Sharin Rawhiya Jacob, Researcher in Computational Thinking Pathways, Digital Promise Global
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Dr. Sharin Rawhiya Jacob is a senior-level Educational Researcher at Digital Promise, specializing in the design, implementation, and scaling of advanced educational technologies across computational thinking, artificial intelligence, data science, and quantum computing. To sustain the momentum of her high-impact work, she has architected a robust $7.45M future funding pipeline across competitive federal programs and private philanthropies like the Siegel Family Endowment. Driven by an asset-based and culturally sustaining philosophy, she ensures that these emerging fields provide equitable learning opportunities for students from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Demonstrating exceptional leadership in revenue generation, Dr. Jacob has secured over $1.3M in federal funding in less than two years as a Co-Principal Investigator. Her active awards include a $1,000,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant (2025) for "From Pathways to Progressions: Empowering Districts to Equip K-12 Computational Thinkers with Data Science and Machine Learning Foundations." She also co-leads a $300,000 NSF award (2026–2027) titled "Districts Helping Districts: Expanding & Amplifying Network Support for K-12 AI Integration," establishing national district networks to scale these critical competencies. Beyond her active grants, she manages a dynamic portfolio of 9+ projects and has established Digital Promise as a pioneering contributor to quantum computing education. By building robust university and district partnerships, she is charting new territory in the field—leading an NSF CAREER proposal on teacher quantum readiness, co-developing an ITEST proposal with the University of Chicago, and serving as the collaborative lead to build regional quantum hubs across Pennsylvania. As a proven cross-organizational leader, Dr. Jacob drives national collaborations to advance systemic educational change. She spearheads the Districts Helping Districts AI Cohort, utilizing design-based and mixed-methods research to guide K-12 AI integration across school systems. This work directly informs the co-design of scalable frameworks for AI integration. With her research surpassing 1,000 citations, Dr. Jacob maintains a highly visible record of scholarship. Bringing over 15 years of expertise, she continues to leverage her extensive publication record and national networks to shape research, policy, and practice at the intersection of emerging technology and educational equity. |
New and Developing Projects
Awarded work: (total awarded: $1,300,000)
2025-2025, Sharin Jacob (Co-PI), National Science Foundation, $1,000,000, From Pathways to Progressions: Empowering Districts to Equip K-12 Computational Thinkers with Data Science and Machine Learning Foundations
2026-2027, Sharin Jacob (Co-PI), National Science Foundation, $300,000, Districts Helping Districts: Expanding & Amplifying Network Support for K-12 AI Integration
Submitted Work (total pending; $50,000)
2027-2030, Sharin Jacob (PI), William T Grant Foundation (Subaward), $50,000, Putting Studies Into Networked Context: A Systematic Approach to Understanding Programs, Practices, and Policies for Multilingual Learner (ML) Students in California
Proposals in Development (total amount for proposals in development; $7,450,000)
2027-2031, Sharin Jacob (PI), NSF ITEST, $2,000,000, Q-HUBS: A Networked Regional Approach to Youth Quantum Literacy Through Collaborative Game Design, Developing an NSF proposal as collaborative lead with Pitt for cross-district quantum computing hubs to run quantum summer Institutes and after school clubs.
2027-2031, Sharin Jacob (co-PI), NSF ITEST, $2,000,000, Quantum Futures: Integrating Quantum Computing into K-12 Classrooms for All Learners, Developing NSF proposal as subaward with University of Chicago to work with teachers to develop quantum computing PD and resource implementation.
2027-2031, Sharin Jacob (co-PI), NSF ITEST, $2,000,000, Building Middle School Teacher Capacity in Quantum Education. Developing an NSF proposal around middle school quantum education through teacher PD, curriculum co-design, and cross-district classroom integration.
2026-2031, Sharin Jacob, (PI) NSF CAREER, $500,000, CAREER: A National Study of District and Teacher Readiness for Quantum Computing Education. Developing NSF Proposal as DP lead focusing on district and teacher readiness and capacity for quantum computing education (systems-level analysis).
2027-2031, Sharin Jacob (co-PI), NSF STEM K-12, $750,000, AI-in-the-Loop. Developing NSF proposal for an AI-supported computational storytelling platform and curriculum tool ecosystem for integrating literacy, computational thinking, and data science in elementary education.
2027–2029, Sharin Jacob (co-PI), Siegel Family Endowment (Conference Funding), ~$200,000, K-12 Data Science Progressions: National Convening on District Readiness and Implementation Capacity. Developing a potential national convening emerging from the Pathways to Progressions initiative to bring districts together to examine the factors contributing to data science readiness, systems capacity, and equitable implementation of K–12 data science pathways.
2025-2025, Sharin Jacob (Co-PI), National Science Foundation, $1,000,000, From Pathways to Progressions: Empowering Districts to Equip K-12 Computational Thinkers with Data Science and Machine Learning Foundations
2026-2027, Sharin Jacob (Co-PI), National Science Foundation, $300,000, Districts Helping Districts: Expanding & Amplifying Network Support for K-12 AI Integration
Submitted Work (total pending; $50,000)
2027-2030, Sharin Jacob (PI), William T Grant Foundation (Subaward), $50,000, Putting Studies Into Networked Context: A Systematic Approach to Understanding Programs, Practices, and Policies for Multilingual Learner (ML) Students in California
Proposals in Development (total amount for proposals in development; $7,450,000)
2027-2031, Sharin Jacob (PI), NSF ITEST, $2,000,000, Q-HUBS: A Networked Regional Approach to Youth Quantum Literacy Through Collaborative Game Design, Developing an NSF proposal as collaborative lead with Pitt for cross-district quantum computing hubs to run quantum summer Institutes and after school clubs.
2027-2031, Sharin Jacob (co-PI), NSF ITEST, $2,000,000, Quantum Futures: Integrating Quantum Computing into K-12 Classrooms for All Learners, Developing NSF proposal as subaward with University of Chicago to work with teachers to develop quantum computing PD and resource implementation.
2027-2031, Sharin Jacob (co-PI), NSF ITEST, $2,000,000, Building Middle School Teacher Capacity in Quantum Education. Developing an NSF proposal around middle school quantum education through teacher PD, curriculum co-design, and cross-district classroom integration.
2026-2031, Sharin Jacob, (PI) NSF CAREER, $500,000, CAREER: A National Study of District and Teacher Readiness for Quantum Computing Education. Developing NSF Proposal as DP lead focusing on district and teacher readiness and capacity for quantum computing education (systems-level analysis).
2027-2031, Sharin Jacob (co-PI), NSF STEM K-12, $750,000, AI-in-the-Loop. Developing NSF proposal for an AI-supported computational storytelling platform and curriculum tool ecosystem for integrating literacy, computational thinking, and data science in elementary education.
2027–2029, Sharin Jacob (co-PI), Siegel Family Endowment (Conference Funding), ~$200,000, K-12 Data Science Progressions: National Convening on District Readiness and Implementation Capacity. Developing a potential national convening emerging from the Pathways to Progressions initiative to bring districts together to examine the factors contributing to data science readiness, systems capacity, and equitable implementation of K–12 data science pathways.
New Publications!
Jacob, S., & Burke, Q. (2026). Coding Foundations, AI Futures: How Districts Built K-12 AI Capacity Through Collaborative Peer Networks. In Proceedings of the 2026 International Conference on the Learning Sciences (ISLS).
Coenraad, M., Jacob, S., Ahn, W., & Schwarz, C. (2026). What is CT Integration and Why does it Matter?: Educator and Researcher Perspectives. In Proceedings of the 2026 International Conference on the Learning Sciences (ISLS).
Dunbar, K., Burke, Q., Coenraad, M., Mills, K., Rangel, S., & Jacob, S. (2026). Getting support and gaining clarity: Computational thinking pathways communities of practice. In Proceedings of the 2026 International Conference on the Learning Sciences (ISLS).
Jacob, S., Miceli, H., & Schneider, H. (2026, May). Landscape of emerging technologies in higher education: A review. Digital Promise & The American Association of Colleges & Universities. https://doi.org/10.51388/20.500.12265/293
Jacob, S., Montoya, J., Prado, Y., Coenraad, M., Burke, Q., & Warschauer, M. (2025). Designing for All: Computational thinking meets Universal Design for Learning for multilingual students. Proceedings of the 2025 Research on Equity and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT). Newark, NJ
Jacob, S., & Burke, Q. (2025). Leveraging Generative AI for Translanguaging Support in Computational Thinking Education: A Work in Progress. Leveraging Generative AI for Translanguaging Support in Computational Thinking Education: A Work in Progress (Conference Paper). Proceedings of the Considering Cultural and Linguistic Diversity in AI Applications Workshop (CALD-AI workshop). Irvine, CA.
Fuhrmann, T., Rabinowitz, G., Peel, A., Jacob, S., Burke, Q., Krakowski, A., Greenwald, E., Gupta, P., Chaffee, R., Anderson, E., Perret, B., Malyn-Smith, J., Peterson, K., Chen, J., Wilensky, U., Wendel, D., Han, A., Wagh, A., Blikstein, P., Wilkerson, M., Moore, K., Zhang, H., Weckel, M., Shah, S. A., Park, J. H., Ali, S., Perez, A., Grover, S., & Lee, I. (2025). Computational thinking without writing code: What’s next for computational modeling? In Proceedings of the 2025 International Conference on the Learning Sciences (ISLS), Helsinki, FI.
Coenraad, M., Jacob, S., Ahn, W., & Schwarz, C. (2026). What is CT Integration and Why does it Matter?: Educator and Researcher Perspectives. In Proceedings of the 2026 International Conference on the Learning Sciences (ISLS).
Dunbar, K., Burke, Q., Coenraad, M., Mills, K., Rangel, S., & Jacob, S. (2026). Getting support and gaining clarity: Computational thinking pathways communities of practice. In Proceedings of the 2026 International Conference on the Learning Sciences (ISLS).
Jacob, S., Miceli, H., & Schneider, H. (2026, May). Landscape of emerging technologies in higher education: A review. Digital Promise & The American Association of Colleges & Universities. https://doi.org/10.51388/20.500.12265/293
Jacob, S., Montoya, J., Prado, Y., Coenraad, M., Burke, Q., & Warschauer, M. (2025). Designing for All: Computational thinking meets Universal Design for Learning for multilingual students. Proceedings of the 2025 Research on Equity and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT). Newark, NJ
Jacob, S., & Burke, Q. (2025). Leveraging Generative AI for Translanguaging Support in Computational Thinking Education: A Work in Progress. Leveraging Generative AI for Translanguaging Support in Computational Thinking Education: A Work in Progress (Conference Paper). Proceedings of the Considering Cultural and Linguistic Diversity in AI Applications Workshop (CALD-AI workshop). Irvine, CA.
Fuhrmann, T., Rabinowitz, G., Peel, A., Jacob, S., Burke, Q., Krakowski, A., Greenwald, E., Gupta, P., Chaffee, R., Anderson, E., Perret, B., Malyn-Smith, J., Peterson, K., Chen, J., Wilensky, U., Wendel, D., Han, A., Wagh, A., Blikstein, P., Wilkerson, M., Moore, K., Zhang, H., Weckel, M., Shah, S. A., Park, J. H., Ali, S., Perez, A., Grover, S., & Lee, I. (2025). Computational thinking without writing code: What’s next for computational modeling? In Proceedings of the 2025 International Conference on the Learning Sciences (ISLS), Helsinki, FI.