Yevgeniya V. Zastavker

Professor of Physics and Education

Active

Yevgeniya V. Zastavker

Office

Milas Hall 369

Phone

781-292-2520

education

  • Ph.D., Biological Physics, MIT
  • B.S., Physics, Yale University

research

  • Student motivation
  • Teamwork in engineering design courses
  • Induction of engineering students into education and teaching careers
  • Gender and engineering
  • Design of project-based and integrated curricula

Prior to joining Olin, Dr. Zastavker was a visiting assistant professor of Physics at Wellesley College where she taught physics and performed biophysics research.

Born and raised in Kiev, Ukraine, she came to the United States in 1990 having received two years of education at the Kiev Pedagogical College and a degree from one of Kiev 's Schools of Music. She graduated from Yale University with a B.S. in physics and holds a Ph.D. in biological physics from MIT. 

Dr. Zastavker's research interests lie in the field of STEM education with specific emphasis on innovative pedagogical and curricular practices at the intersection with the issues of gender and diversity. Dr. Zastavker is currently involved in an NSF-supported project to understand students’ motivational attitudes in a variety of educational environments with the goal of improving learning opportunities for students and equipping faculty with the knowledge and skills necessary to create such opportunities. This work is integrated with Dr. Zastavker’s efforts to understand the ways in which such environments may be supported by critically reflective practices and how these environments serve to induct engineering students into educational careers.

One of the founding faculty at Olin College, Dr. Zastavker has been engaged in development and implementation of project-based experiences in fields ranging from science to engineering and design to social sciences. All of these activities share a common goal of creating curricular and pedagogical structures as well as academic cultures that facilitate students' interests, motivation, and desire to persist in engineering. Through this work, outreach, and involvement in the community, Dr. Zastavker continues to focus on the issues of women and minorities in science/engineering.