Professional Bio

Louw is a Senior Research Associate and project lead at the University of Pittsburgh Center for Learning in Out-of-School Environments (UPCLOSE). Current projects include developing InformalScience.org [NSF] an online professional community and field-building web infrastructure project; City as Learning Lab: Understanding Technology Empowerment [NSF]; Robot250 and Neighborhood Networks [Intel] a related project which seeks to engage neighborhood residents around local issues using community design approaches to emerging network and robotic technologies. In 2003, Louw completed a Master's in Interaction Design from Carnegie Mellon University where she explored rhetoric, design and human-computer interaction approaches to the conceptualization, development and use of communication and new media technologies in informal learning experiences.

Louw brings 15 years of experience in creative project management, science communication and the design of informal learning experiences to projects. Her production and design experience spans a range of educational media including broadcast television, multimedia exhibits, websites, and online learning communities. As a staff producer at the WGBH Science Unit she produced several NOVA documentaries, web content and an online game. While at the Chedd-Angier Production Company she wrote, edited and directed numerous interactive multimedia projects for museums and science-technology centers. Before joining UPCLOSE, Louw worked at the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh as a project developer, grant writer and advisor for the Mr. Rogers' How People Make Things traveling exhibit.


She co-lead a CAISE Inquiry Group "Assessing the Impact of ISE Professional Online Communities" a two-day meeting focusing on how to conceptualize and evaluate successful professional online learning communities, especially those serving multidisciplinary informal science education (ISE) communities given the new ISE Evaluation Framework Guidelines.

Expertise & Interest Descriptors

digital media, technology fluency, science communication, participatory design, community engagement, interaction design, online communities, robotic and sensor technologies

Planned Conference Participation

Attending :: Museums and the Web 2009 Annual Conference
September 30, 2008

Attending :: ASTC Annual Conference 2008
October 18-21, 2008

Attending :: 2009 AAM Annual Meeting
April 30 - May 4, 2009

Attending :: Creativity and Cognition 2009
October 27-30, 2009

Attending :: Museums and the Web 2009
April 15-18, 2009

Attending :: 2009 ASTC Annual Meeting
October 31 - November 3, 2009

Attending :: Intersection Web Forum: Fostering Researcher-Practitioner Partnerships
November 16-25, 2009

Attending :: 2010 ASTC Annual Conference
December 16, 2009

Attending :: Informal Science Education Summit 2010
March 4- 5, 2010

Attending :: Museums and the Web
April 15-17, 2010

Attending :: Intersection: Bringing Informal Science Education and Learning Sciences Together
May 10-19, 2010

Attending :: AERA - Informal Learning Environments Research SIG Events
May 1- 3, 2010