Kelly M. McGinn, PhD

Director and Assistant Professor

​Dr. Kelly McGinn serves as the director of the center. She is an assistant professor of educational psychology in the psychological studies in education department and program coordinator of the human development and community engagement undergraduate major. She earned her doctoral degree in educational psychology at Temple University. Dr. McGinn specializes in the evaluation of education-based nonprofits and organizations, with a special interest in STEM education programming. Dr. McGinn’s research focuses broadly on the application of cognitive science principles to inform how we teach. Specifically, she is interested in the development of mathematics conceptual knowledge. More information can be found in Dr. McGinn's faculty profile.

Dana S. Taylor, MA

Lab Manager 

Dana Taylor is the lab manager of the center, as well as an adjunct professor for the College of Education and Human Development at Temple University. She earned her bachelor's degree in early childhood education from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and a master's degree from Boston University in reading education. Dana has spent the last 30 years working and learning about early childhood and elementary students. Her time has been spent in the classroom teaching, assessing young children for developmental purposes, and working with universities and nonprofits to meet their research needs in primarily urban settings. 

Ben Torsney, PhD

Evaluator and Assistant Professor

Ben Torsney holds a PhD in Educational Psychology from Temple University and is an Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Policy, Organization, and Leadership Studies Department. Ben’s research is focused on college students’ engagement in schoolwork at various units of analysis; John Henryism, a form of high effort coping as a response to environmental stressors; college students’ willingness to take environmental action; and the motivation of pre-service teachers to enter the teaching field.