Lab Members

Principal Investigator

Katherine “Katie” Muenks, Ph.D., is an associate professor and the Louise Spence Griffeth Fellow for Excellence 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. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Indiana University. She has published over 40 peer-reviewed articles in 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 2022, she won the Early Career Award from the American Educational Research Association’s Division C: Learning and Instruction.

In her free time, Katie enjoys exploring Austin, listening to podcasts, reading thrillers and mysteries, playing board games, and spending time with her husband Matt, her daughter Vivian, and her three cats Sheba, Cyrus, and Penny.

Current Graduate Students

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.

Former Graduate Students

Former 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)