Read more about Chen Li (show/hide)

Where are you from and what did you do prior to your PhD program?
I am from Inner Mongolia in China. Prior to Purdue I was a Master’s degree student at the University of Illinois Chicago studying in the Measurement, Evaluation, Statistics & Assessment (MESA) program and the Educational Studies programs.

Why did you choose Purdue and your area of concentration?
Dr. Theresa A. Thorkildsen, a professor in the College of Education at the University of Illinois (UIC), strongly recommended me to apply for the doctoral program at Purdue University. She also graduated from Purdue and received her Ph.D. in educational psychology & research methodology. I chose literacy and language education as my field of study primarily because I have been curious about how to use effective instructional strategies to teach critical thinking and develop high-levels of reading comprehension in students.

What are your areas of research interests? What led to your interest in these areas?
This is not an easy question for me. I am passionate about language and literacy education and assessment policies and practices for language minority students, second language and bilingual education for emergent bilinguals, and specific instructional techniques such as dialogic teaching and multiple text instruction. These research interests are gradually shaped by the guidance from my advisor Dr. Wayne E. Wright and Dr. Trish Morita-Mullaney, my learning experiences as an English language learner, my teaching experiences in our undergraduate and online graduate ELL licensure program, and the collaboration with Chicago public schools and Chinatown community.

What have been the highlights of your research experience so far?
For my dissertation research, I am looking at assessment policy and practices of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and how they are enacted for Chinese English language learners in Illinois. My experience of working with Chinese ELLs in Chicago Chinatown helped me realize there is a strong need for more research on them even though most policy research on ELLs in the U.S. focusses on Latinx students, who make up about 80% of ELLs nationwide. The two-year collaboration with both a bilingual program, general education teachers, and school administrators in the Chicago public schools in Chinatown helped me build the foundation for a better understanding of policy and educational decisions of policy actors and stakeholders at the state, district, and school levels.

Where do you hope to be in 5 years?
I hope to continue to serve ELL student populations in PreK -12 by training pre-service and in-service teachers and conducting research to influence education policy.

Read more about Sue Ellen (show/hide)

Where are you from and what did you do prior to your PhD program?
I live in Indianapolis and grew up in southern Indiana. Before I began my Ph.D. program, I taught an algebra review course at a university, provided child care in my home, and advised early childhood teachers in a scholarship program provided by an early childhood advocacy organization.

Why did you choose Purdue and your area of concentration?
I chose Purdue and my area of concentration because of the faculty in my program who are interested in teaching mathematics with young children.

What are your areas of research interests? What led to your interest in these areas?
Currently, my research interests fall into three areas. (1) My dissertation research is about early childhood teachers’ experiences learning and teaching mathematics. This project emerged from my work experiences teaching algebra review for students not ready for college algebra and working with early childhood teachers, both as fellow teachers and through the scholarship program. (2) With other doctoral students and faculty, I also investigate our development as mathematics teacher educators and researchers. This interest grows out of our desire to understand our work and how it fits in the field of mathematics teacher education and research. (3) Recently, I have an opportunity to work on research related to GEMS Clubs, afterschool STEM clubs for girls. This is a new project in our department, with a treasure trove of data to explore, and I am thrilled to work with this team.

What have been the highlights of your research experience so far?
So far, collaborating with colleagues to learn more about teaching and research has been the most fulfilling feature of my research experience, by providing opportunities to not only hear others’ ideas but to also make sense of my own thinking as we work through our thoughts together.

Where do you hope to be in 5 years?
In 5 years, I hope to be working full time, either in the Indianapolis area or in southern Indiana, where we own a small family farm.

What advice do you have for your fellow graduate student researchers?
TALK. Talk, and write, as much as you can about your ideas. Listen to others present their ideas and provide feedback, giving you another opportunity to talk, or write, about ideas.

Read more about Catharine (show/hide)

Where are you from and what did you do prior to your PhD program?
I am from Singapore (which is a tropical island with diverse cultures and amazing food!). Prior to my doctoral program, I was in the special education master’s program at Purdue.

Why did you choose Purdue and your area of concentration?
Purdue is known for its diverse student population, which is essential and valuable to me. I chose special education as my field of study primarily because I had been involved with children and adults with autism through non-profit organizations for a long time. However, I did not have a background in education or related sciences, so I wanted to receive formal and specialized instruction in this area to be able to serve them better.

What are your areas of research interests? What led to your interest in these areas?
My first area of interest is in developing assessments and interventions to address challenging behavior of individuals with autism and developmental disabilities in educational settings. My second research interest includes gaining a more concrete understanding of autism symptomology and utilizing this knowledge to address the learning needs of individuals with autism.

What have been the highlights of your research experience so far?
Being able to partner with local schools and communities to conduct research has been a great privilege. Knowing that I am doing relevant work to serve the needs of individuals with disabilities is what keeps me motivated. I have also enjoyed collaborating with peers and faculty within and across programs. The Purdue Autism Research Center in particular has provided me with opportunities to connect with faculty and student researchers who study autism based on completely different knowledge and perspectives. These collaborations have challenged and inspired me to expand my research in ways I have never envisioned.

Where do you hope to be in 5 years?
I hope to continue my work to serve individuals with autism and developmental disabilities and train future educators and researchers in doing the same.

What advice do you have for your fellow graduate student researchers?
Being willing to do things I felt inadequate at doing has been an important part of my learning experience. Those experiences would definitely not be your favorite, but I think they are often the most valuable.

Read more about Araba (show/hide)

Where are you from and what did you do prior to your PhD program?
I come from Ghana, a country situated in the West of the continent of Africa (we have great food, nice tourist sites and hospitable people). Prior to starting my Ph.D. program, I was a stay at home mum, homeschooling my daughter.

Why did you choose Purdue and your area of concentration?
I have always been interested in curriculum development and its role in promoting social justice in education and so curriculum studies at Purdue seemed just right because of the dedicated faculty and its well-developed resources and structure for research.

What are your areas of research interests? What led to your interest in these areas?
I am interested in research that deals with heritage language and cultural transmission (with a special focus on African immigrants), multiculturalism in education, curriculum and pedagogy, feminism (with focus on African perceptions ofthe concept) and curriculum development. My experiences as a woman and a minority in the U.S. trying to raise my children to be multilingual and multicultural informs my interests in these areas.

What have been the highlights of your research experience so far?
The highlights of my research experience so far are the opportunities I have had to attend conferences and share my work with others. The feedback and support have been tremendous. I won the Annual Graduate Students Education Research Symposium Honorary Conceptual Research Poster Presentation Award in March 2018 and I have published a book review:

Osei-Tutu, Araba A.Z. (2018). Book Review of Nobody: Casualties of America’s War on the Vulnerable from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond. Dialogues in Social Justice: An Adult Education Journal, 3(1).

Where do you hope to be in 5 years?
I would hope that I would have set up heritage language and cultural centers/programs for African immigrants in various states in the U.S., with hopes of expanding to other foreign countries with African immigrants. I would also like to setup similar programs in Ghana for first language/mother tongue re-acquisition.

What advice do you have for your fellow graduate student researchers?
This process is tough emotionally, physically and mentally, but have faith and do not give up. It will all work out right. Surround yourself with people that encourage you and you will be successful.

Read more about Mavreen (show/hide)

Where are you from and what did you do prior to your PhD program?
I am originally from the Philippines. I finished my bachelor of science in chemistry and was an assistant instructor in my undergraduate university for one year. I then worked as an assistant manager to a commercial bank in the Philippines while taking some graduate classes. Eventually, I came to the US and did my master’s of science in chemistry (analytical chemistry) at Texas A&M University. Soon after, I became a chemistry teacher at a charter school in Arizona for middle school and high school students. Working with a variety of students made me realize that knowing the science was one thing, but knowing how to make it more accessible to students who feel alienated by science was another thing. So, I decided to go back to graduate school.

Why did you choose Purdue and your area of concentration?
I chose Purdue University because it has a strong chemistry education program. I did not even know that such a field existed! But I was very intrigued with the idea ofcombining my two loves – learning how people learn and chemistry. I was definitely motivated to apply to Purdue when I read about my PI’s (Minjung Ryu) research withnon-native English speaking students and their science learning.

What are your areas of research interests? What led to your interest in these areas?
I am very interested in science education of minorities being a minority in science myself. I was very fortunate to be part of two NSF-funded projects that tackle this very issue – one on the informal science learning of resettled refugee youth and the other on the professional development of high school teachers in linguistically diverse classrooms.

My other research interests are offshoots of my exposure to qualitative research andthe methodologies I have employed in my own work. I enjoy doing work that requires paying attention to details and I feel that ethnography and video analysis especially when applied to the analysis of interactions of learners in the learning setting lends itself to that.

What have been the highlights of your research experience so far?
I am my PI’s first graduate student and we had to grow the research group from the ground up. The learning curve was quite steep, and I had to pioneer a lot of things. It required a lot of hard work, but it also gave me the freedom to explore new ways of doing research and collaborating with people. I feel like I have truly grown as a researcher and as a human being because of this experience.

I have presented in various conferences (AERA, ISLS), earned recognition for my work (NSF STEM for All Video Hall, AGSERS), contributed to the writing of an NSF proposal that was funded, co-authored journal articles (Urban Review, JRCE) and have been selected as a fellow of the Community for Advancing Discovery Researchin Education (CADRE). These accomplishments serve as markers of my growth as a researcher. However, I would say that working with minoritized youth participants who entrusted me with their stories and their trust made me rethink my views on teaching and learning. I am forever changed as a researcher and more importantly as a human being having worked with these youth.

Where do you hope to be in 5 years?
As part of Chemistry’s prelim requirement, we are asked to independently write an original proposal. My committee member challenged me to think of what I will do next after grad school. In response I wrote a 4-year research plan of how to enact a bottom-up approach to improve the science education in my hometown. I would hope to one day realize this.

I don’t necessarily see myself working in an R1 institution. Instead, I am more interested in working directly with schools towards school change. I would like to carve out a position for myself that allows me to go to a school, understand their contexts, and do sustainable research.

What advice do you have for your fellow graduate student researchers?
Time is a very expensive commodity and the unstructured time in graduate school can both be a blessing and a curse. I plan each coming week every Friday afternoon. This allows me to figure out the tasks that I need to accomplish and workout the most efficient way to do them. Planning is key to avoid wasted effort. As much as I love structure, I also love the idea of exploring new ways of doing things. Just because we have always done it a certain way does not mean we cannot do it in other and even better ways. I feel that taking classes outside my department andmeeting people from diverse fields have broadened my views in doing research. Since committee members play a key role in your growth as a researcher, I strongly recommend having a meeting with your committee members at least twice a year. You want your committee members to know you as a researcher and as a person. Update them about your progress and ask for advice on navigating your dissertation– and, the politics of graduate school.

Read more about Cong (Vivi) (show/hide)

Where are you from and what did you do prior to your PhD program?
I am from China. Before I came to Purdue, I just completed a three-year master’s degree program in educational psychology at Beijing Normal University.

Why did you choose Purdue and your area of concentration?
When I was in my master’s program, I participated in a service-learning project. Levesque-Bristol has published several papers in this area and inspired our work. Chantal Levesque-Bristol, executive director of Purdue’s Center for Instructional Excellence, is also an expert in research methodology which is another area I am interested in. I am grateful to have the opportunity to work with her.

What are your areas of research interests? What led to your interest in these areas?
Now my research focuses on students’ motivation and learning in classrooms. I havebeen utilizing the framework of self-determination theory to study the impact of teaching approaches on student learning within the context of higher education. As a second related line of research, I study the transfer of learning and how to promote the transfer of learning from the motivational perspective. My research interests are developed through my personal and research experiences. I value motivation and I feel motivation explains most of my behaviors and decisions. I hope my research on these topics can help students learn better and easier.

What have been the highlights of your research experience so far?
One highlight is a paper published in the Studies in Higher Education. This paper came from my master’s thesis. I conducted a quasi-experiment to investigate the effect of service learning on the transfer of learning. I found that service learning could promote a transfer of learning through the mediation of cognitive conflict and behavior engagement.

Wang, C., Zhang, X., & Yao, M. (2018). Enhancing Chinese college students’ transfer of learning through service learning. Studies in Higher Education, 1 -16.

Where do you hope to be in 5 years?
I am working on my dissertation. It’s about how to promote students’ self-determined type of extrinsic motivation during uninteresting but required academic activities. In five years, I hope to publish this work in a top-tier journal in Educational Psychology.

What advice do you have for your fellow graduate student researchers?
Two heads are better than one. Talk about your research with your friends and colleagues. You may get great suggestions and ideas from them. Sometimes, it will lead to collaborative opportunities.

Read more about Temitope (show/hide)

Why did you choose Purdue?
All the schools I applied to had very strong graduate programs. However, the support and opportunities available to doctoral students at Purdue stood out in comparison to the other programs I was considering. I was offered full funding and a stipend which alleviated the anxiety I would have had to face at the other institutions of how to finance my doctoral degree. Moreover, the research and professional development offerings in addition to my coursework left me confident that a doctoral degree from Purdue would prepare me to be a competitive applicant upon graduation.

Why did you choose your particular program?
The educational psychology and research methodology program aligned well with my interests in student motivation and academic persistence. Being new to the field of educational psychology I also appreciated the structure of the program requiring foundational coursework in the beginning years while still allowing for flexibility in selecting elective courses to explore specializations. Additionally, the program offers an optional master’s degree that aligns well with doctoral course requirements and encourages research productivity if pursuing the master’s thesis.

How do you juggle all of your organizations, school work and life?
To be honest, this is something I still struggle with as a third-year student! This semester is my first time not taking any classes which has proven to be yet another unanticipated challenge. Particularly, I struggled with the challenge of choosing to read or write for my research responsibilities opposed to tasks for the varied service organizations that I knew I could easily complete in one sitting. Navigating decisions such as this granted me the opportunity to reflect on how to best allocate my time. For example, as president of BSGA and Chair of the AGSERS planning committee, I set office hours, held regular meetings, and delegated tasks to limit the temptation of opting for easier tasks and to increase my time spent on my research. I’ve also built a support system to hold me accountable for my scholarly progress. At the beginning of each term, I set research goals with my advisor and share them with my close friends. Having this support system ensures I have individuals invested in my scholarly pursuits to give me those friendly nudges back on track when I need them, which happens pretty often! Lastly, I’ve taken advantage of the technological tools available to Purdue students to set daily tasks and incorporate deadlines with reminders on my calendar. This way, when my support system is off being scholars in their own right, I have a tech system to hold me accountable to my goals and deadlines.

Aside from my scholarly pursuits, I have a passion for service and mentoring, a passion I anticipated would distract me from progressing through my program. However, I’ve found that volunteering with youth in the HeadsUp Program and Young Adult Scholars Club provide a structured and very needed encouragement to remain focused in my program; by earning my doctoral degree I’m not only adding to the individuals of color with advanced degrees, I’m also encouraging and supporting future scholars of color to persist to and through college.

What is your favorite memory at Purdue so far?
Although adjusting to the social climate at Purdue and in Indiana has been difficult, I appreciate the supports I’ve grown to lean on such as the Black Graduate Student Association and the fellow mentors in the Young Adult Scholars Club (YASC). One memory that sticks out is a conversation my colleague, James Holly, Jr. was having with one of the students at YASC. The student was complaining about having to do his schoolwork and James commented about the student having no idea what work he also had to do as a graduate student. The student then replied “Yes, I do! I know exactly what you do! You help people!” James and I were struck with laughter at how ironically accurate the student’s response was. By earning a doctoral degree from Purdue in education-related disciplines, we are helping people! Whether that is in the form of supporting and challenging our fellow researchers to improve the accessibility of a quality education or in educating the next generation to be more culturally responsible learners, we are, indeed, helping people.

What are your future plans and/or goals?
I plan to take my Purdue training to secure a tenure-track position in educational psychology or higher education at a historically black university. I also plan to continue mentoring within that position by supporting or creating a program within my home college focused on early exposure to research.