Supervisor

Erika A. Patall, PhD

 Originally from Rochester, New York, Erika received her doctorate in Social Psychology from Duke University and became an Associate Professor in Education at University of Southern California in January 2017. Broadly, she is interested in the interface between social psychological theory and education. The topics Erika has studied include the role of choice and autonomy in motivation, the role of motivation-based factors in achievement outcomes, how the activities of children outside of school influence their academic achievement, and the development and use of meta-analytic methods in social science research. In her free time, she enjoys hanging out with her husband and daughter and going to concerts and art exhibits.

Curriculum Vitae | Email Dr. Erika A. Patall

Graduate Students

Diane Lee

Diane is a PhD student in the Education Psychology concentration of the Urban Education Policy program. Before coming to USC, Diane worked as the Director of Education at the Turner Foundation — a nonprofit, after-school program in Santa Barbara, CA. She earned her Master’s in Developmental Psychology from UC Santa Barbara, where she conducted research on the social-emotional development of infants and young children. Before Santa Barbara, Diane conducted research on college student experiences at the University of California, Irvine. Diane’s current interests include teacher-student relationships and the classroom environment and how these factors support students’ motivation, academic identity development, and well-being.

Curriculum Vitae | Email Diane Lee

Amanda Vite

Amanda Vite is a PhD student in the Urban Education Policy program with a concentration in educational psychology at the University of Southern California. Amanda received her Master of Education degree in educational psychology from the University of Virginia and her Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park, with a minor in human development and quantitative methodology. Amanda is interested in researching teaching practices that support students’ motivation and academic identity development.

Curriculum Vitae | Email Amanda Vite

Yanyan Zong

Curriculum Vitae | Email Yanyan Zong

MERG Alumni & Associated Individuals

  • Jeanette Zambrano, PhD | Assistant Professor, California State University San Bernardino
  • Nicole Yates, PhD | Consultant, Keen Independent Research
  • Alana Kennedy, PhD | Assistant Professor, Northern Arizona University
  • Carlton Fong, PhD | Associate Professor, Texas State University
  • Eunjin Seo, PhD | Assistant Professor, Texas State University
  • Neil Jacobson, PhD | Senior UX Researcher, Lumen Technologies
  • Sarah Daniel, PhD | Associate Professor, Shenandoah University
  • Breana Sylvester-Dacy, PhD
  • Sara J. Jones, PhD | Evaluation Officer, University of Houston
  • Cheon-woo Han, PhD | Assistant Professor, Keimyung University
  • Christina Cestone, PhD | Executive Director, Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning, University of Maryland, Baltimore
  • Robin Zuniga, PhD | Program evaluation, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges
  • Bridget Lee, PhD | Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh
  • Shengie Lin, PhD | Postdoctoral Researcher, Yale University
  • Derek Hanson
  • Eboneigh Harris
  • Danika Maddox
  • Jennifer Freeman
  • Lisa Pine, MA
  • Scott Trimble, MA
  • Lauren Wilson, MA
  • Jennifer Kay Leach, PhD | Director of Advising and Retention, Southwestern University
  • Ariana C. Vasquez, PhD | Senior Associate, Arroyo Research Services
  • Rebecca Steingut, PhD | Researcher, American Institutes of Research
  • Nayantara Kurpad, MA
  • David Osman, PhD | Director of Research and Evaluation at Round Rock ISD
  • Sophia Yang Hooper, PhD| Associate Data Scientist at Anaconda Inc.

 

Undergraduate Research Assistants

Present Ysenia Conde, Rachel Kim, Candace Lee, Isa Lostaglio, Victor Perez, Paige Raskin, Lara Wellis, Ziyao Yang, Huiwen Jia, Hae Won Hong

Past Priya Kumar, Alyssa Aldape, Crystal Aguilera, Carrie Watson, Camrynn Dobos-Bubno, Victoria Nava, Sean McNamara, James Thomas, Scott Trimble, Jude Cheung, Suzy Han, Nick Zhang, Andrew Corrigan, Kebron Daniel, Emily Chan, Maddie Wright, Caroline Little, Priya Thomas, Nancy Wheless, Priyanka Thomas, Stephanie Marrett, Susie Park, Josh Gu, Veronica Yvette Martinez, Wei-Lin Tsai, Zohra Goka, Ira Gupta, Nikhita Khanderia, Kevin Deluca, Astrid Villalpando, Victoria Haring, Peyton Perez, Stephanie Shin, Brettny John, Alexander Powell, Leila Nasr, John Ledesma, Jeff Stroup, Min Hyung Lee, Amanda Hildebrand, David Rubio, Jacqueline Vorlop, Misty Walmsley, Courtney McKeever, Gabby McDaniel, Alma Rosado, Mahroosa Haideri, Molly Marek, Thoa Pham, Woojeong Kim, Denisse Carrasco, Anjali Kumar, Rose Aristakessian, Sherry Wei, Jennifer Sung, So Dam Park, Danielle Kunzman, Eva Wang, Noor Alwadi, Sarah Taketa, Jiwon Shin, Meri Isayan, Xu Lui, Tam Hoang, Ya Gao, Nicholas Birago, Tara Baudry, Aiko Jones