Susan Yoon

Susan Yoon is a distinguished Professor of Education at the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education, where she has established herself as a pioneering researcher in complex systems and learning sciences. After completing her Ph.D. in Science Education from the University of Toronto and postdoctoral work at MIT, she has dedicated her career to advancing educational technology and learning methodologies. Her research portfolio spans multiple critical areas, including curricular applications of social network graphs, complex systems processes in teacher development, and the dynamics of learning environments. As Principal Investigator of several major National Science Foundation projects, she has worked extensively to increase STEM participation among underserved youth in Philadelphia, including the SPARK initiative and the Nanotechnology and Bioengineering program. Her innovative work with learning tools encompasses mobile technologies, multi-agent computational models, and augmented reality systems, all designed to enhance STEM education and scientific practices. Yoon's contributions to the field earned her the 2009 Jan Hawkins Award for Early Career Contributions to Humanistic Research and Scholarship in Learning Technologies. Her leadership extends to serving on the Board of Directors of the International Society of the Learning Sciences and as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the Learning Sciences. Her research particularly focuses on developing adaptive expertise in teachers and building both human and social capital through professional development activities, contributing significantly to the understanding of how innovative STEM approaches can be effectively implemented in educational settings.