Our Team
José Ramón Lizárraga, PhDFaculty Director, Principal Investigator
José Ramón Lizárraga is Assistant Professor of Learning Sciences and Human Development at the University of Colorado, Boulder. As a learning scientist, José uses ethnographic, video, and multimodal research methods to investigate the role of social networks, television, and other digital new media in the learning of teachers and youth. Currently, his work examines the cyborg collaborative practices of teachers and adolescents at the intersection of virtual and in-person terrains of practice.
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Kachine KulickEPIC Futures Thailand Coordinator, Teacher Learning Specialist
Hey! Kachine (sher/her/hers) here. As a human, I am constantly learning when to “sit down, sashay, and stand up” within the multitude of identities, privileges and positionalities I encompass in this flesh bag. This means that I am open to radical honesty without letting it crush my ego, sensing when it’s crucial to put my white, able-body on the line for justice, and when it is time to simply zip it and listen. I identify as queer, which is an embodiment for me, but also manifests into action within my research. I am a first generation college student, now a researcher studying for my PhD in the School of Education essentially “teaching teachers how to teach.” To me, this entails asking teaching and learning to disrupt the status quo to collectively reimagine liberation for all. For pleasure, I like to ride my bike while singing Robyn or Sade, listening to my ancestors, jumping in rivers and lakes, and dancing...everywhere.
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Ashieda McKoyEPIC Futures Program Coordinator, Narrative Specialist
Ashieda is a doctoral student in the Teacher Learning, Research, and Practice Program at the University of Colorado Boulder. She is interested in researching and co-developing the ways Afrofuturism and dreaming can be used to design freeing and innovative learning environments. Specifically, she is passionate about how teachers and students envision new narratives of the future and our future education system. She has been an instructor of English, Creative Writing, and History and has received a BS in Political Science as well as an MFA in Creative Writing. She brings her love of art, poetry, and storytelling into her scholarship in addition to her partnerships with schools and communities.
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Adria Padilla-ChavezEPIC Futures Program Coordinator, Transnational Experience and Sociolinguistic Specialist
Adria was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. She received a BS from the University of New Mexico in Bilingual Education and MA in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education from CU Boulder through the Bueno Center. Adria has been both a classroom teacher and instructional coach for the last nineteen years in the Denver metro area. Her research interests include exploring ways that schools can become community centers for social justice by humanizing pedagogy and validating the assets within communities. Additionally, she is interested in the micro-interactions between teachers and students that affirm and nurture the dignity of a child.
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Ishita PradhanCourse Instructor, Teacher/Youth Experience Specialist
Ishita is a PhD student in Learning Sciences and Human Development at the School of Education, CU Boulder. She is interested in the critical, political and ethical dimensions of learning. Ishita’s research explores how marginalized kids and youth in India are framed in the discourses of educational research and positioned with respect to the systems of authority and power within educational institutions. Ishita completed her Master’s degree in Education from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. Before beginning her graduate studies in the USA, Ishita was working in New Delhi toward professional development of in-service Social Science teachers in the Delhi govt. schools under the state's Chunauti program.
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Jovita Schiffer
Programming Partner
Jovita Schiffer is Director of the Alicia Sanchez International School Family Resource & Learning center that supports the school's mission to disrupt the cycle of poverty in this community. Through extended learning opportunities and family resource support, this program provides wraparound services to help children thrive in school and improve their future outcomes. Jovita supports the implementation and success of the EPIC Futures program at Alicia Sanchez International School.
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