Get To Know Us
How We Started
LASSO was launched as an NSF-funded tool in 2015 through University of Colorado Boulder under the guidance of Dr. Otero as a service of to the Learning Assistant Alliance. While LASSO was originally designed to document the impact of Learning Assistants nationally and internationally, the platform was quickly opened up to all STEM instructors. In 2023, LASSO v2.0 was launched through Iowa State University.
The Team
Dr. Jayson Nissen
Research scholar and owner of Nissen Education Research and Design
I founded Nissen Education Research and Design LLC to pursue doing science as a discipline-based education researcher wherever my wife’s career takes her. I also love to teach and have taught at the University of Maine as a graduate student and at Oregon State University. At both universities, I have worked with learning assistants and had the fortune to serve on the leadership council for the Learning Assistant Alliance. My research often looks at the efficacy and impacts of the LA model nationally. This work uses quantitative methods and a QuantCrit framework to investigate racism, sexism, and classism in college science classrooms through the analyses of large datasets.
Dr. Ben Van Dusen
LASSO director - Associate professor at Iowa State University's School of Education
I am an associate professor of education at Iowa State University, where I study diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM learning environments. My expertise are in assessment, quantitative critical (QuantCrit) methods, and physics education research. When not at work, I can often be found playing outside with my kids or on a disc golf course.