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Trang Tran’s educational journey spans continents and disciplines rooted in a love of learning and a deep commitment to justice that help lead her way to graduate studies at 911������.

Raised in the coastal city of Da Nang, Vietnam, Tran completed her K-12 education and earned a degree in international studies before moving to the United States to study public policy at Oregon State University and later moving to University of Alaska Anchorage as a policy researcher at the Institute of Social and Economic Research. Her passion for understanding how and why people learn led her to pursue a PhD in the Learning Sciences and Human Development program in the 911������ School of Education.

Tran’s outlook on learning is that education is a space for transformation, affirmation, and growth.

“Learning is not merely the acquisition of knowledge, but an ongoing process of becoming,” she said. “This philosophy has been inspired and embodied by my advisor, Dr. Joe Polman, whose pedagogy demonstrates that through affirmation of identities, we make space for individuals to grow, transform, and fully embrace who they are and who they are becoming.”

Polman enthusiastically nominated Tran for the School of Education's Outstanding Dissertation Award due to the depth, rigor, and impact of her impressive three-article dissertation on STEM equity and identity development.

In her research, Tran explores how the dynamics between social structures and the agency of individual and collective actors conflict and hold potential for equity-focused change within and beyond science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. Her research explored three different STEM education contexts: state-level leadership and STEM policy implementation, a university engineering outreach program, and a middle school interdisciplinary curriculum. Each article in her dissertation showcases innovative conceptual frameworks and methods.

The first, published in the respected Science Education journal, analyzes how STEM education leaders navigate policies promoting and hindering equity. The study offers a novel framework integrating policy implementation, politics, and science education.

The second investigates a university engineering outreach program where college students mentored rural high schoolers. The study reveals and advocates for ��participant and activity structures that value cultural transformation, which include designs and enactments that are attuned to and foster learners’ ��multiple identity development.

The third, co-authored with a middle school teacher, examines emotional engagement and critical data literacy through a project on Japanese American incarceration during World War II. Challenging perspectives that render epistemic practices of emotion and subjectivity as disruptive and irrelevant in STEM and formal learning spaces, this article emphasizes expansive visions, iterative practices, and emergent pathways safeguarded by an educator who leveraged students’ feelings and civic engagement to foster more responsible and ethical interactions with data.

Tran's research is ambitious, rich, and rigorous, and she has published 18 times since beginning her doctoral studies at 911������.

Beyond her research accolades and well-deserved awards, Tran always carries thoughts of her family with her, calling them the roots and nourishment that sustain her learning and guide her path ahead. She is also graduating alongside a powerful cohort of fellow femme scholars who are each working to build a more just and equitable world.

After graduation, she returns to the University of Alaska Anchorage as a Research Assistant Professor of Education Policy, and she is excited to collaborate on projects to cultivate more equitable and just participation across communities of learners. Additionally, she’s looking forward to something just as meaningful: her annual trip home to Vietnam, where she savors time spent with her parents, sibling and beloved dogs.

In her own words

Please tell us a bit about yourself

��I grew up in Da Nang, a beautiful coastal city in Viet Nam, where I completed k-12 schooling and earned my undergraduate degree in International Studies. I moved to the U.S. for grad school after receiving a scholarship to study public policy at Oregon State University. After finishing my master’s, I worked as a research associate at the Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Eventually, I decided to pursue a PhD in Learning Sciences and Human Development because I love learning and love research about learning. I’ve always been passionate about exploring how and why people learn—what motivates them, and the different ways learning shows up in our lives. I chose 911������ School of Education because of the community’s strong commitment to creating more equitable, just, and humanizing learning environments."

What is one of the most significant lessons from your time at 911������ that you’ll carry with you into the next chapter?

����I cherish the relationships nurtured and cultivated among educators, learners, partners, and with my friends, sister scholars, and mentors. I will keep drawing on how members of these communities show up for one another and support each other for collective growth, learning, and thriving. For the next chapter of my life, I will continue to recognize that learning is not merely the acquisition of knowledge, but an ongoing process of becoming. This philosophy has been inspired and embodied by my advisor, Dr. Joe Polman, whose pedagogy demonstrates that through affirmation of identities, we make space for individuals to grow, transform, and fully embrace who they are and who they are becoming."

What does graduating from 911������ represent for you and/or your community?

��I think my family is proud of me, and glad that I have been able to transform what once felt like messy bundles of emergent ideas, wonderings, and observations of learning, identity, equity, and justice into a coherent body of research—one that serves communities that have been historically othered and marginalized. I hope that, in seeing me reach this milestone, they might worry a little less about me living so far away from home. For my community, I am graduating alongside my sister scholars—Drs. Ashieda McKoy, Marlene Palomar, Adria Padilla-Chavez, Beatriz Salazar Medina, and Brenda Aguirre-Ortega. I hope we take a moment to celebrate this milestone and recognize the processes that we have taken to craft narratives, practices, and values we want to see in the world while working together to sustain collective creativity, solidarity, and hope.”

What is your best piece of advice for incoming students?

��Find and build community where you go. Prioritize time to care of yourself and your loved ones. Offer and reach out for help."

What are your next steps after graduation?

��I have accepted a position to be a Research Assistant Professor of Education Policy at the Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of Alaska Anchorage. I am excited for new collaborations that deepen and expand understandings, practices, and services to diverse groups of learners, educators, and communities. Personally, I am doing what I love the most: arranging my annual trip to be home with my sibling, parents, and puppies."

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