The future of learning for all students
National Center for Technology Innovation
NCTI Staff
NCTI staff is committed to identifying the most up-to-date information and resources on technology innovation and facilitating opportunities for partners to collaborate and work with colleagues across the country. Each staff member brings a unique background and set of skills to the Center.
Tracy Gray, Project Director
Heidi Silver-Pacuilla, Deputy Director
Tarek Anandan
David Hollender
Cynthia Overton
Michelle Perry
Anju Sidana
Marie Szczurowski
Mary Thorngren
Amy Walter
Tracy Gray, Ph.D., Project Director
Tracy Gray is the director of NCTI and a managing research scientist at AIR. Tracy is a nationally recognized expert in education and technology and has led numerous projects in the United States and internationally, examining the impact of technology on educational achievement. In addition, she has published and lectured widely on issues related to the integration of emerging technologies into the classroom and after-school programs. She recently published The Gateway to Student Success in Mathematics and Science for Microsoft and Teacher Learning Online: Improving the Teaching of Mathematics Through Better Professional Development for the U.S. Department of Education.
Before working at AIR, Tracy was vice president for youth services at the Morino Institute and was responsible for the design and implementation of the Youth Development Collaborative (YDC) pilot. That effort sought to understand the complexities of integrating technology into schools and community-based organizations. Under Gray's leadership, the lessons learned from the YDC led to the development of the YouthLearn Guide: A Creative Approach to Working With Youth and Technology and the YouthLearn Web site. Those award-winning tools serve as resources for teachers and staff interested in using technology to enhance educational programs for children.
Tracy also served as the first deputy executive director and chief operating officer for the Corporation for National Service (CNS). As part of the leadership team, she helped launch AmeriCorps, which enabled more than 50,000 members working in more than 1,000 programs to serve communities throughout the United States.
Tracy holds Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in education and psychology from Stanford University and received an A.B. in psychology from the University of California, Riverside. She holds a California secondary teaching credential and is bilingual in English and Spanish.
Heidi Silver-Pacuilla, Ph.D, Deputy Project Director
Heidi Silver-Pacuilla, Ph.D., senior research analyst, is the deputy director of NCTI as well as a task leader for implementation support on the Center for Implementing Technology in Education (CITEd, www.citeducation.org). Both NCTI and CITEd are funded by the Office of Special Education Programs. She is also a project director on a technical assistance project to investigate online learning for adult literacy students, funded by the National Institute for Literacy. Her research and technical assistance work has focused on applying best practice research from the special education literature to digital environments for students of all ages with disabilities. She has delivered many presentations and published several articles and chapters on teaching youth and adults with disabilities, particularly those who struggle with literacy. At AIR, she has also been involved in developing and teaching a distance learning course on accommodating adults with disabilities for adult educators for CalPro (www.calpro-online.org) and developing an online warehouse of adult education standards (www.adltedcontentstandards.org).
Prior to working at AIR, she was the recipient of a Mary Switzer Fellowship from the National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research to study the introduction of assistive technology into adult education programming for adults with learning disabilities. She is also the recipient of the AERA Early Scholar Award from the Adult Literacy and Adult Education SIG, 2005.
Tarek Anandan
Tarek Anandan is a senior project specialist for AIR. Tarek's work for NCTI focuses on communications and Internet marketing. In addition to NCTI, he is the deputy director for the National Evaluation and Technical Assistance Center for the Education of Children and Youth Who Are Neglected, Delinquent or At Risk (www.neglected-delinquent.org) and a team member of the National Center for Implementing Technology in Education project. He also worked with the U.S.Department of Education on the development of the National Education Technology Plan and served as the project director for the Evaluation of the School Technology Leadership Initiative. He has experience in the design and development of websites, databases, data reporting systems, software, and other electronic media for clients such as the U.S. Department of Education, the National Science Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and Wadsworth Publishing. Tarek received his master's degree in public policy from the University of Michigan.
David Hollender
David Hollender, senior systems analyst at AIR, specializes in using technology to improve communications, information dissemination, and data collection. Since joining AIR in 1992, he has helped address these needs for numerous organizations including the US Department of Education’s Information Resource Center, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Office of Adult and Vocational Education, Office of Research, as well as for the States of Alabama and Massachusetts. In his current role, he helps clients develop communication, engagement, and information dissemination strategies with an emphasis on technology use; evaluates existing approaches to technology-based communications & usability; analyzes communication & information dissemination needs; develops communication-related technology tools; and supports non-technical decision-makers in acquiring needed technology.
Cynthia Overton
Cynthia Overton, Ph. D., is a research analyst at AIR. She works with two projects funded by the Office of Special Education Programs: NCTI and the Center for Implementing Technology in Education (www.citeducation.org). Cynthia’s research and technical assistance work involves identifying and analyzing promising practices of technology implementation in education settings. She is also working on a project that examines how the call for scientifically based research impacts educational technology acquisition for students with special needs. Prior to working at AIR, Cynthia taught an educational technology course for pre-service teachers. Cynthia received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in education from the University of Michigan. While at Michigan, Cynthia was the recipient of a Rackham Education Scholar’s Award and two Spencer Research Training Grants. Her research examined how students with visual impairments use technology to engage with their learning environments. Cynthia also holds teaching credentials in elementary education and has received Assistive Technology Applications training through the Center on Disabilities at California State University, Northridge.
Michelle Perry
Michelle Perry is a research assistant at AIR. She provides research and technical support associated with national and local research projects, evaluations, and program meetings including National Science Foundation’s Systemic Initiatives, Even Start Family Literacy Training Meetings, and policy requests and communication projects for AIR under the Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs' (OSEP) task order contract. Duties include reviewing research, developing and maintaining databases, conducting site visits, and coordinating and planning training meetings. Michelle graduated in 2002 with a B.A. in history and a minor in communications.
Anju Sidana
Anju Sidana joined AIR as a research assistant in October 2004. Her responsibilities for NCTI include web and database maintenance, resource collection, and editing of project documents. Anju also works as a technical assistance liason and Web site task leader for the National Evaluation and Technical Assistance Center for the Education of Children and Youth Who Are Neglected, Delinquent or At Risk (www.neglected-delinquent.org), providing web content management, technical assistance, and editorial services. Since joining AIR, she has worked in the areas of systemwide school reform, study content review and evaluation, and juvenile justice. Anju has several years of experience volunteering and interning with non-profit and advocacy organizations in the Washington, DC metro area, and has also worked as a mentor with the America Reads America Counts program. She received her B.A. from the University of Maryland in December 2003 with majors in anthropology and psychology.
Marie Szczurowski
Marie Szczurowski is a research associate at AIR. Responsibilities for the NCTI team include website content development, developing outreach strategies for disseminating materials, providing support to various marketing as well as Web site activities, and serving as task leader for the coordination of the Annual NCTI Advisory Board Meeting and management of the content of the NCTI Reading Matrix. Marie also works for the What Works Clearinghouse on the Early Childhood Education team. Her responsibilities include tracking submissions and coordinating the literature searches of journals, dissertations, reports, and Web sites. She also works as a monitor of the implementation of the Reading First project, conducting site visits to participating local education agencies and state departments; observing reading classes for K-3 students; reviewing state and local Reading First plans and other related materials; and preparing reports to the U.S. Department of Education. Marie graduated from Wake Forest University in 2003 with a B.A. in political science and a minor in sociology.
Mary Thorngren
Mary Thorngren, M.S., is a senior project specialist at AIR. She serves as the deputy director of the Center for Implementing Technology in Education (CITEd) as well as the project manager for the What Works Clearinghouse. Mary brings extensive experience to NCTI in the development of technical assistance and training to diverse audiences across the country and is skilled at providing training and technical assistance to local, state, and national organizations, teams, groups, consumers, and parents. She is particularly interested in the potential that technology has for improving educational outcomes for underserved populations, increasing access that families have to quality education and building leadership capacity for technology implementation. Mary has over 25 years experience in leadership and managerial positions in not-for-profit organizations, with experience in project management, developing and monitoring budgets and project work plans, and working collaboratively with project advisory committees and partner organizations. Mary has a master’s degree in human resource development with an emphasis on organization development from American University and is a certified health education specialist. She is also bilingual in English and Spanish.
Amy Walter
Amy L. Walter is a business strategy analyst at AIR. She directs and manages technical assistance and consulting projects on school reform and youth development for school districts, education service organizations, and foundations. Clients have included Chicago Public Schools, International Baccalaureate North America, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Prior to AIR, Ms. Walter was a director for Education Provider Services at New American Schools (NAS), where she consulted to education service organizations and served as an analyst with the New American Schools Investment Fund. At NAS, she authored The Providers’ Toolkit for Supplemental Educational Services to assist organizations in becoming state-approved, federally funded, tutoring and youth development providers. In addition to her experience in education, Ms. Walter has managed a corporate social responsibility project for Ford Motor Company in India, consulted on budgeting with early childhood organizations implementing Universal Pre-Kindergarten, and served as a researcher at an alternative criminal court in Midtown Manhattan. She began her career as an AmeriCorps volunteer, serving as a foster mother in a group home for young children at risk for abuse, neglect, and HIV infection. She earned her MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and her bachelor’s degree cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania.
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National Center for Technology Innovation
1000 Thomas Jefferson St., NW | Washington, D.C. 20007-3835
Phone: (202) 403-5323 | TTY: (202) 333-3072 | Fax: (202) 403-5001
Email: ncti@air.org