Project STAR (STEM Training And Research)
Project STAR is a 4-year research study funded by the National Science Foundation.
Our team is passionate about supporting efforts to broaden participation in STEM fields through research mentoring. Our project is geared toward understanding how students and mentors dynamically relate to each other during summer research apprenticeships.
Learn more about our team and the research below!
Project Leadership
Rachael D. Robnett, Ph.D.
Project PI
Dr. Robnett received her doctoral degree in Developmental Psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She joined the UNLV Department of Psychology in 2013. Dr. Robnett’s interdisciplinary program of research draws from developmental science, social psychology, educational psychology, and gender studies to attain a holistic understanding of social development during adolescence and emerging adulthood.
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Much of Dr. Robnett’s research focuses on identifying, understanding, and rectifying social-structural inequities in academic contexts and society more generally. Specific areas of study include gender stereotyping, critical consciousness/empowerment, academic decision-making, and romantic relationship norms. Dr. Robnett’s research is supported through grants from the National Science Foundation. She is the Director of the Women’s Research Institute of Nevada and an Associate Editor at Psychology of Women Quarterly and Sex Roles: A Journal of Research.
Gloria Wong-Padoongpatt, Ph.D.
Co-PI & Study 2 Lead
Dr. Gloria Wong-Padoongpatt (she/her) is an assistant professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The centerpiece of her research focuses on mental health issues among marginalized individuals. Dr. Wong-Padoongpatt investigates the impact, mechanisms, and individual variations in stress responses to microaggressions, an everyday form of discrimination. She also examines the ethnic and gender differences in risk factors for different types of addictions.
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More recently, she has investigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the most vulnerable communities and the anti-Asian sentiments during the pandemic. Wong-Padoongpatt’s research has been published in the Race and Social Problems, the Journal of Counseling Psychology, the Behavioral Medicine, and the Asian American Journal of Psychology, among others. Dr. Wong-Padoongpatt is currently the associate editor for the Asian American Journal of Psychology. Outside of scholarly work, Wong-Padoongpatt loves to coach hockey and advocates for womyn in professional sports.
Courtney Luedke, Ph.D.
Co-PI & Study 1 Lead
Courtney Luedke (she/her/ella) received a PhD in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an MA in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a BA in Spanish from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Courtney Luedke’s research focuses on transforming Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) students’ experiences through anti-racist practices within higher education.
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Within this broader context, her research agenda focuses on a) educational access for BIPOC students across the educational pipeline; b) challenging racist institutional and organizational practices; and c) (re)imagining validating and inclusive educational environments. She adopts critical approaches to examine these issues by challenging power structures and promoting social change. As a trained sociologist and educational researcher, she uses critical qualitative research methods to explore students’ experiences in higher education environments. Luedke is a proud mamí scholar and a #ChingonaSisterScholar. She enjoys strength training and spending time in the sun and by the water. She is an avid lover of iced coffee and lattes and can be found exploring new coffee shops.
Abby Saavedra, Ph.D.
Post-Doctoral Researcher
Dr. Abby Saavedra (she/her; also known as Jean Abigail Saavedra) is a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Department of Psychology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She uses mixed methods to research how young people learn about racism and other systems of oppression (e.g., racial-ethnic socialization and critical consciousness development) through family, community, and educational contexts.
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She also studies how these contexts and developmental processes influence mental health and contribute to antiracist social transformation via radical healing and activism. Her dissertation examined sociopolitical development experiences and mental health outcomes among Asian American college students enrolled in Ethnic Studies courses across the United States. Dr. Saavedra earned her Ph.D. from Arizona State University, her Master’s degree from California State University, Fullerton, and her Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Davis. Her scholarly praxis is rooted in her identity as a second-generation Filipina American and student and community organizing experiences with Filipinx Americans and students of color. Outside of work, Dr. Saavedra enjoys searching for new restaurants to try (she’s been a Yelp Elite for 4+ years), exploring recipe possibilities for her at-home milk tea bar, and spending time with her Boston Terrier.
Research Team
Diana Beltran (she/her/hers) is a doctoral student at UNLV in Psychological and Brain Sciences. She holds a bachelor’s degree from California State University, San Marcos and a master’s from UNLV. Her research explores the experiences of women and students of color in STEM fields, focusing on mentoring relationships and factors affecting student success and persistence.
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In her free time, she enjoys playing catch with her three German Shepherds, listening to true crime podcasts, and hiking.
Richard “Rich” Chang (he/they) is a doctoral student in the Psychological and Brain Sciences Ph.D. program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He received his B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Sociology from California State University, Fresno, and his M.A. in Psychology from California State University, Fullerton. His research focuses on marginalized individuals’ intersectional experiences, increasing social justice efforts in his communities, and reducing the negative impacts of racism toward students of color.
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During his free time, he likes to nap, watch Netflix, play tennis, and listen to crime podcasts.
Kirsten Straughan MS, RDN, CSSD is a Clinical Assistant Professor and Director of the Nutrition Science Program in the Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She earned her BS in Nutrition and completed her dietetic internship at Loyola University Chicago and her MS in Exercise Physiology from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has been a Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics since 2012 and has worked with collegiate athletes since 2010.
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As program director and instructor, she strives to create a space where students are supported and feel a sense of belonging and inclusion. Her teaching includes Nutrition through the Lifecycle and Sports Nutrition. Emphases on health disparities, particularly as related to healthy food access, disparity in breastfeeding rates and infant and maternal mortality rates is a focus in her teaching.
Kirsten has been a registered dietitian since 1998 with a background that includes five years of clinical experience at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center in Chicago and seven years of private practice nutritional counseling work. She frequently contributes to nutrition related articles for a variety of news outlets and had regular appearances in 2004-2005 on NBC Chicago’s morning news fitness segment. She co-authored a book entitled “Lean Mom, Fit Family”, published by Rodale Press in 2005 and served as the chair of the Wellness Council for District 97 in Oak Park, IL from 2010-2018. In her free time, Kirsten enjoys running, cross fit, gardening, fostering kittens and spending time with her husband and two children, Jack, and Sophie.
Shanika Wickramarachchi (she/her/hers) is a first-generation, first year Ph.D. student in the Psychological Brain Sciences (PBS) program at UNLV. Her master’s thesis project focuses on enhancing mentorship approaches for first-generation college students. Her goal is to explore support strategies that promote first-generation student academic success and personal development within higher education. She holds Honors BA degrees in Psychology and Sociology along with a minor in Social Research and Applied Statistics from the University of Nevada, Reno.
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Outside of studying and research, Shanika loves exploring national parks, collecting crystals, and spending time with loved ones.
Project Details
In an effort to broaden and diversify the STEM workforce, a variety of federally funded programs provide undergraduates with resources that enable them to conduct authentic scientific research under the guidance of faculty mentors. Although it is clear that these mentoring relationships tend to be beneficial, it is also clear that students benefit to varying degrees. Existing scholarship provides limited insight into why some students thrive under their mentor’s guidance while others struggle to gain traction. The proposed research is guided by the idea that interpersonal dynamics and sociocultural background are central to understanding why some research apprenticeships are more successful than others. The findings will provide new information about how students and their mentors dynamically influence one another and how these dynamics are shaped by important background characteristics such as cultural values and personality traits that students and their mentors bring into the relationship. This information can be used to optimize commonplace mentoring programs that seek to help students from marginalized backgrounds make inroads into STEM fields.
The proposed research advances the research mentoring literature by delving into an underexplored dimension of STEM research apprenticeships. Namely, the project will illuminate the interpersonal context of STEM research apprenticeships by examining how interpersonal dynamics and sociocultural fit relate to students’ academic outcomes at the conclusion of the apprenticeship. The proposed research leverages best practices in qualitative and quantitative research in a mixed-methods approach to address the following aims: (1) Explore how students and research mentors reason about the relational features of research apprenticeships; (2) Examine longitudinal associations among sociocultural fit within the mentoring dyad, culturally responsive mentoring, and students’ academic outcomes; (3) Identify the ways in which students and their mentors dynamically relate to one another over the course of the apprenticeship and explore pivotal moments that alter the course of the relationship. These aims will be addressed across three studies that focus on students and research mentors who are involved in STEM research apprenticeships. The research will be carried out in partnership with pre-existing summer research programs at colleges and universities that serve students from a range of sociodemographic backgrounds. By centering the interpersonal context of mentoring relationships, this project will provide new insight into the dynamic interplay between students and their mentors as well as “secret ingredients” that distinguish between apprenticeships that are more versus less effective. In addition, the project’s use of the community cultural wealth framework distinguishes it from deficit models that have often characterized work focusing on students from marginalized backgrounds. Given the project’s interdisciplinary nature, findings will be well positioned to make contributions in a range of fields that include psychology, STEM education, and higher education.