Mahnaz Moallem is a professor and chair of the Department of Educational Technology and Literacy, College of Education, Towson University, Maryland. She joined Towson University in Aug. 2018. She was a professor of Instructional Technology and Research and Grant Coordinator at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW), College of Education where she worked as a faculty member since 1993. She received her Ph.D. in Instructional Systems Design/Learning Systems and her Program Evaluation Certificate from Florida State University. As a learning science/learning design researcher, she studies applications of various learning and instructional design theories and models for learning and human performance improvement.

She has a particular interest in the application of Problem-Based/Project-Based Learning (PBL) and assessment of complex learning outcomes such as problem-solving and critical thinking for STEM fields. During her career, she has designed, developed, and successfully implemented and evaluated several programs that have been using PBL as their pedagogical framework. Mahnaz has been the recipient of several awards in scholarship, teaching, and graduate mentorship. Besides, within the last fifteen years, she has been awarded funding to coordinate several innovative projects sponsored by the National Science Foundation and Department of Education on the integration of PBL with computer modeling and simulation. She has worked with many international colleagues and serves on editorial board of a number of prestigious national and international journals. Mahnaz has been the recipient of several teaching and research awards and has served as a rotating scientist (IPA) for two years at the National Science Foundation.