Staff

Meet Our Staff!

Dr. Rebecca Schlegel

Dr. Rebecca Schlegel is the Interim Director of TITIL and is a Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Texas A&M University. Dr. Schlegel’s research is in social and personality psychology, with a focus on existential psychology. She studies issues related to self/identity, authenticity, and meaning in life. Her work with TITIL has focused on questions surrounding how to foster an academic sense of self among students in elementary, middle, and high school.

Dr. Schlegel joined Texas A&M in 2009 and helped found TITIL in 2018. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from Kansas State University  and a PhD in psychological science from the University of Missouri. 

Dr. Joshua Howell

Dr. Joshua Howell is one of the three Lab Managers of TITIL. In this role, he is responsible for co-managing the 20-member staff with TITIL’s other lab managers; managing lab funds and expenditures; and mentoring junior staff on qualitative and quantitative research methods. He is currently in the process of planning new grant proposals for TITIL and is currently open for collaborative projects. 

Dr. Howell graduated in 2014 with his Bachelors of Science in Computer Science from Texas A&M, after which he spent three years working in industry as a professional software engineer. In 2017 he rejoined Texas A&M as a doctoral student and graduated with his Ph.D. in Computer Science in 2024. His research interests involve Human-Computer Interaction and his dissertation was on Creating Accessible Mathematics for Individuals With Blindness or Severe Low Vision.

Skylar Deady

Skylar Deady is one of the three Lab Managers of TITIL. In this role, she is responsible for co-managing the 20-member staff with TITIL’s other lab managers; managing lab funds and expenditures; and maintaining communication with the business office. 

She graduated from TAMU in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.

Jiajia Du

Jiajia Du is a Program Coordinator at TITIL and a PhD student in Educational Human Resource Development (EHRD) at Texas A&M University. In her role at TITIL, she leads personnel recruitment and management for the NSF-funded STEM+C program, coordinates mentor training, builds partnerships with local schools, and ensures the smooth implementation of interventions in partner classrooms. Her research focuses on student and mentor development within the STEM+C program; she examines how young learners build computational thinking skills and motivation toward science, and how mentors grow through teaching and training. She has presented her research through conferences such as the Academy of Human Resource Development and the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education. 

Jiajia earned her M.S. in EHRD from TAMU in 2022 and joined TITIL in 2023. She holds a bachelor’s degree in International Economics and Trade from the Ocean University of China. For fun, she enjoys spending time with her family.