Deepesh Mahale

Deepesh Mahale holds a master's degree in physics from the University of Mumbai, India, and has eight years of teaching experience as an Advanced Placement Physics teacher with the Ministry of Education in the United Arab Emirates. His background in experimental physics includes research on single-crystal diamond growth, plasma technology, and nonlinear optics using ultrafast lasers. He has also been involved in curriculum development, teacher training and initiatives promoting scientific thinking and research.

Deepesh's research interests lie at the intersection of physics, artificial intelligence (AI), and education. He is currently exploring how AI reasons through complex physics problems compared with human experts, including its potential to generate novel problem-solving approaches. He is also interested in developing augmented reality (AR) simulations to enhance conceptual understanding and create interactive learning experiences in physics.

Rahula Samaranayake

Rahula Samaranayake is an international student from Sri Lanka and completed his Master of Education program at UPEI in 2025. He was a Mathematics and Statistics teacher in Sri Lanka for the international curriculum. He is also an online mathematics tutor and maintains a repository of instructional mathematics videos to support high school and university undergraduates.

Rahula is studying metacognition in artificial intelligence. In particular, he is exploring mathematics students’ metacognition when they use AI.

Xiaohan Yang

Xiaohan Yang holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Florida Institute of Technology and a Master of Science in Educational Studies (Urban Education) from Johns Hopkins University, Xiaohan brings an interdisciplinary background to her research at the intersection of education and technology. Xiaohan, originally from China, completed her initial teacher certification training in China, earning the Chinese National Teacher Certification, and has four years of practical teaching experience in both Chinese and American K-12 classrooms.

Xiaohan’s primary research interest lies in the role of social artificial intelligence in emotional support for adolescents, with a secondary focus on how generative AI can support content learning for multilingual learners.

Saniya Shaikh

Saniya Shaikh holds a master’s degree in physics from the University of Pune, India, and has almost a decade worth of teaching experience as a Physics lecturer for a polytechnic in India followed by a high school Physics teaching position with the Ministry of Education in the United Arab Emirates where she also led the Advanced Science Program as a coordinator.

Saniya’s interests are in exploring the application and effective integration of educational technologies such as Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) and artificial intelligence (AI) in STEM education across school boards and in the teacher training program. She also an instructor at the university where she has taught the Astronomy course in the Department of Physics and a STEM education course in the Bachelor of Education program.

Michael Ampong (2026)
Elizabeth Blake (2026)
Diane Montgomery (2026)
Christina Perry (2026)
Suha Talea Alhothali (2021) 
Amanda Brazil (2019)
Olive Bryanton (2019)
Brittany Jakubiec (2019)
Tim McRoberts (2019)
Charlene VanLeeuwen (2019)
Mary MacPhee (2018)
Alaina Roach O’Keefe (2018)
Gabriela Sanchez (2018)
Selvi Roy (2017)
Janet MacIntyre (2016)