Learning and Motivational Beliefs Lab

For the Fall 2026 application cycle, Dr. Muenks will be accepting students to the PhD program to join the LAMB lab.

Purpose

The graduate school application process is an uneven playing field. Applicants without access to strong mentorship, or without professional connections, often lack access to the “hidden curriculum” information that can be important for the success of graduate school applications. By sharing this information, I hope to help “level the playing field” across applicants to the lab.

To make sure that everyone has equitable access to information and to make sure that I prioritize my time for my current graduate students, I have a policy of not meeting with prospective students until all the applications are in (December 1 for PhD applicants). This page, however, serves to provide information about me, the lab, and some general advice that I give to anyone applying to graduate programs.

This page was adapted from similar documents/pages (see here, here).

The LAMB Lab

In the Learning and Motivational Beliefs (LAMB) lab, we focus on questions focused on student motivation at the intersection of educational, social, and developmental psychology. We study motivation at the individual student level (for example, how students’ beliefs about intelligence impact their academic motivation and performance), but we also have a strong focus on how parents, teachers, and peers can promote or hinder student motivation. Most of our work is with adolescents and young adults (undergraduate and graduate students) and we are particularly interested in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) classrooms.

Current Research Interests

Currently, we have three major lines of current research. First, we are interested in the process by which teacher beliefs impact student academic outcomes. For example, we are interested in whether and how teachers’ mindset beliefs impact their teaching practices, and how these teaching practices impact students’ motivation, sense of psychological safety, and their academic behaviors and performance. We are also interested in understanding how teachers communicate their beliefs to students—for example, via their course policies or their assessment practices—and how these practices shape student perceptions of their teachers.

In a second and related line of research, we are interested in how peers impact student motivation. Specifically, we study how peer beliefs (e.g., mindsets, field-specific ability beliefs, universality beliefs) may be perceived by and communicated to students and how these beliefs and perceptions impact students’ motivation, sense of psychological safety, and their academic behaviors and performance.

In a third line of research, we are interested in students’ own motivational beliefs and values, and how these beliefs affect their motivation and behavior in educational contexts. For example, we are interested in how students’ beliefs about difficulty, failure, and mistakes impact their challenge-seeking behaviors and how students’ motivational beliefs do or do not predict their engagement in effective, desirably difficult learning strategies. We are also interested in how students’ perceptions of cost (e.g., how effortful or emotionally draining a task is) impact their motivation and engagement.

In addition to these three major lines of research above, we also do some research on family influences on motivation (e.g., parents, siblings).

Across these three lines of research, we use a range of different methods, including surveys, experiments, intensive longitudinal methods, and mixed methods (i.e., with quantitative and qualitative data).

Taking a look through my recent publications (on this website or my Google Scholar page) will give you a very good sense of what research I do, and the types of research methodologies that you will gain experience in in my lab.

What will I be unlikely to work on in the LAMB lab?

Currently, most of our work is with undergraduate and graduate students and university faculty. Although I would love to extend this work to K-12 students and teachers, I currently do not have the infrastructure in the lab to reach these populations. I currently do not do program evaluation work or research in workplace settings. Additionally, most of the research we do in the lab is quantitative or mixed methods. If you are looking for a mentor who has deep expertise in qualitative analysis, I may not be the best fit.

Mentorship Style

I adhere to an apprenticeship model of graduate training, which involves my graduate students working closely with me (and other mentors) and learning through doing. A PhD program is about much more than taking classes; you are learning to be an independent researcher. The best way to learn is to be actively involved in research projects from day 1. Therefore, you should expect that working on research projects will be a major part of your weekly responsibilities, in addition to taking classes. 

My mentoring approach involves scaffolding your learning and skill development so that you take on increasingly difficult tasks and build confidence as you progress through the program. As every mentor has different skill sets, strengths, and weaknesses, I also highly encourage collaborative research and for you to find additional mentors within or outside of our program to also work with and learn from.

I understand that not everyone wants to become a professor after doctoral training, so I focus on preparing well-rounded researchers who would have multiple paths available to them after the PhD. Therefore, I focus on supporting my students in developing advanced quantitative skills and studies that use a variety of methodologies (e.g., survey, experimental, mixed-methods).

I would consider myself to have more of a “hands-on” versus “hands-off” approach to mentoring. However, I am open to adjusting my mentoring style to what may work best for you. I have weekly individual meetings with my doctoral students and lab meetings are held jointly with two other professors (see below).

The SLAMB Lab Meeting

There is a weekly joint lab meeting with our lab, Dr. Veronica Yan, Dr. Patricia Chen, and their students. Together, we are SLAMB: Strategic Learning and Motivational Beliefs. These meetings serve as a forum for the researchers in the joint lab to discuss their work and share ideas with each other. The meeting provides a space for researchers to receive feedback, discuss challenges, collaboratively develop solutions, and facilitate the development of research ideas. You will be expected to attend, present at, and actively participate in the SLAMB lab meetings if you join our lab.

Frequently Asked Questions (Lab- and Program-Specific)

What does a strong applicant to join your lab look like?

PhD applicants who are “good fits” tend to…

• Have research interests that align with, complement, and/or extend (in interesting ways) my current and near-future programs of research.
• Have a strong interest in pursuing a research career (whether in academia or not). If you are more interested in applied work (e.g., becoming a counselor, school or clinical psychologist, school administrator, special educator, etc.) then another program may be a better fit.
• Have prior research experience, such as working in a lab as a research assistant (RA), with multiple semesters/years preferred. Very strong candidates will also have independent research experience, including completing an undergraduate or master’s thesis, leading a research project, or having a first-authored poster, talk, paper, etc.
• Be intellectually curious, conscientious, detail-oriented, good at problem solving, and proactive.
• Be committed to developing and supporting a positive, inclusive departmental and lab culture (e.g., supporting others, mentoring younger students).

What if I don’t know exactly what I want to study?

This is a training program and we do not expect you to already be a researcher with clear plans before you begin! It is expected that your research interests will develop throughout your time in the program. However, strong applicants do tend to have research experience and have a sense for the broader research questions, topic, and/or area they are interested in.

Should I email you to express my interest in applying to your lab? Can I meet with you to discuss my application before I apply?

Although I welcome emails from prospective students, your decision to email me (or not) will have no impact on your odds of receiving an interview invitation or an offer of admission. Emails that suggest to me that you are not a good fit or that you have not carefully read the materials provided online can actually hurt your chances rather than help.

Due to time limits and equity concerns, I don’t typically meet with prospective students until I’ve reviewed applications and only if they’ve been selected for an interview. However, if you have limited resources for application preparation and fees and need to get an early indicator of whether or not I think you’re a good fit so that you can narrow the number of schools and programs you apply to, email me to let me know that’s your situation, including your resume/CV and bullet points about why you’re applying, and I’ll give you a general sense of whether or not I think you should apply.

What should I include in my personal statement?

Your personal statement should include:

• A clear statement of your general research interests and how they relate to our lab’s work
• A clear statement of why you are interested in our lab, in particular, versus other labs that study similar topics
• A statement about your career goals (even if they are approximate/might change, it is helpful to see your thinking!)
• Discussion of your independent research experience(s) and what you learned from them. In these discussions, I suggest emphasizing (1) the skills you developed from working on each project (e.g., data collection in Qualtrics; coding/running analyses and which kind of analyses; searching and reviewing literature through a particular lens; interviewing students/teachers; writing certain sections of a paper; submitting/presenting a poster; designing experiments), and (2) what your “takeaways” were from the project—e.g., new research ideas or questions your work inspired.

Do you work with both master’s and doctoral students?

Yes! Note however that there is a big difference in the application for MA versus PhD. PhD students are directly accepted with the understanding that they will work primarily with one or two PhD advisors in their lab(s). MA students are accepted to the program more broadly—some students join the MA with an idea of which professors they might want to work more closely with, they might develop more specific interests during the program and subsequently work more closely with them, or they may remain unattached to a particular faculty member throughout their program. Whereas PhD students are accepted with an understanding that they would be primarily focused on getting trained as researchers, the goal of a MA degree is much more variable.

Applicants are allowed to apply to both the master’s and the doctoral programs in the same application cycle. This is considered two separate applications, though the uploaded materials are shared between the applications. Please note that faculty are able to see every program that you apply for at UT.

How are PhD students funded in the HDCLS program?

In the HDCLS program, doctoral students are funded across the years through a combination of fellowships, teaching assistantships, and graduate research assistantships. These positions cover tuition, health insurance, and provide a stipend. A 20-hr appointment fully covers tuition (including out-of-state tuition); a 10-hr appointment will cover only half of in-state tuition. All students who want this funding have been fully funded via these mechanisms.

Can Master’s students receive funding?

Fellowships are typically only offered to doctoral students; doctoral students also receive first priority when it comes to teaching assistantships (TAs) and graduate research assistantships (GRAs). However, many of our masters students do end up seeking out and receiving TA/GRA positions. These appointments are often made on a semester-to-semester basis and are not guaranteed but can greatly reduce costs or even fully cover costs (plus a stipend).

Does your program application require the GRE?

No. We have permanently eliminated the GRE requirement.

General Tips for Applying to the PhD Program

• For programs with mentorship/apprenticeship models (where you apply to work with a specific professor, like our program), research fit is the #1 most important thing. Professors are looking for people who are interested in the type of research that they do and you should be looking for an advisor who can mentor you in the type of research that you want to do!
• To find professors with a good research fit, look at recent journal articles that you have found particularly interesting/relevant, find out who the authors are, and see what departments/programs they are in. These are the places where you should target your PhD application.
• Before applying to work with a specific professor at a specific institution, find out if they are likely to be accepting students in the next application cycle. Not everyone has room in their lab and sometimes programs limit the number of professors who are able to accept a student in each cycle. This might be information found on their websites, or this is something you could directly email a professor to ask. And also make sure that you apply to the correct program.
• If you cold-email professors, they may or may not respond. This is not an indication of anything in particular. Some, like me, have blanket policies of not meeting with applicants prior to the deadline. It’s also possible that your email got buried (we get a LOT of emails!).
• PhD degrees are funded; you should never pay out of pocket for a doctoral degree. At public state universities, however, this funding almost never means a full five-year fellowship. However, our doctoral students tend to be funded across the years through a combination of fellowships, teaching assistantships, and graduate research assistantships. These positions cover tuition, health insurance, and provide a stipend. All my doctoral students have been fully funded via these mechanisms.
• When deciding between multiple offers, make sure that you talk with former and/or current graduate students who work with the professor. Get honest perspectives about how it is to work with that professor and to be in that program. A PhD is a five-year (or longer!) commitment—you want to get a sense of what your life will be like. A culture that is supportive and collaborative will help avoid burnout. Happy people are more likely to thrive.
• Consider both Masters and doctoral programs, depending on previous training and experience (e.g., Could a masters be a stepping stone to help you clarify your interests and/or get more research experience?) as well as your future career goals (e.g., What skills and experiences do you need for your future career goals? What programs will help you get those?).
• Being rejected should NOT be taken as a sign that you will not become a successful researcher. There are many factors that go into decisions and many of those things have nothing to do with applicants’ intellectual merit or even their “fit.” For example, it could be the case that the program gives only some professors priority for accepting students (or a certain number of students) each year. Or, the professor may already have other applicants who are also interested in the line of work you expressed interest in, or are wanting to fill a spot with someone who will prioritize another line of research they want to work on.