A.J.
Merlino

I lead learning product strategy and program development.

My work begins with a practical question: what is getting in the way? I work with educators, subject-matter experts, and partners to find the answer, then build the tool, program, or learning experience around it.

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Work built
for use.

From a mobile platform used by more than 300 organizations to an academic major that grew 525%, I have led work from early concept through delivery. That has meant setting direction, leading people through change, managing resources, and staying close to the people who use the work.

300+

Deployed AI learning platform

At Thinking Through AI, I led product development for a mobile AI learning platform used by more than 300 organizations. The work included shaping training pathways with partner organizations and improving how their learners used the platform.

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525%

Program growth and faculty leadership

At Albright College, I launched a music-industry major that grew enrollment by 525% in five years while leading a department of 8 full-time and 12 adjunct faculty.

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90+

Leading through change

As HACC’s Interim Chair of Communications, Humanities, and Arts, I led more than 90 faculty across five campuses and online during unionization and a presidential transition.

4,000+

Applied learning at scale

At Albright College, I led career development, experiential learning, student employment, and the 13th Street Educational Partnership—creating 4,000+ hands-on opportunities, raising positive outcomes from 84% to 91%, and reaching a 100% internship-acquisition rate within four years.

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Funding the work.

I develop proposals and budgets with partners and grants offices to support learning, workforce, and product initiatives.

  1. Grant development lead · 2025

    $399,896

    SCPa Cyber Defenders

    Led the research, budget development, and grants-office coordination for a cybersecurity apprenticeship initiative funded through a $399,896 Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry award to SCPa Works.

  2. Grant development lead · 2024

    $750K

    E-GROW workforce initiative

    Led the research, budget development, and grant-development work for this four-year USDA NIFA-funded workforce and education initiative for controlled-environment agriculture.

  3. Principal Investigator · 2025

    $614,917

    SIP Pathways to Smart Recovery

    Served as Principal Investigator for this U.S. Department of Education Strengthening Institutions Program award to Harrisburg University.

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Learning products
in use.

These portfolio reconstructions show the products and workflows I led. Live connections, proprietary data, and client branding are removed; the interactions that make the work useful remain.

Product design · AI coaching

AI-Enabled
Design Studio

Learners bring work in progress to a set of AI coaches, then use role-based feedback to revise it. I designed the coaching structure and review flow.

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AI quality review

Coach Training
ANN

Instructional designers review AI coach replies for factual accuracy, source fidelity, teaching value, and clarity. Their decisions create a record for evaluating future responses.

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Product leadership · deployed platform

Thinking
Through AI

A mobile AI learning platform used by more than 300 organizations. I led product development for training pathways and the learner experience.

Visit Thinking Through AI ↗

Prototype testing · feedback analysis

Prototype Feedback
Workbench

A master's-level course uses this system to give students a test dataset after they upload a wireframe. They look for patterns, decide what to change, and make a case for that choice.

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Product design · skills evidence

Skill EQ
Dashboard

This system reads xAPI statements from an LRS, maps them to program skills, and points learners toward the next skill to practice.

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Music
credits.

Music taught me to listen closely: notice who is in the room, understand what each person brings, and make enough room for the group to shape the result. I use the same practice in product and program work.

Stranger Heads Prevail album cover

Stranger Heads Prevail

Thank You Scientist / percussionist Listen on Spotify
Terraformer album cover

Terraformer

Thank You Scientist / percussionist Listen on Spotify
Ladies and Gentlemen, Remember Jones! album cover

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Remember Jones!

Remember Jones / percussionist Listen on Spotify
Tranquilizer album cover

Tranquilizer

Remember Jones / percussionist, writer, arranger Listen on Spotify
The Dreams That Stuff Are Made Of album cover

The Dreams That
Stuff Are Made Of

Karmic Juggernaut / percussionist Listen on Spotify
We Used to Cut the Grass #1 album cover

We Used to Cut
the Grass #1

We Used to Cut the Grass / percussionist Listen on Spotify
We Used to Cut the Grass #2 album cover

We Used to Cut
the Grass #2

We Used to Cut the Grass / percussionist Listen on Spotify
Rebels in Paris album cover

Rebels
in Paris

Vox Ama Deus Ensemble & Valentin Radu / soloist and section percussion Listen on Apple Music

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