Dustin Thoman
California Research Director
Dustin Thoman, Ph.D., is the California Research Director at the Motivate Lab and an Associate Professor of Psychology and member of the Center for Research in Mathematics and Science Education at San Diego State University. His research focuses on how and why people develop interest and sustain motivation for specific academic domains, careers, and other lifelong pursuits. He studies how motivation can be supported or disrupted by the social and cultural contexts in which interests are sparked, developed, and ultimately integrated (or not) with one’s identity. Grounded in this social-contextual framework of motivation, his recent work primarily addresses aims for equity and inclusion in education, and particularly broadening of participation in STEM education. Through a wide range of research, consulting, and program development efforts, he utilizes insights from motivation science to identify and remove institutional and social-contextual barriers that impede the development of educational and career interests for students from stigmatized and historically underrepresented backgrounds. He earned his Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Utah in 2008 and B.S. in Psychology from Middle Tennessee State University in 2002.