Vera Michalchik conducts research at the Connected Learning Lab, Dept. of Informatics, UC Irvine and serves as NatureBridge's Vice Chair for Education. She studies learning in its many forms and settings—including community, school, home, online and workplace environments—through work funded by federal agencies such as NSF and numerous private foundations. She has also contributed to several National Academies studies on science learning and been an advisor to program developers and educational institutions worldwide. She previously led projects in research, evaluation and design at SRI Int’l, Stanford University and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and holds her Ph.D. from Stanford, master's from Harvard and B.A. from UC Berkeley.