Fellowships

Researching STEM Talent Development for Academic and Emotional Growth

Gifted Education Research
and Resource Institute at

Gifted Education Fellowship, doctoral

Matos, a doctoral candidate in gifted, creative, and talented studies and educational psychology at Purdue University, is committed to designing meaningful, research-based learning experiences for gifted students, particularly in STEM. Her work combines academic rigor with a focus on social-emotional development, helping students feel both challenged and supported.

Matos’s journey in gifted education began as an undergraduate in biological sciences, when she joined a summer enrichment program for talented students and completed her senior thesis on gifted education. “Those early experiences helped form my researcher mindset,” she said. Motivated to go deeper, she enrolled in a master’s program in science teaching, focusing on instructional strategies that support gifted learners.
She has taught middle and high school science to gifted students in both formal and informal settings, developed differentiated learning materials to support student strengths, and guided pre-service teachers in designing lessons that use gamification, experimentation, and problem-based learning.
For the past two years, Matos has served as program coordinator of the Gifted Education Research and Resource Institute (GER²I) Summer Residential Program at Purdue, a nationally recognized initiative that serves gifted students in grades 5 through 12. In this role, she leads curriculum planning, collaborates with instructors, and mentors educators in creating learning experiences that support both cognitive growth and emotional development. “These enrichment programs can be life-changing when they are designed with the whole child in mind,” she said.

Her dissertation focuses on a STEM talent development curriculum and its effects on gifted adolescents’
academic performance and psychosocial outcomes. Through this work, she advocates for innovative teaching methods and greater attention to student belonging, motivation, and identity as learners.

Looking ahead, Matos plans to develop scalable resources for educators, expand access to high-quality instruction for gifted students from diverse backgrounds, and help bridge research and classroom practice. She also hopes to collaborate with organizations such as the Mensa Foundation to broaden the global reach of her work. “I want every gifted learner to feel that they belong and are valued for the potential and talents they have,” she said. “That sense of being seen can make all the difference.”

Gifted Education Fellowship, nondoctoral

Advocating Strengths-Based Learning for Gifted and Twice-Exceptional Students

For over five years, Taveira has served in a variety of teaching and leadership roles at FlexSchool—an accredited private school for gifted and twice-exceptional (2e) students—where she has helped shape a learning environment that honors both talent and need, through the development of tools and frameworks that include a comprehensive 2e unit-planning toolkit, an executive-functioning support program, and numerous faculty professional development trainings.

Taveira made the decision to pursue an M.Ed. in Cognitive Diversity at Bridges Graduate School after observing a persistent pattern among families applying to FlexSchool: “Too many gifted and 2e students are still languishing in an outdated system that isn’t designed to support them,” she said. “Even when educators believe in a strengths-based philosophy, they often lack the tools or support to put it into practice.”

To help close that gap, Taveira now leads initiatives to expand access to gifted and 2e educational best practices. Drawing on two decades of journalism experience and a BA in Communications from Fordham University, Taveira spearheaded the creation of 2e 101, a free online resource and content series designed to empower parents and educators of 2e students with tools, information, expert advice, and to amplify the voices of the 2e community.

Beyond her professional experience and education, Taveira’s insight and empathy for 2e students, their families, and their educators stem from her own lived experience as a parent of gifted and 2e children.

Taveira’s journey into education began when she launched a robotics team for her own 2e child. A coach for nearly five years, she designed lesson plans and experimentation stations, led service projects, and organized field trips. In 2017, her team secured a Youth Service America grant to teach robotics to children in underserved communities.

That experience sparked a love of teaching, and illuminated something that continues to guide her educational practice today: When students are first invited to lead with their strengths, they gain the confidence to take risks and grow in unexpected ways. “My crafty artistic kids dared to code,” she said. “My introverted engineers dared to lead.”

Looking ahead, she hopes to deepen her work through graduate study and collaboration with researchers and advocates in the field, including the Mensa Foundation.

Castillo-Hermosilla’s research explores how cognitive abilities, creative thinking, and socioemotional factors affect gifted learners. He uses qualitative and quantitative methods to study the diverse factors that affect gifted people’s cognitive, social, and emotional development. Drawing on experiences in diverse regions from Chile, Spain, Taiwan, and the U.S., he lends international perspectives on gifted education with scholars from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Germany, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

His passion goes beyond academia. Castillo-Hermosilla attends gifted education conferences and professional organizations to participate in scholarly discussions and stay current. His participation in collaborative research projects and partnerships with educators and practitioners show his dedication to bridging research and practice to inform evidence-based interventions and support systems for gifted learners.

She has a special interest in understanding the psychological and social experiences of students with gifts and talents. After earning her master’s in psychology, she completed her post-graduate diploma in gifted education (a first of its kind in India).

She worked as a class coordinator and faculty for the same post-graduate diploma course at Jnana Prabodhini’s Institute of Psychology in India for three years. She is also a member of the American Psychological Association and American Educational Research Association’s special interest group, Research on Giftedness, Creativity, and Talent.

“Whether I am teaching at a small school like Meadow Green Academy with an intimate community or a prestigious school like Lakeside School with alumni including Bill Gates and Paul Allen, my constant joy has been discovering and fostering students with exceptional aptitude for learning,” Lee said. “This passion and interest in gifted education also became more personal recently as my daughter joined the Highly Capable Magnet Program in Washington public schools.”

Lee is currently pursuing a master’s in gifted education from Johns Hopkins University. She holds bachelor’s degrees in science (actuarial math) and education, and she is an active member of the National Association for Gifted Children, the Northwest Gifted Child Association, and the Washington Association of Educators of the Talented and Gifted.

“I hope to continuously grow in the gifted education field, and I believe the Mensa Foundation Fellowship will accelerate this journey,” Lee said. “I plan to learn from the most recent research and experts in gifted education through my graduate study and apply these learnings in my community.”

That plan includes collaborating with other educators on gifted programs in local education systems to implement national standards. Lee also wants to design an effective curriculum as a math teacher to support the development of gifted students. In addition, she would like to help increase the representation of historically underrepresented gifted student populations, including English language learner (ELL) students, students from lower-income families, students from a diverse cultural background, and twice-exceptional students.

“As a parent and teacher of gifted children,” Lee said, “I hope to expand my knowledge in gifted education and be a strong advocate in my community. I hope to spread joy and love of learning by being both an exemplary student and an effective educator. If given the opportunity, I wish to continue fostering gifted students with the support of the Mensa Foundation.”

“My goal and involvement in teaching, leadership, and research is advocating for and supporting gifted youth from minoritized social groups,” Parra-Martinez said. “My doctoral research focuses on a wide scope of interests such as identity, motivation, teacher preparation, and policy development in gifted education, in the U.S. and overseas.”

Parra-Martinez received his bachelor’s degree with honors in English philology from the National University of Colombia, where he also was an English and Spanish academic writing instructor. He completed his undergraduate thesis at the Gifted Education Research and Resource Institute (GERI) at Purdue — an experience, he said, that “opened my eyes to the value of gifted education to enhance the progress of people and society” and that led to him joining the doctoral program.

Chair-elect of the GLBTQ network at the National Association for Gifted Children, Parra-Martinez advocates for the inclusion of gifted LGBTQ+ and gender-diverse youth. His research interests are the social-emotional development of gifted children, identity development in teachers of gifted children, wisdom, and educational policy. He has served as dorm life coordinator of the GERI Summer Residential Camp for gifted children and has presented workshops for local teachers on the socio-emotional development of gifted learners.

“My research resonates with Mensa’s mission of identifying and supporting gifted youth around the globe,” Parra-Martinez said. “For my preliminary examination, I used a systematic review approach to inform the current state of gifted education policies in Colombia. This project was the starting point in a series of ongoing collaborations that include validation of the HOPE scale (Gentry et al.) to the Colombian context to identify talented youth from diverse backgrounds, research on Colombian teachers’ perceptions of gifted learners, and motivation of high-ability college learners.”

Falanga is an active volunteer with several statewide groups focused on gifted education and serves on the board of the New Jersey Association for Gifted Children.

“My goal has been and always will be to shine a light on their human potential and elevate our students’ voices, not just within the classroom but as invaluable members of our ever-evolving global society,” Falanga said. “Over the years this work has become more than just a professional objective; it has become a mindset communicated through my words and actions.”

Falanga received a master’s in educational psychology with a focus in gifted education at the University of Connecticut and a graduate certificate in gifted education from Rutgers University. She is currently completing her doctoral studies at Rider University, with a focus on the intersectionality of educational professionals trained to work with gifted learners and the execution of appropriate programming to meet their unique cognitive and affective needs.

“Gifted and talented education is in desperate need for creative, synthesizing minds to fully immerse themselves. Whether that be by leveraging patterns, relationships, and connections or to develop and advocate for shared visions of equitable services across community lines, a focus which has been woven through my upcoming dissertation process,” Falanga said.

Falanga’s accomplishments include partnering with colleagues to develop an advocacy coalition pursuing the establishment of both undergraduate-level coursework and a graduate-level endorsement in gifted education for the State of New Jersey, and she was a member of the team that received the National Association for Gifted Children 2020 David Belin Advocacy Award for its work championing gifted education in New Jersey.

This belief has guided her mission to support her students regardless of differences in health functions, mental abilities, and socioeconomic backgrounds. While serving in the military, she completed a master’s of elementary education at Old Dominion University and is currently pursuing a certification in Gifted Education from Liberty University.

Having taught for more than a decade, some of her accomplishments include serving as a Teacher Advisory Group teacher for Pitsco Education, being nominated as teacher of the year for eight consecutive years (2012-19), receiving the Merit Teacher Award in 2016, being nominated as Technology Teacher of the Year by Fredericksburg Chamber of Commerce in 2014, and receiving the Science Cohort Award (2015-16).

After completing a master’s in education at the Azim Premji University in Bangalore, India, he joined the faculty at the Jnana Prabodhini’s Institute of Psychology, where he founded India’s first post-graduate diploma in gifted education.

He is currently a Dean’s Doctoral Research Fellow at Purdue University, where he plans to conduct a longitudinal research and mentoring project with rural and tribal Mensa students in India. Some of his accomplishments include helping draft recommendations for India’s new national education policy and developing India’s first online teacher training course for identifying gifted children.

Aakash is an active member of the National Association for Gifted Children; the American Educational Research Association’s Research on Giftedness, Creativity, and Talent Special Interest Group; and the Mensa Foundation’s Awards for Excellence in Research Committee.

Her journey now includes pursuing a master’s of educational psychology at the University of Connecticut. Learning that “will allow me to develop an even deeper understanding of gifted children and their needs,” Henwood said.

Henwood’s body of work includes designing a teaching unit, based on the Autonomous Learner Model, empowering fifth grade students to utilize 21st century skills such as choice, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and technology.

She was honored in 2018 as Teacher of the Year for the New Jersey Association of Gifted Children, where she now serves as president. She regularly testifies at the state board of education in support of gifted rights, and training in advocacy in Washington, D.C., where she met with members of Congress on behalf of gifted children.