ETS announced on Thursday that it has named Kara McWilliams to general manager of research laboratories within the organization’s Research and Development division.
The Princeton-based educational nonprofit said McWilliams will be responsible for establishing and overseeing three new research laboratories — Artificial Intelligence in Workplace Assessment; Language Learning, Teaching and Assessment Technologies; and Learning Analytics and Personalized Learning — as well as the existing research Foundry, a research group focused on short-term user-centric research and prototype development.
“Kara’s strong leadership skills and highly collaborative approach to aligning the goals of research and development to an organizational mission will be an invaluable asset to us as she joins ETS,” Joanna Gorin, vice president of research at ETS, said. “We look forward to this new chapter for R&D as we take intentional steps to reimagine the role of research in serving learners and educators around the world.”
McWilliams previously served as the vice president of learning science and impact research at Macmillan Learning. She also held roles at both Pearson and The College Board.
“I am excited to build on the decades of rigorous research at ETS and be part of the continued transformation of this work,” McWilliams said. “I look forward to leading teams that will integrate learning sciences with user needs to produce learning solutions, allowing the organization to continue to advance education and provide opportunities for all learners worldwide.”