designed and taught at UBC is a Summer Institute for the Master of Educational Technology (MET) program, titled Virtual Reality: Viewpoints on a New Medium; graduate students created a narrative structure for their 360º panoramic video while exploring topics on VR, starting with the Viewpoints Technique developed by stage directors Anne Bogart and Tina Landau. His dissertation, The Virtual Renaissance, inquires into the affordances of the emerging technology as it relates to Shakespeare, cinema, Noh theatre and Brecht, among other influences that delve into the alchemy of consciousness.

Kwesi Yaro is a Ph.D. candidate studying curriculum studies in Mathematics Education at the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy, University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada. At the UBC Faculty of Education, Kwesi works as a part-time Sessional Lecturer teaching elementary mathematics methods courses and Inquiry courses for secondary mathematics and physics teachers. Kwesi’sresearch interest in mathematics education is informed by situated, cultural, and critical perspectives inspired by principles of cultural sustainability, social justice, and inclusion. In his doctoral research, Kwesi employs the concept of cultural capital and Afrocentric worldviews to investigate cultural strategies that African immigrant families deploy to support their children's mathematics learning in the context of Canada. This research contributes knowledge and insights that will guide teachers and other educators towards a more culturally responsive mathematics curriculum and pedagogy for students of African background.

Elliott Chen is a grade 11 student from the University Transition Program. He has found STEM fields to be particularly interesting and has always been fascinated in the latest technologies. His specialty lies in math and has obtained numerous mathematics awards. In his free time, Elliott enjoys biking with his friends and playing video games.

Vlad is a graduate of the University Transition Program (UTP), entering the Faculty of Science as he plans to pursue a career in Physics and Astronomy. He is extremely passionate about learning new things regarding dark matter and the universe's evolution, while also loving board games such as Catan and Twilight Imperium.

Ebby is a graduate of the University Transition Program (UTP) , entering the Faculty of Applied Sciences with a further goal being to pursue his dream in computer engineering. He loves Chemistry and Physics, and often works with software (Python, C) and hardware (Arduino, Digital Logic).

Cora is a grade eleven student at the University Transition Program who spends her time reading, writing, or chasing after a new TV show that she will inevitably drop after a few YouTube clips. She enjoys fantasy and science-fiction, and her favourite movie franchise is Star Wars, which happens to be a perfect blend of those two genres. Her interests are literature, architecture, physics, and occasionally philosophy (which often culminates into an existential crisis).

Nora is a grade eleven student at the University Transition Program. She is very interested in the STEM fields, in particular physics and mathematics. Growing up, she was inspired by science fiction TV Shows and movies like Doctor Who and Star Wars.

James is a grade eleven student at the University Transition Program, who has an affinity for Biology, Astronomy, and computer science. Apart from that, he also loves Robotics and Art, as well as playing chess and video games. He decided to volunteer at the STEM Conference to further cultivate his passions for the sciences as well as to share his knowledge and enthusiasm.

Kevin is a student from the University Transition Program (UTP). He loves science for what it is and what it can teach him. Even though Kevin believes he will never understand this discipline that investigates all the mysteries of the universe, he will never stop being curious about it. For this reason, Kevin is so thankful of this opportunity to do his part to explore and share his love of science with others.

Michael is a student from the University Transition Program (UTP) who has interests for Math and Science. Due to his passions, Michael decided to participate in the STEM conference as a student volunteer. Some of his hobbies are playing chess with friends, reading fantasy books, and playing piano, and he also enjoys solving Math problems as well as reading science articles.

Sarah is a student from the University Transition Program (UTP) who has interests for Math and Science.