# People ## Program Leadership [### Liao Cheng ](/people/liao-cheng) [liao\_cheng@gse.harvard.edu](mailto:liao_cheng@gse.harvard.edu)Assistant Director Lecturer on Education Liao Cheng is a lecturer on education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is also the Assistant Director of the Secondary Field in Educational Studies (Ed Secondary) program at Harvard College. She teaches and advises both graduate and... ![Liao Cheng](/sites/g/files/omnuum7196/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-08/liao_cheng_profile.jpg?h=f727be7e&itok=T0LO9wtF) [### Rees Collier ](/people/rees-collier) [rees\_collier@gse.harvard.edu](mailto:rees_collier@gse.harvard.edu)Program Coordinator Rees Collier is the Program Coordinator for the Secondary Field in Educational Studies at Harvard University. His current focus is expanding the department's visibility, reach, and extracurricular offerings. He previously worked as a Faculty Assistant for... ![Rees Collier](/sites/g/files/omnuum7196/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2026-01/DSC_0107-2.jpg?h=2be72408&itok=Cq60oWYh) [### Julie Reuben ](/people/julie-reuben) [julie\_reuben@gse.harvard.edu](mailto:julie_reuben@gse.harvard.edu)Program Director Charles Warren Professor of the History of American Education Julie Reuben is the Charles Warren Professor of the History of American Education and the faculty director of the Phillips Brooks Center for Public Service and Engaged Scholarship at Harvard University. She is a historian of American Higher Education and... ![Julie Reuben, Program Director](/sites/g/files/omnuum7196/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-09/julie-reuben-2025.jpg?h=112624c5&itok=BIL0SQLV) arrow\_back arrow\_forward ## EDST Faculty [### Elizabeth Bonawitz ](/people/elizabeth-bonawitz)David J. Vitale Associate Professor of Learning Sciences Elizabeth Bonawitz is the David J. Vitale associate professor of Learning Sciences at Harvard University. Her work focuses on the basic science theories of learning with the broader goal of informing educational practice. Her research bridges two research... ![Elizabeth Bonawitz](/sites/g/files/omnuum7196/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2026-03/elizabeth-bonawitz-121010.jpg?itok=_CLZWYr3) [### Phil Capin ](/people/phil-capin)Assistant Professor of Education Phil Capin is an Assistant Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His research focuses on understanding individual differences in reading development and on designing and evaluating effective instructional practices, particularly for... ![Phil Capin](/sites/g/files/omnuum7196/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-09/phil_capin.jpg?h=60c2aa6c&itok=Z2ChW_-R) [### Elizabeth City ](/people/elizabeth-city)Senior Lecturer on Education Liz City is senior lecturer on education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. City has served as a teacher, instructional coach, principal, and consultant, in each role focused on helping all children, and the educators who work with them, realize... ![Elizabeth City](/sites/g/files/omnuum7196/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-08/1500x1000-liz-city-final.jpg?h=d4a87960&itok=FjQZNo1o) [### Catherine Elgin ](/people/catherine-elgin)Professor of Education Catherine Elgin is a philosopher whose areas of study include the theory of knowledge, philosophy of art, and philosophy of science. Recent work considers the question of what makes something cognitively valuable. Elgin has argued that the pursuit of... ![Catherine Elgine](/sites/g/files/omnuum7196/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-08/catherine-elgin-314.jpg?h=b04f62e1&itok=79H7hYOx) [### Nadine Gaab ](/people/nadine-gaab)Associate Professor of Education Nadine Gaab is an associate professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her work focuses on typical and atypical learning trajectories from infancy to adolescence with a special emphasis on language, reading and literacy... ![Nadine Gaab](/sites/g/files/omnuum7196/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-09/nadine-gaab-2025-square.jpg?itok=dfN_pvkk) [### Paul Harris ](/people/paul-harris)Victor S. Thomas Professor of Education Paul Harris is interested in the early development of cognition, emotion, and imagination. His most recent book, Trusting What You're Told: How Children Learn from Others , was published by Harvard University Press in May 2012. This book discusses how far... ![Paul Harris](/sites/g/files/omnuum7196/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-08/paul-harris-445.jpg?h=8df77715&itok=Cw9H1zbe) [### Nancy Hill ](/people/nancy-hill)Charles Bigelow Professor of Education Nancy Hill is a developmental psychologist whose research focuses on parenting and adolescent development. She, along with Alexis Redding, have recently published a book focused on the developmental benefits of delaying adulthood, The End of Adolescence... ![Nancy Hill](/sites/g/files/omnuum7196/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-09/nancy-hill-80263.jpg?h=5eef0afd&itok=0vEr3qhy) [### Nicole Simon ](/people/nicole-simon)Lecturer on Social Studies Allston Burr Resident Dean, Quincy House Dr. Nicole Simon is a public education researcher and practitioner. For two decades, her work has focused broadly on urban public schools and universities, the education workforce, and the experiences of first-generation college students before, during... ![Nicole Simon](/sites/g/files/omnuum7196/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-10/Screenshot%202025-05-22%20at%2011.37.22%E2%80%AFAM.png?h=2e6cc174&itok=tuQWiqJt) [### Jon Star ](/people/jon-star)Professor of Education Faculty Co-Chair, Human Development and Education Program (HDE) Jon Star is an educational psychologist who studies children's learning of mathematics in middle and high school, particularly algebra. Star's current research explores the development of flexibility in mathematical problem solving, with flexibility... ![Jon Star](/sites/g/files/omnuum7196/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-08/jon-star-2025-square.jpg?itok=k7JdEPrd) [### Carola Suarez-Orozco ](/people/carola-suarez-orozco)Professor in Residence Carola Suárez-Orozco is a professor in residence at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the director of the Immigration Initiative at Harvard. Using mixed-methodological strategies, her work focuses on elucidating the child, adolescent, and young... ![Carola Suarez-Orozco](/sites/g/files/omnuum7196/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-09/carola-suarez-orozco-288.jpg?itok=dtB1IaWu) [### Paola Uccelli ](/people/paola-uccelli)Professor of Education Paola Uccelli is professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. With a background in developmental linguistics, she studies socio-cultural and individual differences in multilingual and monolingual students' language development... ![Paola Uccelli](/sites/g/files/omnuum7196/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-09/paola-uccelli-73795.jpg?itok=LojI4ha0)