I study how and why people take interest in a goal and persist in the face of difficulty. I’m especially interested in how identity and culture play a role in developing personal relevance for a topic. These ideas can lead to intervention methods to help, for example, first-generation college students get interested in STEM careers; motivating a sub-population of people to get health screenings; helping individuals (with low perceived competence in STEM) be successful in their STEM-related goals by motivating them to take advantage of resources available to help them. Additionally, I use conceptual metaphor theory, expectancy-value model, and identity based motivation as conceptual lenses and tools for my work.

Email: cdwashington@ku.edu