Amanda Baker, Ph.D.

Amanda Baker, Ph.D.

Associate Director for Research and Evaluation

Amanda Baker joined the Teaching + Learning Lab in 2021.

She works with faculty and staff across campus to conduct research and evaluation projects with the aim of understanding and improving the student experience at MIT. As a learning scientist, her research focuses on the social and psychological factors that contribute to college students’ motivation and patterns of (dis)engagement in high-impact learning environments. She conducts research and assessment using an equity lens, examining the ways in which learning contexts facilitate or hinder the engagement of students with diverse identities and backgrounds. Her research has been published in Contemporary Educational Psychology, the Journal of Educational Psychology, and the Journal of College Student Development.

Prior to working at MIT, Amanda was an Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology and the Learning Sciences at Iowa State University. There, she taught introductory educational psychology within the undergraduate teacher preparation program, as well as graduate-level courses on learning theories, program evaluation and assessment, and college teaching methods. She also worked as a research associate in the Center for the Study of Student Life (CSSL) at the Ohio State University, where she managed a range of campus-wide and multi-institutional surveys as well as partnering with departments across the Office of Student Life to conduct program assessments aimed at improving the student experience. Amanda received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from the Ohio State University.