Gina Svarovsky

Biography

Gina Navoa Svarovsky is the Senior Executive Director for Research Engagement and a Professor of the Practice at the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Educational Initiatives. She facilitates research engagement at the Center for Broader Impacts and Community Health and Clinical Partnerships. For nearly two decades, she has been interested in how young people learn science and engineering in both formal and informal learning environments. Specifically, her research centers on exploring how youth and families from traditionally underrepresented populations in engineering are able to develop engineering interest, skills, knowledge, and ways of thinking as a result of engaging in authentic engineering activities within a wide range of learning contexts. Prior to joining the faculty at the Center for STEM Education, she worked as a Senior Evaluation and Research associate at the Science Museum of Minnesota, where she led several research and evaluation studies focused on exploring informal STEM learning. Dr. Svarovsky earned her BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame and her PhD in Educational Psychology from the University of Wisconsin.