NSF iPRF Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Busch joined the lab in 2024 after completing her PhD in Biology Education Research at Arizona State University. Carly's research is motivated by making undergraduate biology learning environments more effective and joyous. Her research assesses the extent to which content in a social context is present in undergraduate education and the effects it has on student learning and affective outcomes. Her previous research has explored the role of instructors as role models. Check out more about Carly's work here.

PhD Candidate

Annie is PhD candidate in UW Biology. She is interested in how individuals' responses to their environments shape community dynamics and how community dynamics shape individuals' experiences. In classroom communities, Annie studies how instructor policies, practices, and behaviors shape students' social, emotional, and psychological experiences of STEM courses. This work is in service of understanding what instructors can do to promote student success. In ecological communities, Annie studies how and when plant and pollinator responses to environmental conditions affect mutualiztic interactions, species persistence, and community stability. In addition to science, Annie enjoys tea, social dance, and people-powered transportation (bikes, skis, hiking boots, etc.).

PhD Student

Maddy (she/her) joined the lab in Fall of 2025 as a PhD student studying biology education. Maddy's current work focuses on better understanding how undergraduate STEM instructors can embed science & society content into their courses and how students approach grappling with these real-world societal problems in STEM classrooms. She is also interested in exploring how instructors and students perceive competition in STEM courses and which instructor practices may play a role in heightening or lowering feelings of competition in class. She previously received her M.Ed. in Science Curriculum & Instruction from the UW College of Education and her B.S. in Biology from the University of Washington.

PhD Candidate

Rachel (she/they) is a PhD candidate at UW Biology pursuing a joint thesis in STEM Education and Ecology. Rachel investigates interactions across levels, whether students within classrooms within institutions, or organisms within communities within ecosystems, and what conditions allow individuals to thrive despite disruptions. Their education research examines nonlinear effects of anxiety in STEM classrooms, and how these patterns vary across student demographics. Rachel is also passionate about developing tools that enable instructors to examine their teaching practices through data-informed reflection.

PhD Candidate

Julia is a PhD candidate at UW Biology. For her dissertation she is completing an education research chapter in the Theobald lab (the other two are on grasshoppers' responses to climate change). Her education research interests are the effects of competition on sense of belonging and achievement, quantitative literacy in the biology classroom, and extensions of course-based undergraduate research experiences in community college classes. As a teaching assistant (and hopefully eventually a professor), she is passionate about combatting math anxiety in biology classrooms and helping students develop a passion (or at very least a grudging respect) for statistics and data analysis. 

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Dr. Xu joined the Theobald Lab in Winter 2024 as a postdoctoral research associate, after completing his PhD in Education Administration and Policy Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. His research is motivated by a growing emphasis on reforming STEM education and improving STEM excellence, with a focus on understanding teacher effectiveness and curriculum structure. Shangmou leads quantitative analyses which seek to predictively establish the relationships between pedagogical decisions and student performance to identify the optimal instructional practices that help achieve "STEM Excellence for All". His other research interests include sociology of education and international comparative education. Check out more Shangmou's work here. 

Fall 2025

Left to Right: Shangmou Xu (postdoc), Julia Smith (biograd), Rachel Potter (biograd), Elli Theobald (PI), Carly Busch (postdoc), Annie Colgan (biograd), Maddy Meuler (biograd).

Reach out if you are interested in joining the lab! While we are likely not recruiting graduate students this cycle, we are always interested to hear about you! 

We also welcome interested undergrads!