Michigan State University has been working to advance the common good in uncommon ways for more than 150 years. One of the top research universities in the world, MSU focuses its vast resources on creating solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges, while providing life-changing opportunities to a diverse and inclusive academic community through more than 200 programs of study in 17 degree-granting colleges.

Michigan State University

New Row

Contact expert @[Full Name](fullname), @[Job Title](job_title) at @[Organization](organization) for media, speaking, professional opportunities and more.

@[Full Name](fullname) at @[Organization](organization) | Contact Form

Expert Inquiry

Open Sans

Michigan Distinguished Professor of the Year

Michigan State University Spirit of Ability Award

Michigan State University Teacher-Scholar Award

National Association of Research in Science Teaching 

International Society of the Learning Sciences 

American Association of Physics Teachers 

American Physical Society 

Narrative Analysis of a Woman’s Experience Transferring from a TYC Reveals Impact of Supporting Characters

Gender & Self-Efficacy: A Call to Physics Educators

Productive faculty resources activated by curricular materials: An example of epistemological beliefs in University Modeling Instruction

Vashti Sawtelle is a physics education researcher who studies how learning environments support (or inhibit) students from diverse backgrounds in their learning physics. Co-director of the Physics Education Research Lab at MSU, she focuses her work on supporting community college transfer students to transition to the university, and understanding the role classroom environments have to play in creating supportive learning environments for all students. From the social context, her interests include understanding how students develop self-efficacy to do science, how that contributes to the development of science identities, and how those identities are related to issues of equity in the science community. She is particularly interested in supporting students who transition from two-year colleges to four-year universities to complete a bachelor's degree. In Lyman Briggs she teaches the introductory physics course which builds on her research in creating inclusive learning communities for students who are not necessarily physics majors.

Physics Education

Higher Educaiton

Michigan State University Profile

Google Scholar Citations

Faculty voice: Two selves

Transfer Student’s Narrative of Groupwork Characterized by Research Methods Course

Coding Students’ Statements of Science Degree and Transfer Self-Efficacy

An Investigation of Degree Pathways for Students of Color with Transfer Credits.

Associate Professor of Physics Education

ADS Video Revised

Select Inquiry Type