About Us

The Virtual Learning World core project team is part of the NSDL Core Integration team based at Columbia University. Our team is comprised of software developers, educational specialists and research coordinators. We work within the Information Technology and Libraries departments.

We rely on the expertise and guidance of our advisory board to ensure the game's relevance and pedagogical value. Our board is comprised of learning and gaming experts, educators and physics specialists.

We look forward to hearing from you. Please send us your comments, suggestions, kudos and bug reports to Rob or Susan's e-mail addresses listed below. We will respond as quickly as possible.

• Meet The Core Development Team
• Meet Our Advisory Board

Susan Dreher — Primary Software Developer/Project Coordinator
Susan joined the Virtual Learning Worlds team in March 2007 as the primary software developer and project coordinator. She has more than 12 years experience in software development and management using a wide variety of languages and environments. Susan is responsible for 3D modeling, learning module design and development and website development and maintenance.

Please contact Susan at: sdreher@columbia.edu

Rob Lane — Project Manager
Rob is the founder of the Virtual Learning Worlds project. He has been a member of the NSDL team at Columbia since February 2005. Rob has over 15 years experience as a software developer, working in environments ranging from 3-person startups to IBM. He is responsible for the day-to-day management of the project.

Please contact Rob at: roblane@columbia.edu

Phillip Stewart — Educational Specialist
Phillip joined the Virtual Learning Worlds team in January 2008, bringing with him a unique set of skills to enhance our project's educational side. Phillip is currently an Ed.D. candidate in Secondary School Science Education at Teacher's College. He has an M.A. from George Washington University in Education Leadership, and a B.S. in physics from Davidson College. Phillip will work with us to develop the Facebook learning modules, ensure they map to national educational standards and are pedagogically relevant.

• Dr. John Black — Cleveland E. Dodge Professor of Telecommunications & Ed. and Director of the Institute for Learning Technologies, Teacher's College. B.S. in Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology, Stanford University.
• Margaret Corbit — Research Outreach Manager at the Cornell Theory Center (CTC), and Director of CTC's virtual world science museums SciCentr and SciFair.
• Carla Fisher — Educational media developer. Doctoral student, Teacher's College. M.A. in Media Studies from The New School.
• Dr. Jeffrey Kysar — Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University.
• Stephen Lewis — Computer Specialist at the Trinity School in Manhattahn.
• Jonathan Peter — Physics teacher at the New York City based New Explorations into Science, Technology and Math high school.
• Dr. Ann Rivet — Assistant Professor of Science Education Teacher's College. Ph.D in Science Education, University of Michigan, M.S. in Science Education, University of Michigan, Sc.B. in Physics, Brown University.
• Karen Schrier — Educational gaming specialist. Doctoral student, Teacher's College. M.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, B.A., Amherst College. Producer at Nickelodeon.