Joan N. M. T. Walker is an assistant professor in the School of Education at Long Island University, where she teaches courses in educational psychology and instructional design to pre- and in-service teachers. She is also a consultant for the Vanderbilt- Northwestern-University of Texas at Austin-Harvard/MIT Engineering Research Center (VaNTH ERC). Her multidisciplinary research for the VaNTH ERC focuses on creating assessments that evaluate and facilitate the development of expertise in biomedical engineering design. She received her MS (2000) and PhD (2003) in developmental psychology from Vanderbilt University.