This section offers a compilation of 16 extended abstracts summarizing research of the doctoral students who participated in the Second Learning Analytics Summer Institute (LASI 2014) held at Harvard University in July 2014. The abstracts highlight the motivation, main goals and expected contributions to the field from the ongoing learning analytics doctoral research around the globe. These works cover several major topics in learning analytics including novel methods for automated annotations, longitudinal analytic studies, networking analytics, multi-modal analytics, dashboards, and data-driven feedback and personalization. The assumed settings include the traditional classroom, online and mobile learning, blended learning, and massive open online course education models.