Golnoush (Lia) Haddadian: Committed to Personalization, Innovation and Human-Centered AI

ATLANTA — Before applying to Georgia State University, Golnoush (Lia) Haddadian (Ph.D. ’25) earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in linguistics and established an international, multidisciplinary institute focused on language education and artificial intelligence (AI) education.

But she wanted to further develop her vision for the institute and society and deepen her knowledge about creating supportive learning spaces. This led her to Georgia State’s instructional technology doctoral program, where she could further develop her expertise in these areas.

“Following my dream of supporting students, I recognized that opportunities to grow and create meaningful change in my home country were limited,” she explained. “My goal was to create an environment where students can genuinely grow and experience a higher quality of learning – one that feels supportive rather than stressful and where timely, meaningful feedback is a central part of how we help them succeed. However, I soon realized that to make a more meaningful impact, I needed to widen my horizons.”

Moving to the U.S. to pursue her Ph.D. was a tough undertaking at first. Haddadian had to adapt to a new country, a different culture and high expectations for doctoral students.

There were moments when she considered quitting and moving back home. She kept telling herself to keep going for one more week, and soon weeks turned into months.

“With each week I stayed, I discovered a small sign of progress: a clearer sentence, a successfully accomplished task, a moment of understanding I didn’t have before,” she said. “It wasn’t one breakthrough — it was hundreds of small achievements. Those moments became the foundation of something larger, a slow transformation built from confusion, diligence, persistence and a willingness to stay, even when staying felt impossible.”

In her time at Georgia State, Haddadian has contributed to three National Science Foundation-funded projects related to AI. One project focused on developing curriculum materials for a new course on Private AI. Another project centered on designing and evaluating virtual assistants and personalized learning systems for online adult education classes, and the third focused on exploring how web-based, AI-supported systems can help students from underrepresented backgrounds gain STEM knowledge.

She was also selected for the AI4Ed Summer Graduate Fellowship Symposium, where she and 14 other fellows from across the country worked on projects integrating AI into an educational or training setting. She helped design an AI-augmented platform to help speech-language pathologists treat children with language disorders.

Haddadian further developed several skills on these projects, including critical thinking, curriculum design, interdisciplinary collaboration and data-driven decision-making, among others.

“I now have the skills to manage research at the intersection of AI and learning technologies, how to frame problems, how to ask more critical questions, how to argue strongly and, most importantly, how to persist through ambiguity,” she said. “I learned that confidence is not given. It is built through small wins repeated over time.”

Haddadian’s hard work earned her the 2025 Outstanding Ph.D. Student in Learning Technologies Award. This award, given annually by the College of Education & Human Development’s Department of Learning Sciences, recognizes a student who has demonstrated potential for excellence in research, teaching and service in instructional technology.

After graduation this fall, she will begin her new role as a postdoctoral associate on an Institute of Education Sciences-funded project entitled, “Scenario-Based Assessment in the Age of Generative AI: Making Space in the Education Market for Alternative Assessment Paradigms.”

She’ll be working with colleagues at Georgia State, Educational Testing Service (ETS) and the University of Memphis to advance an AI-powered tool to help faculty members develop scenario-based assessments for their classes.

“I am deeply energized by this opportunity because this work resonates with the core of who I am as a researcher: committed to innovation, personalization, and human-centered AI at scale that uplifts rather than limits learners,” she said.

To read more about Haddadian's work, visit her professional website.