Cindy E. Hmelo-Silver is a Professor of Learning Sciences and the director of the Center for Research on Learning and Technology at the Indiana University School of Education after spending 15 years as a professor at Rutgers University. She received her PhD from Vanderbilt University and served postdoctoral fellowships at Georgia Institute of Technology and the Learning Research and Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research interests focus on how people learn about complex phenomena and how technology can help support that learning. As part of this work, she studies problem-based learning, collaborative knowledge construction, and computer supported collaborative learning.She is past editor of the Journal of the Learning Sciences and serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning. She has edited several books and has published widely in the areas of problem-based learning, technology and the learning sciences. Dr. Hmelo-Silver is also past president of the International Society for Learning Sciences