Blue Sky Lab Staff
Director: Dr. Emily Allen
Dr. Emily Allen is the founding Director of the Blue Sky Teaching and Learning Laboratory, a John Martinson Honors College initiative that launched in 2021-2022. The Blue Sky Lab (BSL) focuses on translating and scaling high-impact pedagogies incubated in the John Martinson Honors College and in connecting the college outward to other educational institutions and communities.
From 2012-2021, Professor Allen served as the John Martinson Honors College’s first Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, in which position she oversaw the development of the college’s interdisciplinary courses, curriculum, and faculty; contributed to imagining its co-curricular structures; and helped set the vision and goals of Purdue’s first academic-residential college. She is particularly proud of having created the innovative structure of the college’s first-year seminar “Evolution of Ideas” and its attached mentor course, which was designed through Purdue’s groundbreaking IMPACT and now stands as a model for new and other programs. Read more about Dr. Allen.
Assistant Director: Dr. Temitope F. Adeoye
Temitope (Temi) Adeoye is a clinical assistant professor and Assistant Director of the Blue Sky Lab in the John Martinson Honors College at Purdue University. She earned her BS in Psychology in 2011 from Morgan State University, a historically Black university in Baltimore, MD. She then came to Purdue University and earned her MSEd in 2019 and PhD in 2022 in Educational Studies. Her prior research has examined student motivation, student engagement, collaborative groupwork, and disciplinary belonging.
Temi has a passion for supporting student success that developed from a need to challenge the assumption that Black and brown students and students facing academic setbacks are disposable. Instead of fostering environments of competition that suggest there are limited opportunities to excel, Temi believes educators can best support student success by intentionally creating environments that integrate students’ diverse knowledge into existing disciplinary practices. Currently, Temi is using motivational theories to examine academic persistence among racially marginalized undergraduate students. Specifically, she investigates the assets that Black, Hispanic & Latinx, and Native American students draw on to persist after facing a setback. Through her work in the Blue Sky Lab, Temi works with faculty and students to explore interdisciplinary identity development and pedagogies. She also is the Program Director of the Blue Sky Summer Scholars Program, the Heads Up Tutoring & Life Skills Program, and the Blue Sky Learning Advocates Program.
Temi is also engaged with the local community and has served in various roles in the Heads Up Tutoring and Life Skills Program in Greater Lafayette. As a volunteer and site director, she has recruited college and community volunteers to offer weekly homework help and social development for K–12 youth living in government-assisted housing complexes in Greater Lafayette. Temi enjoys playing volleyball, singing the wrong lyrics to her favorite songs (with confidence), and streaming action movies or crime thrillers with her husband.
Graduate Research Assistant: Jisoo Hwang
Jisoo Hwang is currently completing her PhD in the Department of Computer Information Technology in the Purdue Polytechnic Institute. Jisoo passionately explores the intersection of humanity and AI with a multidisciplinary lens. Her diverse interests span education, arts, psychology, economics, and machine learning, driving her quest to leverage a comprehensive approach in teaching and learning. Currently, Jisoo is directing her research towards the application of deep learning in solving pressing environmental and societal challenges, while also investigating the educational implications of AI. With her unique multidisciplinary approach, Jisoo’s ultimate goal is to infuse AI research with essential human values, ensuring technology's positive impact on society, creating a harmonious blend of technological progress and human well-being.
Program Administrator: Sarah Elizabeth Vaughn
Sarah is the program administrator for Research and Creative Endeavors and for the Blue Sky Lab in the John Martinson Honors College at Purdue University, to which she brings 15-years of experience within various units of the university. She is a graduate of the Accomplished Clerical Excellence (ACE) program and holds a certificate in Organizational Leadership and Supervision. Sarah actively contributes to sustainability efforts, having co-founded the Black and Gold and Green Tailgate Recycling Team and the Purdue Farmer's Market. These initiatives align with her personal commitment to promoting a greener and healthier planet. In her free time, Sarah enjoys gardening, being a cat mom, and indulging in her passion for rock-n-roll music.
