UNC Greensboro’s Educational Research Methodology (ERM) PhD candidate Saed Qunbar wins the inaugural Association of Test Publishers (ATP) Graduate Student Research Award

Congratulations to Saed Qunbar, a PhD candidate in UNC Greensboro’s Educational Research Methodology (ERM) Department, and the 2019 recipient of the inaugural Association of Test Publishers (ATP) Graduate Student Research Award for his project titled “Building Personalized High-stakes Assessments with Recommender Systems.” As part of his graduate assistantship Saed is the Psychometrics Intern at the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP). Saed completed the project under the supervision of ABP Senior Psychometrician and UNC Greensboro ERM alumnus Dr. Robert Furter. Recommender systems make up a branch of machine learning that seeks to predict user preferences. Saed’s project applies recommender system technology to an ongoing, mobile delivery, high-stakes assessment administered by the American Board of Pediatrics. The recommender system aids the assessment in selecting questions that are specifically relevant to individual pediatricians who use the assessment as a learning tool and to maintain their ABP General Pediatrics Certification. As part of the award Saed has been invited to attend ATP’s annual conference and present the results of the recommender system project. Learn more about the project at http://www.innovationsintesting.org/scholarship.aspx and connect with Saed at https://www.linkedin.com/in/saedqunbar/