Gina Navoa Svarovsky is an Associate Professor of the Practice in the Center for STEM Education within the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Educational Initiatives, where she also serves as Faculty Director of the Center for Broader Impacts, Interim Director of the Center for STEM Education, Senior Executive Director for Research Engagement at Notre Dame Research, and Senior Advisor to the Director of the Institute for Educational Initiatives. She earned a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology (Learning Sciences) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2009, an M.S. in Educational Psychology from the same university in 2003, an M.Ed. from the University of Notre Dame in 2001, and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Notre Dame in 1999. Her career includes prior roles as Director of Program Evaluation and Research at the Institute for Educational Initiatives (2016-2022), Assistant Professor of the Practice in the Center for STEM Education and College of Engineering (2014-2019), Senior Evaluation and Research Associate at the Science Museum of Minnesota (2010-2014), and researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Wisconsin Center for Educational Research (2002-2012). Earlier, she taught physics at St. Petersburg Catholic High School (1999-2001).

Svarovsky’s research examines how youth and families from underrepresented populations develop engineering interests, skills, knowledge, and ways of thinking through authentic engineering activities in formal and informal learning environments, with a focus on early childhood engineering education and family-level STEM interest development. She has conducted research and led large-scale evaluations for NSF-funded projects and the National Informal STEM Education Network. Notable publications include “Family values, parent roles, and life challenges: Parent reflections on the factors shaping long-term interest development for young children and their families participating in an early childhood engineering program” (Science Education, 2022), “Understanding Early Childhood Engineering Interest Development as a Family-Level Systems Phenomenon: Findings from the Head Start on Engineering Project” (Journal of Pre-college Engineering Education Research, 2020), “Exploring moments of agency for girls during an Engineering Activity” (International Journal of Education in Mathematics, Science and Technology, 2018), “SodaConstructing knowledge through exploratoids” (Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 2007), and “Epistemic Network Analysis: A prototype for 21st Century assessment of learning” (International Journal of Learning and Media, 2009). She has received the Spencer Doctoral Research Fellowship, Future Faculty Partner award from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Teaching Academy, and Notre Dame Scholar honors. Svarovsky has held leadership roles such as Associate Editor of the Journal of Pre-college Engineering Education Research (2018-2022), Executive Committee Member of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education (2018-2022), and Co-director of the National Data Project for Catholic Schools (2017-2021). As principal or co-principal investigator, she has secured NSF grants including REACH-ECE ($478,805, 2019-2023) and Head Start on Engineering ($738,505, 2019-2023).

Professional Email: gsvarovsky@nd.edu