Lab Members
Principle Investigator
Katherine “Katie” Muenks, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and the principal investigator of the Learning and Motivational Beliefs (LAMB) Lab at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research focuses on what motivates students to succeed and how teachers, parents, and peers create motivationally supportive or unsupportive environments. She is particularly interested in studying contexts in which students experience difficulty and/or failure, and has done most of her work in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). She is also interested in how to create equitable learning environments that reduce achievement and attainment gaps based on race/ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status.
Katie received her B.S. in Psychology from Ohio State University and her Ph.D. at the University of Maryland under the mentorship of Allan Wigfield and David Miele. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Mind and Identity in Context Lab at Indiana University under the mentorship of Mary C. Murphy. Her research has been published in high-impact journals including the Journal of Educational Psychology, Review of Educational Research, Science Advances, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, and Contemporary Educational Psychology, among others.
In her free time, Katie enjoys exploring Austin, listening to podcasts, doing yoga, reading, playing board games, and spending time with her husband Matt, her dog Dexter, and her three cats Sheba, Cyrus, and Penny.
Click for Dr. Muenks’ CV
Graduate Students
Yiqiu “Echo” Yan joined LAMB Lab as a Ph.D. student in Fall 2020.
Growing up in Shenzhen, China, she moved to San Diego later in high school. Then, she went across states for her undergraduate education in Indiana. She graduated from Purdue University in May 2020. During her time at Purdue, she was involved in diverse research projects, including the Arriagnew Relationships Closed Relationship Lab advised by Dr. Ximena Arriaga and Dr. Christopher Agnew in the Social Psychology department, Corpus & Repository of Writing Research, and Transculturation lab with Dr. Bradley Dilger over the College of Education. She is interested in studying the growth mindsets of students and educators, student perceptions of facing difficulties, learning strategies, and diversity & inclusion in higher education.
Beyond academic life, she is a portrait photographer. She has been in choir for 15 years (alto I & soprano II) She sometimes teaches music theory and vocal lessons for fun.
Twitter @echoooyim
He obtained his undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, majoring in Psychology and Neurobiology. During his time in Madison, he was involved in research with Harackiewicz Motivation Lab and held positions of leadership in student-tutoring focused organizations, including the Peer Learning Association and the Center for Academic Excellence. He is interested in studying the factors that lead to motivation and engagement in educational contexts and hopes to use what he learns to help inspire the students of the future.
Luke Rutten joined LAMB Lab as a Ph.D. student in Fall 2021.
Outside of academics, Luke loves playing a variety of video games, board games, and sports, as well as doing outdoor activities like hiking, kayaking, mountain biking, and rock climbing. In addition, if you have any good memes, he highly recommends you send them to him.
Maddy O’Grady joined LAMB Lab as a Ph.D. student in Fall 2022.
Maddy attended Appalachian State University, majoring in Psychology with a minor in Special Education. While at Appalachian, she worked closely with Dr. Lindsay Masland on various research projects involving both School and Educational Psychology. Along with research, she also enjoys working with other students and held a position as a peer tutor for three years. Her research interests include academic motivation in the context of making college and education a more diverse and equitable place for everyone!
Outside of the classroom, Maddy enjoys reading, listening to music, spending time with friends, and trying new restaurants.
Twitter: @madelineogrady
Julie Sievers joined the HDCLS program in Educational Psychology as a master’s student in Fall 2021.
She graduated with a B.A. in mathematics from Valparaiso University and then earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in English from UT-Austin. After teaching for several years, she moved into college faculty development, leading programs that brought educational research to instructors and curricula. She directed the Center for Teaching Excellence at St. Edward’s University (Austin, TX) and then directed the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship at Southwestern University (Georgetown, TX). In these roles, she worked closely with college instructors, helping them learn to teach in ways that were evidence-based, inclusive, and innovative.
In HDCLS, she is studying how we can make higher education work for a wider range of students, especially how instructors can create more motivationally and learning-supportive courses and classroom environments.
In addition to academics, she enjoys reading, running, biking, baking, teaching her son to play the piano, and voicing all the silly things that her very large dog, Albus, is secretly thinking.
Lab Alumni
Dr. Nate Woznicki (congratulations!) graduated in 2024 from the University of Texas at Austin and is now a postdoc at NYU
Twitter: @Woznicki_N
Undergraduate Research Assistants
Minseon “Sunny” Kim (2024)
Katia Montemayor (2022-2023)
Naveen Sadiq (2021-2022)
Franchesca de Lyra (2021-2022)
Emilie Raphael (2021)
Mireya Llanas (2020)
The Department of Educational Psychology is currently ranked 9th in the nation among public institutions by U.S. News & World Report.