Research
Graduate research at the intersection of extended reality, social skills development, and culturally responsive pedagogy.
Khanmigo: A Technical Critical Lens on Promise, Agency, and Surveillance
A co-authored critique of Khanmigo, Khan Academy's generative AI tutor, that weighs its marketing promises against student agency and data surveillance. It finds the tool shields student data from companies but not from supervising adults. It proposes Glass Box, a redesigned teacher and parent view built on summaries by default, stated reasons for reading flagged chats, student visibility into who read them, and regular dialect-bias testing. Written with Maha Khan for MSTU 4005: Ethics, Equity, and Social Justice in EdTech.
VR and Adolescent Social Skills — Literature Review
A team literature review on how virtual reality can build workforce-critical social skills, such as communication and collaboration, in K-12 adolescents. It identifies a gap: most VR social-skills research targets adults and workplaces, not teens. This review laid the groundwork for the Damage Control prototype.
Chains of My Childhood: Scarcity and Necessity
A personal essay on growing up with scarce technology in the Bronx: shared devices at home, one classroom desktop, and an app sketched in Sharpie on printer paper. It follows that path through the Verizon Innovative App Challenge, MIT mentorship and QuestMath to a career building accessible learning tools. Written for MSTU 4005: Ethics, Equity, and Social Justice in EdTech.
STEM in Practice: A Critical Analysis of the App Inventor for Science Curriculum
A critical analysis of two design iterations of a middle school curriculum that pairs socioscientific issues with MIT App Inventor app-building, so urban students build tools for problems in their own neighborhoods. It examines the curriculum through constructivism, project-based learning and Freire's critical pedagogy. Written for MST 4199: STEM in Education (Dr. Jooeun Shim), March 24, 2026.
Making Identity Projects for STEM Education
An exploration of maker identity development in STEM education, examining how identity-making processes shape student engagement and learning outcomes. Investigates culturally responsive design approaches and the role of technology-rich environments in supporting underrepresented youth in STEM.
Technology-Making is Identity-Making
STEM identity formation through community-based opportunities. Starting from Rokia's experience in the 2012 Verizon Innovative App Challenge, the paper argues that interest isn't the main barrier for Black and Brown youth in STEM. The bigger barrier is traditional spaces that overlook their cultural knowledge and experience. Written for MSTU 4028: Technology and Culture.