A.J.
Merlino

I lead academic programs and build AI-enabled learning products.

Sometimes a learner is stuck and cannot see what to practice next. Sometimes an educator needs better feedback on whether a course is working. I work with the people closest to those problems to decide what needs to change and build a course, tool, or system around it.

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Programs, teams,
and products.

I have led academic units, workforce initiatives, and deployed learning products. Thinking Through AI is a mobile platform used by more than 300 organizations. The other examples show the management and program work that has also defined my career.

300+

Deployed AI learning platform

At Thinking Through AI, I led product work for a mobile AI learning platform used by more than 300 organizations. I worked with partner organizations to build training pathways and improve how people used the platform.

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525%

Scaling a program

I built 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+

Managing 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+

Measuring outcomes

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 have written grants, built budgets, and worked with partners and grants offices to fund workforce programs.

  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 are reconstructions of work I led. I removed live connections, proprietary data, and client branding, but kept the workflows that show how each system handles feedback, review, or recommendations.

AI coaching and feedback

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 review flow and the coaching structure.

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AI coach evaluation

Coach Training
ANN

Instructional designers review AI coach replies against four criteria, then approve or reject them. The team uses that record to evaluate and improve future responses.

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Mobile AI learning platform

Thinking
Through AI

I led product work for a mobile AI learning platform, working with partner organizations on training pathways and the partner experience. More than 300 organizations used it.

Visit Thinking Through AI ↗

Prototype testing

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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Skills evidence and next steps

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.

Years of performing, writing, and arranging taught me to listen closely to the people in the room and what each person brings. I use that habit when I lead teams, build programs, and create learning experiences.

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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