Name: Teya Rutherford
Hometown: Miami,
Florida
Current
university: University
of California, Irvine
Program: Learning,
Cognition, & Development
Advisor: George
Farkas
Graduation year: Spring
2014
Hobbies: Photography,
Theater, Reading, Spending time with my family
How did you
decide to go to graduate school?
After
multiple careers (teacher, photographer, lawyer), I kept coming back to
questions about what motivates people and why they make the decisions they do.
I decided to go to graduate school to work on answering these questions.
Although my research focus has evolved along the way, I'm still inspired by
related questions every day.
What did you do
before going to graduate school?
I
taught, I went to law school, I had a family, I was a portrait photographer.
What do you
like best about your program/school?
My
program is very interdisciplinary: I work with economists, sociologists, and
psychologists. Finding common ground helps us focus on the core of the problems
and questions which results in work that is better translated to policy-makers
and practitioners.
What are you
current research interests?
Individual
differences and their role in mathematics learning as well as the design and
evaluation of educational interventions, especially in digital environments.
What is your
favorite article and why?
There
are too many articles I value to pick a favorite, but lately I have have been
keeping handy Hill, Bloom, Black, & Lipsey's (2008) Empirical Benchmarks
for Interpreting Effect Sizes in Research. Their benchmarks really put
intervention results in perspective.
What was your
proudest moment or greatest accomplishment?
After
finding my way to a PhD program after a number of other careers, I consider it
my greatest accomplishment that I come to work everyday to do something that I
love.
Thanks for your participation Teya!
Thanks for your participation Teya!
