We aspire to have a broad and global reach of our impact on learning and education. We have been home to hundreds of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows from the fields of education, psychology, law, and computer science whose careers have been influenced by the research they conducted at the Center.
We have compiled the names of the many graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who began their careers here before moving on to academic and non-academic positions. Read about these three recent alumni and their career trajectories.
The LRDC Communications department maintains a database of alumni that dates back to the inception of the Center.
LRDC alumni database
To recognize the accomplishments of the many graduate students who, over the years, have earned their PhDs while at the Center, LRDC created the Distinguished Alumni award. This award, given every two years, recognizes a former graduate student who has demonstrated excellence in research of significant impact and other indicators of national and international accomplishments.
2019 Awardee: Vincent Aleven (pictured here between Kevin Ashley and Charles Perfetti)
Vincent Aleven (PhD, 1997, Intelligent Systems Program), Professor, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) Institute, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Pittsburgh, was named the 2019 LRDC Distinguished Alumnus. He presented "Personalizing Classroom Instruction with AI: Progress and Open Challenges" on January 22, 2020 in the LRDC's Glaser Auditorium. Vincent's research advances the science of how people interact and learn with advanced learning technologies. He aims to incorporate the enormous promise of these technologies in helping learners reach their full potential. Vincent earned his Ph.D. from Pitt in 1997 under his mentor, Kevin Ashley. Upon graduation, he continued his career at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and is very involved on campus not only as a professor but also as and the Director of Undergraduate Programs for the Human Computer Interaction (HCI) Institute.
LRDC welcomes a steady flow of international graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and visiting scholars, creating a community that extends well beyond the borders of the Pitt campus. The circles on the map to the left are a proportional representation of international scholars - both the countries from which international scholars have come and the countries where graduates and postdoctoral fellows have accepted professional positions upon leaving LRDC.
2018 Inaugural International Awardee: Yao-Ting Sung
Yao-Ting Sung (Post Doctoral Fellow, 2002-2004), Chair Professor and Executive Vice President at National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), was named the inaugural LRDC Distinguished International Alumnus in 2018. Dr. Sung's research focuses on educational psychology, psychological and educational assessment, computer-assisted learning and testing, and Chinese text analysis. The goal of his research is to improve automated assessment, readability prediction, and automated essay scoring. Prior to becoming vice president of the NTNU, Dr. Sung served several administrative positions at National Taiwan Normal University, including the director of the Research Center for Psychological and Educational Testing, the director of Office of Research and Development, and the Chief Executive Officer of Aim for the Top University Project.
Dr. Sung is the first international recipient of the award, presented at the 6th International Workshop on Advanced Learning Sciences (IWALS) at the University of Pittsburgh, June 8, 2018.
Looking for other international alumni? Visit the LRDC alumni database sorted by international members.
University of Pittsburgh
Learning Research and Development Center
Office 725A
3420 Forbes Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
