Welcome to the STEM Diversity Lab at Penn State!

We represent a broad range of interests and skill sets working toward a common goal: social justice in the context of STEM education. This work includes advocacy, education, research, outreach and more. For example:

Education

We coordinate the math component of the Millennium Scholars Program. This includes an evidence-based bridge program grounded in active learning and a growth mindset.

Research

The lab’s research is currently supported by two NSF grants. Projects include documenting differential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on undergraduate STEM students by race/ethnicity, sex, and socioeconomic status; the development of a valid and reliable survey of “inclusive instructor behaviors”; and related studies, both qualitative and quantitative, on differential impacts of mathematicians’ beliefs and behaviors on women and students of color. Here’s a short video on the qualitative component of the survey-development project: https://multiplex.videohall.com/p/1943

The lab also collaborates with the Equity Pedagogy Network, Social Science Research Institute, and Center for Excellence in Science Education on equity related research projects.

Community

Building and engaging communities is a crucial component of our work. We are very active in the Math Alliance, a network of faculty and departments committed to ensuring every underrepresented student with the talent and drive to attend graduate school in the mathematical sciences actually has that opportunity.

We are also affiliated with QSIDE, and maintain memberships in the Diversity Scholars Network and Mindset Scholars Network.