Dr. Ruthann Thomas (she/her) is an Associate Director for Teaching & Learning at MIT’s Teaching + Learning Lab in Boston, Massachusetts. She specializes in research on feedback, transfer of learning, and science learning. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in 2009.

Dr. Thomas conducted research applying cognitive psychology to enhance educational practice, such as metacognition and retrieval practice. She creates resources for teachers, including a website with classroom activities, videos, and research to help students retain, organize, and integrate knowledge. As a former faculty member, Dr. Thomas taught a variety of Cognitive Psychology courses as well as team taught interdisciplinary courses. She currently teaches in a program for MIT graduate students and postdocs on evidence-based teaching techniques grounded in the scholarship of teaching and learning.

Dr. Thomas facilitates a variety of workshops for educators on inclusive and equitable teaching practices. Her work is anchored in a deep commitment to fostering inclusive and equitable learning communities and sharing teaching strategies based in the science of learning.

Recommended research publication: Thomas, R. C., & McDaniel, M. A. (2013). Testing and feedback effects on front-end control over later retrieval. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 39(2), 437.