Group Members

Tarannum Puri
Research Assistant
BSc, Combined Major in Chemical Biology
FEEL Team – with a focus on eye-tracking. 
Tarannum joined Dr. Stewart’s team as an RLE student in Fall 2021 and is now working as a Research Assistant. She has been heavily involved with her project, from designing the protocol to running the participants and doing data analysis. Apart from continuing on her project, she is also assisting with other team projects, such as the Organic Chemistry Integrated Resource Package (OCHIRP). Some of her previous experiences include volunteering in the Kennepohl lab performing computational analysis on Ni-complexes using chemistry software programs, an 8-month co-op in a biotech company, and working as a teaching assistant for CHEM 111 and CHEM 123. Tarannum hopes to combine her skills acquired from various experiences with her research projects alongside developing competence and knowledge in the dynamic field of research.

Farida Hamza
Research Assistant
BA in Psychology and minor in Visual Arts
FEEL Team
Farida just recently completed her bachelor’s degree and has been working in the FEEL Team since Summer 2021. With her academic background, she focuses on running study protocols, recruiting participants, assisting in coding and statistical analysis, as well as graphic design for the lab. With her experience, Farida hopes to learn more about research and how to apply findings to real-life situations (aesthetically!). In her free time, she has a fond appreciation for all things related to playing and creating music and the creative arts.

YingTong (Caroline) Lu
Grad Student, MSc in Chemical Education
FEEL Team – with a focus on using GSR as a tool to detect students’ emotional state and eye-tracking device.
YingTong is a first-year Master’s student who has been working in the FEEL team since Fall 2021. She completed her bachelor’s degree in Chemistry at Queen’s University. Her area of interest is to investigate the effect of students’ emotions on learning and to examine students’ visual behavior when solving chemistry problems.

Christopher Calao
Research Assistant
BSFN, Major Dietetics
FEEL Team – with a focus on eye-tracking
Christopher has been working with the FEEL team since fall 2021. With his previous degree in behavioural neuroscience, Christopher hopes to expand his knowledge of learning behaviours and hopefully make use of his directed experience in research as a future dietician.

Shivani Mehta 
Research Assistant
Shivani is a fourth-year undergraduate student studying Biology with a concentration in cell development and genetics. She joined Dr. Stewart’s team to work on the Organic Chemistry Integrated Resource Package (OChIRP) which received the Rapid Innovation Grant from Open UBC in 2021. Beyond her work on the Open Resource, Shivani joined the Equity and Inclusion Scholars Program as a research assistant with Dr. Stewart in the fall. With her background in qualitative research, she hopes to explore a career in digital health. In her free time, she enjoys reading and playing with her dog, Luna.

Bowen Zhang
Business and Computer Science
Research Assistant
FEEL Team – with a focus on eye-tracking.
Bowen joined the team in May 2022. In the previous summer, he worked with Jackie on a project focusing on exploring the role of emotions in learning chemistry. As a student with programming background, Bowen is dedicated to leveraging statistical analytics tools to help the team derive insights from collected data. 

Amelia Meredith
Research Assistant
Amelia is a fourth-year undergraduate student majoring in Gender, Race, Sexuality & Social Justice with a minor in Biology. She has been a team member in the Equity and Inclusion Scholars Program with Dr. Stewart since May 2021 to assess and improve student experiences of equity and inclusion in first-year science courses. Amelia is fascinated by all aspects of the living world, and hopes to continue combining her passions for equity and inclusion with human biology in future work in healthcare. In her free time, Amelia enjoys volunteering at BC Children’s and Vancouver General Hospitals, as well as going to the forest to learn about all the plants, fungi, and animals living there.

  • Chris, Shivani, Jackson, Caroline, Linh, Jackie, Tarannum, and Farida in April 2022. Celebrating the end of the term with dinner at Stepho’s!
  • Brian, Caroline, Athena, Chris, and Jackie on campus in August 2021. We are excited to be together in person!
  • Brian, Caroline, Athena, and Chris on campus in August 2021. Celebrating a year of working together remotely and welcoming Caroline to the group.
  • Tarannum presenting her RLE project at the poster presentation in April 2022.
  • Jackson presenting him and Linh’s research at the RLE conference in April 2022.
  • Tarannum with her research poster at the RLE conference in April 2022.
  • Tarannum giving a talk at the CCCE in June 2022.
  • Jeffrey presenting his RLE poster – a systematic literature review of the use of virtual reality in chemistry education.
  • Caroline presenting her project on using eye-tracking technology to assess students’ cognitive load in organic chemistry learning at the BCCE 2022.

Former Group Members
Thank you for your contributions!
RLE = Research Learning Experience. Learn more about ways to join the group.

Tarannum Puri, RLE, 2021-2022
Jeffrey Lin, RLE, 2021-2022
Jackson Kuan, RLE, 2021-2022
Linh Ho, RLE, 2021-2022
Athena Wang, RLE, 2020-2021; Research Assistant, 2021
Cailan Jackson, RLE, 2021-2022; Research Assistant, 2021
Gabby Bare, RLE, 2021
Bowen Zhang, Research Assistant, 2021
Jose Carl Brian Fabula, RLE, 2020-2021
Kenny Lin, RLE, 2020-2021
Emma Richardson, RLE, 2020-2021
Bec Chan, RLE, 2020-2021
Madison Chambers, Biology Directed Studies, 2020
Ivy Wu, RLE, 2019-2020
Sahar Zandi Nia, Work Learn, 2019-2020
Mya Dodd, RLE, 2019-2020
Sajni Shah, RLE, 2019-2020
Yael Patel, Graduate Research Assistant, 2019
Sydney Inthof, RLE, 2018-2019
Peter Ji, RLE, 2018-2019
Ian Park, RLE, 2018-2019
David Guan, RLE, 2016-2017
Jordan Yamamoto, RLE, 2016-2017
Jessie Zhang, Directed Studies, 2016-2017
Yuritzel Moreno, Research Assistant, 2014-2015; Work Learn, 2016-2017
Loren Gaudet, Graduate Work Learn, 2016-2017
Sam McKinnon, Research Assistant, 2016
Zhou (Joe) Wang, Work Learn, 2016
Victoria Bass, Research Assistant, 2012; Work Learn, 2013-2016
Gurinder (Geoffrey) Sall, RLE, 2016
Leticia Pamela Garcia, Work Learn, 2015-2016
Amber Richardson, RLE, 2014-2015
Anita Restivo, RLE, 2012-2013; Work Learn, 2014-2015
Katelyn Low, Work Learn, 2013-2015
Alexander Crooks, Work Learn, 2013-2015
Randall Lau, Work Learn, 2013-2014
Karly Stillwell, Work Learn, 2013-2014
Tiffany Chiles, RLE, 2012-2013
Jennifer Morse, RLE, 2012-2013
Craig Zhou, Work Learn, 2012-2013
Carmine McCutcheon, Work Learn, 2012-2013
Kenyan Lee, Research Assistant, 2011-2012
Brigitte Harder, Research Assistant, 2012
Mihailo Veljovic, Work Learn, 2011-2012
Isabel Avelino, Work Learn, 2011-2012
Kelvin Choi, Research Assistant, 2011-2012
Cristian Vadeanu, Research Assistant, 2010-2012
Firat Nurozler, Co-op, 2012
Eunice Guo, RLE, 2012
Josephine Smith, RLE, 2011-2012
Stephanie Ryn, RLE, 2011-2012
Samantha Jandl, RLE, 2011-2012
Angela Tenisci, Directed Studies, 2010; Research Assistant, 2011-2012
Alexandra Vraciu, Directed Studies, 2007; Work Learn, 2008-2011
Anthony Nassour, Directed Studies, 2011
Sharon Chong, Work Learn, 2009-2010
Dennis Sun, Work Learn, 2009
Titus Auyeung, Directed Studies, 2009
Nelson Wang, Work Learn, 2009
Julia Chan, Directed Studies, 2008
Brianne Anderson, Work Learn, 2009
Dylan Thomas, Work Learn, 2008
Lauren Gibson, Work Learn, 2008
Eileen Harder, Work Learn, 2008
Jaspreet Garcha, Research Assistant, 2008
Yulin Hswen, Work Learn, 2008
Alyson Wong, Directed Studies, 2008
Yashar Tashakkor, Research Assistant, 2007-2008
James Gill, Directed Studies, 2008
Kayli Johnson, Directed Studies, 2008
Kiran Bisra, Co-op, 2006; Directed Studies, 2008
Justin Chen, Directed Studies, 2006
Sarah Kam, Directed Studies, 2006
George Francis, Directed Studies, 2006
Salman Ali, Directed Studies, 2006