Meet the team behind Innovating Learning and Education in the Era of AI.
MIT RAISE TEAM
We bring together diverse expertise from faculty, staff and students across all five schools of MIT.
Faculty and Research Scientists

Cynthia Breazeal

Eric Klopfer

Hal Abelson

Mitchel Resnick

Hae Won Park

David Birnbach

John Gabrieli

George Westerman

Robert Shin

Irene Lee

Susan Lane
Susan Rati Lane has been a software engineer since 1996, and she has followed an eclectic career through many industries and locations in the western world. Her core expertise is in data modeling, but shes done some of almost everything. Career highlights include work in software support for brain imaging and clinical drug trials. She joined the MIT App Inventor team in 2018. She is passionate about writing software that improves lives.

Christina Bosch
Christina is interested in supporting evidence-based practices in education and design-based implementation research in schools. Christina is a recent addition to the Scheller Teacher Education Program.
Student Research Assistants

Samuel Spaulding

Huili Chen

Randi Williams

Safinah Ali

Daniella DiPaola

Jessica van Brummelen

Ishaan Grover

Nisha Devasia

Stephen Kaputsos

Xiajie Zhang

Nada Hussein

Jimin Lee

Daniel Kim

Xiaoxue Du

Jacky Chen
Jacky is a freshman at MIT studying computer science and math. He joined App Inventor because he enjoys both teaching and coding. With past experiences in pedagogy, he works with the Ed Team to develop data science curriculums and teach different people to use App Inventor. He is currently working on the Incarcerated Veterans project, to expand computer science, and plans to progress to assist with the Expert Trainer’s course.

Evelyn Cai
Evie is a sophomore studying Computation and Cognition. She joined the App Inventor Education team in January 2022 and is currently working on natural language processing and studying human-computer interactions with Aptly and trying to find ways to make App Inventor’s technologies more accessible. She has also worked on Alexa testing and Data Science projects, in addition to being a TA for the Master Trainer’s course. She is excited about the future of mobile app development and App Inventor’s efforts to spread technology to all.
Staff

Jeff Freilich

Kristin Hall

Alphonse Devasia

Sarah Wharton

Selim Tezel

Robert Parks

Grace Lin

Marisol Diaz

Angie Zhou

Jeff Schiller
Jeff has spent more than 40 years building systems that have to work 24/7 with minimal human intervention. As Area Director for Security with the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), he spent 9 years shepherding the development of critical Internet security technology including IP layer encryption, E-mail encryption and Transport Layer Security (https). His recent work involves providing development and operations for MIT App Inventor.

Evan Patton
Evan is the Lead Software Engineer at MIT App Inventor. He aims to help App Inventor users realize the full potential of their app ideas through the development of new components and features to aid in collaboration, rich data collection and visualization, and efficiency. His research interests include real-time collaboration, Internet of Things, and applications of artificial intelligence to facilitate mobile app development. Evan also oversees the development of the MIT Punya project to extend App Inventor with semantic capabilities for healthcare and humanitarian causes. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Mary Cate Gustafson Quiett
Mary Cate is a curriculum design manager for the STEP Lab and program manager for the Undergraduate Teaching Opportunities Program (UTOP). After earning her B.S. in Secondary Education and Mathematics from DePaul University, Mary Cate assisted, tutored, and taught in a wide range of schools including those in urban, rural, and suburban communities, in public, private, and charter settings. She went on to earn her Masters of Public Affairs from the Goldman School for Public Policy at UC Berkeley. For two years Mary Cate worked as a PLUS Research Fellow for UC Berkeley’s Center for Cities and Schools where she co-designed district policy recommendations with teachers and administrators. Mary Cate welcomes opportunities to flex her co-design, logic, and collaborative leadership skills to help create a more equitable and sustainable education system.

Steve Nelson
Steve, Senior Manager for the MIT Integrated Learning Initiative, is passionate about education and learning, having spent the last few years working to improve workplace learning in the corporate world, he is now focused on helping find research solutions to solve education issues from pK-12 to higher education to workplace learning. Steve works with research partners on the campus of MIT to facilitate transformational learning objectives and create educational best practices.

Andrew Whitacre
Andrew directs the communications efforts for RAISE and MIT’s Comparative Media Studies/Writing program. A native of Washington, D.C., he holds a degree in communication from Wake Forest University, with a minor in humanities, as well as an M.F.A. in creative writing from Emerson College.
This work includes drawing up and executing strategic communications plans, with projects including website design, social media management and training, press outreach, product launches, fundraising campaign support, and event promotions.