Latest News
- CEREAL Celebrates 25-26 🎉
As we close out the 2025–2026 academic year, the CEREAL lab is full of wolfpack pride in what our members have accomplished together. We are thrilled to celebrate Dr. Erynn Elmore and Dr. Lauren Alvarez, who have completed their doctoral work and are now making their mark as emerging leaders in industry. Madison Thomas and Dr. Cateté have earned well-deserved recognition with the Dr. Carla Savage Awesomeness Awards and ACM Outstanding TA/Professor honors, reflecting the lab’s commitment to both research and mentoring excellence. Our broader research program continues to advance through the dedicated work of Bahare Riahi, Erynn Elmore, Alice Guth, and Kevin Alvarenga, whose publications this year carry our lab’s contributions forward into the wider scholarly conversation. Finally, as we believe that rigorous research and creative joy go hand in hand, we celebrate Abe Michel and his teammates for their Outstanding Achievement at the Triangle Game Jam, where they swept every category. Here’s to our thriving lab members and the impact you all continue to make.
Doctoral Scholars
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Abe Michel
Abe Michel started his Ph.D. in Fall 2025. Previously, he double-majored in computer science and electro-mechanical engineering at Loras College. He is passionate about learning and teaching and has worked as a supplemental instructor. Abe’s currently working on the SnapClass and AI Play projects, providing technical development and qualitative coding support. Abe enjoys creating— metal…
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Alice Guth
Alice is a Ph.D. student who joined the lab in Fall 2025. She double majored in Computer Science and Educational Studies at Davidson College. She is passionate about expanding learning opportunities and access to computer science education. Her current research focuses on investigating how professional engineers utilize genAI in their coding pipeline, given niche domain…
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Azeeza Eagal
Azeeza is a PhD student who joined the lab in Fall 2025. Her research sits at the intersection of computer science education, artificial intelligence, and software engineering. She is interested in understanding what Generative AI adds to the toolbox of contemporary developers and how computer science education might adapt in response. Her prior work examined…
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Bahare Riahi
Bahare is a Ph.D. student who joined the lab in Fall 2023. Her research interests are in human computer interaction and user-centered design. Bahare helps on the SnapClass project, identifying the needs, supports, and barriers for non-computing teachers from STEM and non-STEM disciplines as they begin to incorporate block-based coding and computational thinking into their…
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Kevin Alvarenga
Kevin is a Ph.D. student who joined the lab in Fall 2025. Kevin hails from Duke University and is interested in computing education with a focus on usability and inclusivity. Kevin is currently assisting in the technical development of the Snapclass platform and qualitative research on rural teacher AI education. He has a personal interest…
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Madison Thomas
Madison started her Ph.D. in the Fall of 2022 and joined the CEREAL Lab in 2023. Her research interests are in supporting undergraduate computer science education and tutoring. Madison also leads curriculum development for the SECURE IT project, creating and piloting engaging activities for middle-grade students from historically marginalized backgrounds. In her spare time, Madison…
Alumni
Student Awards
Park Scholar Awards
- Monica Jin (Class of 2027)
- Krish Patel (Class of 2026)
Chancellor’s Leadership Scholars
- Brenda Chavez (Class of 2024)
Service/Leadership Awards
- ACM Outstanding TA Award – Madison Thomas (2026)
- Carla Savage Awesomeness Award – Madison Thomas (2026)
- College of Engineering – Scholar of the Year Award (Citizenship & Service) – Erynn Elmore (2025)
- Computer Science Graduate Student Leadership Award – Lauren Alvarez (2024)
- North Carolina State University Equity For Women Award Nominee – Isabella G. White (2024)
- Computer Science Graduate Student Leadership Award – Amy Isvik (2020, 2022)
Major Fellowships
- Fulbright Researcher Award (Rwanda) – Amy Isvik (2023)
- IBM Fellowship – Lauren Alvarez (2022)