Friday Institute Leadership Team

Dr Shaun Kellogg

Senior Director of Program Evaluation and Education Research

Dr. Shaun Kellogg is Senior Director of the Program Evaluation and Education Research (PEER) Group and Teaching Assistant Professor in the College of Education. Dr. Shaun Kellogg has over 20 years of experience in education as both a public school teacher and educational researcher. Since 2011, Dr. Kellogg has led comprehensive research, evaluation, and capacity-building projects centered on the use of technology to make learning more equitable, engaging, and effective for students and educators. He…

Dr Hollylynne S. Lee

Distinguished Professor, Mathematics and Statistics Education

Hollylynne has been at NC State since 2000 in the Department of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education in the College of Education. She serves as a Senior Faculty Fellow at the Friday Institute. Her research interests include teaching and learning of probability, statistics, and data science, especially incorporating technology use and designing technology environments that facilitate students’ learning. She situates her work in educational design in order to provide the best learning opportunities for…

Arnita T Adams

Sr. Director of Finance and Human Resources

Arnita is responsible for the management and oversight of the fiscal operations. She serves as the chief financial advisor to the executive director and works closely with all directors, principal investigators and coordinators on all fiscal matters. Specific responsibilities include the supervision of the Friday Institute business office staff; preparation of all financial reports and statements, budget reports, sponsor reports, spending plans, effort projections and budget revisions; account setups, project closeouts, the fiscal year closeout,…

Jonathan Lee Barbee

Assistant to the Executive Director / Events Manager

Heather Puamohala Bronson

Director of Communications

In her role as director of communications, Heather builds nationwide awareness of the Friday Institute’s work, programming and initiatives among key stakeholders and the general public in order to establish the organization as the center for collaboration and innovation of education research, practice and policy. She previously led communications, marketing and public and media relations efforts for the Chicago Literacy Alliance, a nonprofit association of literacy programs and organizations. Heather has worked as a marketer, editor…

Dr Callie Womble Edwards

Acting Director, Program Evaluation and Education Research

Dr. Callie Edwards is an experienced educational researcher and program evaluator. For a decade, she has studied, partnered with, and advocated for historically underrepresented and underserved populations in health, education, and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, such as women, communities of color, individuals who experience low-income backgrounds, and those who are the first in their family to graduate from college. She has also served in the areas of college assessment, academic coaching, pre-college…

Kenny Ferguson, MBA

Director of Information Technology (I.T)

As the I.T. director for the Friday Institute, Kenny manages the organization’s day-to-day information technology needs, ensuring all systems and programs are being run strategically within the I.T. team. He directs all technical staff at the Friday Institute to support I.T. needs across the organization, including desktop support, web development, educational course development and technology for in person, hybrid and online events.  Kenny joined the Friday Institute team in Dec. 2021. He has an MBA…

Marie Pierson Himes

Director of the New Literacies Collaborative

Dr Gail Jones

Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professor

Dr. Jones is a professor of science education. Her teaching focuses on science teacher preparation and research in teaching and learning science. Dr. Jones’ research focuses on learning science in a variety of sociocultural contexts. Her research examines how a number of subgroups learn, including gender, minorities and students with visual impairments. Recently Dr. Jones has conducted a series of studies that examine nanoscale science education. She directs the Innovations in STEM Education Research Group…

Dr Jose A Picart

Deputy Director, Friday Institute for Educational Innovation

Dr. Jose Picart serves as Professor of Education and Senior Faculty Fellow at the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation. In this capacity, he leads several programs that seek to facilitate increased and focused community outreach and engagement by faculty, students and staff at North Carolina State University. He also serves as the Executive Director of The Wake Promise. The Wake Promise is a cross-sector community collaborative with the mission to increase the number of low-income youth…

Dr Melissa A Rasberry

Director of the Professional Learning and Leading Collaborative

Dr. Melissa Rasberry is an accomplished education professional with proven visionary leadership and strategic communication skills, honed through 22 years of experience in public K-16 classrooms and education nonprofits. Before joining the Friday Institute, Rasberry served as principal technical assistance consultant for education at the American Institutes for Research (AIR). In addition to her NSF work at AIR, Rasberry served as the community of practice manager for the U.S. Department of Education’s State Support Network, supporting over two…

Dr Eric N Wiebe

Professor

Dr. Wiebe is a professor in the Department of STEM Education at NC State University and Senior Research Fellow at the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation. Dr. Wiebe works on many different facets of STEM education, including the design and evaluation of innovative uses of computing technologies in STEM instructional settings, the use of multimedia tools for teaching and learning, and student engagement and persistence in STEM career pathways. Specific research programs include the use…

Mr Braska Williams Jr

Director, NC-MSEN Pre-College Program

Braska Williams serves as the coordinator for the North Carolina Mathematics and Science Education Network Pre-College Program (NC-MSEN PCP). He has spent 13 years in K-12 working for Newport News Public Schools in Virginia where he served as a high school mathematics teacher, a teacher coach, the coordinator of a district wide STEM program for underserved populations, and director of two NSF funded projects. At NC State, his work involves working with underserved middle and…

Ray Zeisz

Senior Director, Technology Infrastructure Lab

Ray Zeisz is the Senior Director of the Technology Infrastructure Lab at the Friday Institute. In this role he leads a team that researches, analyzes, and builds tools that enable policymakers to make informed decisions about the use of technology in public sector applications. While most work is focused on K-20 education, the TIL team often works on cross cutting topics that impact the overall wellbeing of students, such as healthcare, access to broadband and…