#  Team 

 



##  BRIDGES Team Members 

 



  [### Phil Capin

 ](/people/phil-capin) [phil\_capin@gse.harvard.edu](mailto:phil_capin@gse.harvard.edu)Assistant Professor of Education

Director of BRIDGES Lab

 

 

 Dr. Phil Capin is the Director of the BRIDGES Lab at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His research focuses on understanding differences in reading development and developing and evaluating the efficacy of instructional practices, primarily for... 

 

 

      ![headshot of Phil Capin standing in front of a Harvard building](/sites/g/files/omnuum7641/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-02/phil.png?itok=NpP3xYTP) 

 

 

 

   [### Yijing Chen

 ](/people/yijing-chen)Research Assistant

 

 

 Yijing Chen gained her master’s degree at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her research broadly focuses on language and literacy development, with a specific interest in evidence-based interventions for K–5 students with language and literacy... 

 

 

      ![headshot of Yijing](/sites/g/files/omnuum7641/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2026-06/Yijing_Photo.jpg?itok=g2ePPpJz) 

 

 

 

   [### Paulina Kulesz

 ](/people/paulina-kulesz)Affiliated Researcher

 

 

 As a Research Associate Professor at the University of Houston, Dr. Paulina Kulesz specializes in the intersection of statistics and data science. With a background in neuroscience and educational psychology, Dr. Kulesz applies advanced statistical... 

 

 

      ![Paulina headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum7641/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-09/profile%20photo.jpg?itok=OMdHGNJ3) 

 

 

 

   [### Laura Mesite

 ](/people/laura-mesite) [laura\_mesite@gse.harvard.edu](mailto:laura_mesite@gse.harvard.edu)Research Scientist

 

 

 Laura Mesite is an educational researcher and special educator with over ten years of experience conducting research related to language and literacy development. Laura earned Bachelor's of Arts degrees in Cognitive Science and Music from the University... 

 

 

      ![Laura Mesite headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum7641/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-03/DSC_0771_lowres.png?itok=Lvyg5EKJ) 

 

 

 

   [### Madelaine Panici

 ](/people/madelaine-panici)Research Coordinator

 

 

 Madelaine Panici is a master's student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education where she studies Education Policy and Analysis. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from McGill University, with minors in Behavioral Science and Education, where... 

 

 

      ![Madelaine headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum7641/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2026-04/Madelaine.png?itok=l5oMVd_p) 

 

 

 

   [### Justin Shaw

 ](/people/justin-shaw)Research Assistant

 

 

 Justin Shaw is a graduate student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he studies educational leadership and school improvement. He brings eight years of experience as a public high school English teacher, having taught AP Language and... 

 

 

      ![Justin headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum7641/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2026-04/Justin.png?itok=WiLdK_Bo) 

 

 

 

   [### Sining Tao

 ](/people/sining-tao-0)PhD Student

 

 

 Sining Tao is a PhD student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she studies multilingual learners’ language and literacy development across diverse educational settings. She is particularly interested in practice-embedded research that (1)... 

 

 

      ![Sining's headshot ](/sites/g/files/omnuum7641/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-03/97d778bb3dd49ec953c6fc296c9ad3d9.JPG?itok=Qlb6qdSI) 

 

 

 

   [### Arden Woodall

 ](/people/arden-woodall)Research Assistant

 

 

 Arden Woodall is a master’s student in the Human Development & Education program with a concentration in Literacy & Languages at HGSE. She holds her bachelor’s in English Education, Spanish, and Creative Writing from Purdue University, where her... 

 

 

      ![Arden headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum7641/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2026-04/IMG_5342.jpeg?h=a135ef64&itok=ann4i9H9) 

 

 

 

   [### Tianjiao Zhang 

 ](/people/tianjiao-zhang)Research Assistant

 

 

 Tianjiao Zhang recently earned her Master’s degree in Education Policy and Analysis from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She holds a B.A. in Media Studies and Education from the University of California, Berkeley, where she explored how digital... 

 

 

      ![Tianjiao headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum7641/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-08/IMG_1723.jpg?itok=_C5KPTA0) 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

##  Former Lab Members 

 



  [### Korleen Cosgrove

 ](/people/korleen-cosgrove) 

   [### Kat Mitchell

 ](/people/kat-mitchell) 

   [### Grace Sanko

 ](/people/grace-sanko)