Matthew Grondin
Email: mgrondin@wisc.edu
Biography
My research lies at the intersection of educational psychology, the learning sciences, and engineering education. Drawing on my interdisciplinary background in biomedical and mechanical engineering, as well as educational psychology, I study how learners develop, represent, and communicate their understanding of complex engineering phenomena.
My current research focuses on grounded and embodied cognition, collaborative reasoning, and multimodal representation. In particular, I examine how learners coordinate speech, gesture, and other representational resources during collaborative problem solving. My dissertation investigates these processes in undergraduate engineering laboratory settings, combining qualitative and quantitative approaches to characterize how conceptual understanding develops.
More broadly, I am interested in how representations are introduced, transformed, coordinated, and shared across individual and collaborative contexts, and how these processes contribute to conceptual understanding and transfer. My research draws from cognitive science, educational psychology, and the learning sciences to inform the design of engineering learning environments that support flexible, transferable, and conceptually grounded knowledge.
Education
Biomedical Engineering, B.S. 2016
Biomedical Engineering, M.S. 2018
Educational Psychology, M.S. 2023
Educational Psychology & Mechanical Engineering, PhD. 2027
Research Interests
Engineering Education, Embodied Cognition, Embodied Learning, Gesture, Analogical Reasoning
Publications/Presentations
Conference: Learning Sciences Graduate Student Conference (2021), Title: Educating Engineers Through Gesture: How Spontaneous Gesture Can Guide Educators
Paper: Journal of Biomechanical Engineering (2021), Title: Bi-Component T2 Mapping Correlates with Articular Cartilage Material Properties
Conference: International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (2020), Title: Correlation Between Single-Component and Bi-Component T2 Parameters and Proteoglycan Content and Mechanical Properties of Cartilage
Conference: Summer Biomechanics, Bioengineering, and Biotransport (2019), Title: Correlation Between Quantitative Magnetic Resonance and Physiological Relatable Mechanical Properties
Conference: International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (2019), Title: Comparison of Single-Component and Multi-Component T2 Parameters and Mechanical Parameters of Human Patellar Cartilage at 3.0T
Paper: Journal of Biomechanical Engineering (2020), Title: Bi-Component T2 Mapping Correlates with Articular Cartilage Material Properties
Awards
Honored Instructor-Recipient, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Innovation in Teaching-Nominee, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Early Excellence in Teaching-Nominee, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison
M.S. Student Paper Competition Finalist at Summer Biomechanics, Bioengineering, and Biotransport Conference
Fellowships
Interdisciplinary Training Program Fellow, School of Education-Wisconsin Center for Education Research