Meet the GLIDE Research Group

Kirsten A. Davis, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator

Dr. Kirsten Davis is an Assistant Professor of Engineering Education at Purdue University. Her research explores the design and assessment of global engineering programs, student development through experiential learning, and approaches for teaching and assessing systems thinking skills. Dr. Davis's research is informed by her professional experiences working as an engineer at General Electric and as a study abroad program leader. Across her research projects, Dr. Davis seeks to connect educational research to educational practice and employs a variety of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches. Dr. Davis holds a B.S. in Engineering & Management from Clarkson University and an M.A.Ed. in Higher Education, M.S. in Systems Engineering, and Ph.D. in Engineering Education, all from Virginia Tech.  For her leadership and research of international programs, Dr. Davis received the 2019 Harold Josephson award for professional promise in international education from the Association of International Education Administrators.

GLIDE Research Group Members

Anne Wrobetz
Ph.D. Candidate
Linked In
Lexy Arinze
Ph.D. Student
Linked In, Google Scholar
Research interests: Anne's research interests center around the experiences of working and caretaking students in engineering-for-transfer programs at community colleges, and the institutional support structures that help these students persist to careers in engineering.
Research Interests: Lexy’s research interests surround global engineering impacts, early career engineers and developing competencies to bridge the academia-industry gap.
David Czerwonky
Ph.D. Student
Linked In, Google Scholar
Frederick (Rick) Dunn
Ph.D. Student
Linked In
Research Interests: David's current research interests include undergraduate research experiences, model-based reasoning in electromagnetics, teaching sociotechnical aspects of electronic circuits, and computational bioelectromagnetics.
Research Interests: Frederick’s research explores English for Specific Purposes in engineering contexts, focusing on technical communication between international teaching assistants and students, and the use of virtual reality to enhance language learning and intercultural competence in STEM.

GLIDE Alumni

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Cloris Chen
M.S. in Engineering Education
App Content Operations Specialist
Easy Healthcare Corporation
Linked In, Google Scholar
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​ Amanda Wolf
Undergraduate Researcher 
Biological Engineering Student
​Purdue University​ 
Linked In
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Harry Gomez-Donato
Undergraduate Researcher
Electrical Engineering Student
Oregon State University
​Linked In
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​Dr. Siddhant (Sid) Joshi
Ph.D. in Engineering Education
Visiting Assistant Professor
Boston College
Linked In, Google Scholar
Dr. Davis's Advising Approach
Challenge and Support – I will support you in finding the resources you need and to challenging you to grow as an educator and a researcher.
Feedback – One of the biggest ways we can challenge and support each other is through detailed and growth-focused feedback.
Growth Mindset – I view every experience as an opportunity to learn and encourage  students working with me to do this as well. As a mentor, I will work to build in opportunities for reflection.
Apprenticeship – In a Ph.D., you learn by doing, where you start with more support and gradually over time shift to having more responsibility.