Alejandra J. Magana is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer and Information Technology at Purdue University. Dr. Magana earned her Ph.D. in Engineering Education at Purdue University. She holds a M.S. Ed. in Educational Technology from Purdue University and a M.S. in E-commerce from ITESM in Mexico City. Dr. Magana has hold appointments in the past as Postdoctoral Scholar in the School of Engineering Education and the Network for Computational Nanotechnology and as Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer and Information Technology and the School of Engineering Education at Purdue University. Magana’s research interest are focused on two major goals:
1. Develop and incorporate advances in learning sciences into authoring curriculum, assessment and learning materials to appropriately scaffold learning processes in engineering and technology instruction by integrating authentic and realistic computing experiences from research, models, simulations and other cyberinfrastructure technologies.
2. Improve student learning and engagement by studying, designing, implementing, evaluating and synthesizing novel curricular approaches that leverage scientific thinking and computational thinking in engineering and technology education in order for students to be able to understand scientific representations and apply computational concepts, methods and cyberinfrastructure technologies in scientific inquiry environments.