Candace Thille

Dr. Candace Thille is Amazon’s Director of Learning Science, working with the company’s Global Learning and Development team to scale and innovate workplace learning at Amazon. 

Previously, she was the founding director of the Open Learning Initiative (OLI) at Carnegie Mellon University and at Stanford University.  At Stanford University, she was an Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Education, faculty in the Neurosciences Interdepartmental Program, and a Research Fellow in the Office of the Vice Provost for Online Learning. Her focus is in applying the results from research in the science of learning to the design and evaluation of technology mediated learning environments and in using those environments to conduct research at the intersection of human learning and machine learning.  Dr. Thille currently serves on the board of Trustees for the Educational Testing Service and on California Education Learning Lab in the Governor’s office of planning and research.  She has served on the board of directors of the Association of American Colleges and Universities; as a fellow of the International Society for Design and Development in Education; on the Assessment 2020 Task Force of the American Board of Internal Medicine; on the advisory council for the Association of American Universities STEM initiative; and on the advisory council for the National Science Foundation Directorate for Education and Human Resources.  She served on the working group of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) that produced the Engage to Excel report and on the U.S. Department of Education working groups, co-authoring the 2010 and 2015 National Education Technology Plans.