Professor of Psychology and Education
Human Development and Health Department
Dr. Ming-Te Wang is a Professor of Psychology and Education at the University of Pittsburgh. Since arriving at Pitt, Dr. Wang has developed a research program that aims to understand and improve youth learning and development in multiple ecological contexts with an emphasis on issues of diversity, opportunity, and equity. His research directly addresses educational and health disparities with historically marginalized youth while informing policy and practice to promote academic and socioemotional well-being of all children and adolescents. Dr. Wang is strongly committed to applying basic psychological science to address social issues and leveraging strengths-based approach and longitudinal research designs to inform educational practices. As such, his research agenda is uniquely positioned to address developmental challenges in sociocultural contexts that may differentially impact adolescents of historically stigmatized groups.
Dr. Wang has received nationally and internationally recognized Early Career Distinguished Research Contribution Awards from a variety of professional organizations in psychology, education, and child development, including the American Education Research Association (AERA), Association for Psychological Science (APS), American Psychological Association (APA), and Society for Research on Child Development (SRCD). He received his doctorate in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard University. Prior to graduate school, he was a middle school teacher and school counselor in a reservation area for indigenous people in Taiwan. This professional experience provided him with an insight into the intersection of culture, context, and psychosocial processes at play in youth development. He is convinced that conducting ecologically valid, field research driven by strong researcher-practitioner partnerships is imperative to unpack complex child-by-environment interactive processes.
Instructional Interests
- Motivation, Emotion, and Learning in Context
- Risk and Resilience in Social Contexts from Childhood to Adolescence: Strategies of Prevention and Intervention
- Evidence-Based Interventions in Real World Contexts
- Culture, Race, and Learning
- Psychological and Educational Research Methods
- Adolescent Development
- Theory and Application of Educational and Developmental Psychology
Scholarly Interests
- Motivation, engagement, learning, and development in context
- Racial and gender disparities in education and health
- Sociocultural, affective, and cognitive processes in learning
- Culture, race, parenting, and ethnic-racial socialization
- School climate, racial disparities in school discipline, and youth development
- School-based psychosocial intervention
- Diversity, opportunity, and equity in education
- School to prison pipeline
- Longitudinal data analysis
Selected Grants
- Principal Investigator: “Youth’s Engagement in Mathematics: A Longitudinal Study of Sociocultural and Psychosocial Processes.” National Science Foundation. $1.5 Million.
- Principal Investigator: “African American Youth’s Sociocultural Experiences, Stereotype Threat, Motivation, Identity Development, and Academic Performance.” National Science Foundation. $1.5 Million.
- Principal Investigator: “Parenting Matters: Developmentally Appropriate and Culturally Responsive Parenting for Children of Color.” Spencer Foundation. $1 Million.
Featured Publications
- Wang, M.-T., Degol, J. L., & Henry, D. A. (2020). An integrative development-in-sociocultural-context model for children’s engagement in learning. American Psychologist, 74, 1086-1102.
- Wang, M.-T., Henry, D. A., Smith, L. V., Huguley, J. P., & Guo, J. (2020). Parental ethnic-racial socialization practices and children of color’s psychosocial and behavioral adjustment: A systematic review and meta-analysis. American Psychologist, 75, 1-22.
- Wang, M.-T., Smith, L. V., Huguley, J. P., & Miller-Cotto, D. A. (2020). Parental ethnic-racial socialization and children of color’s academic success: A meta-analytic review. Child Development, 91, 528-544.
- Wang, M.-T., Degol, J. S., *Parr. A., Amemiya, J. L., & Guo, J. (2020). Classroom climate and children's academic and psychological well-being: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Developmental Review, 57, 1-27.
- Wang, M.-T., Zepeda, C., Qin, X., Del Toro, J., & Binning, K. R. (in press). More than growth mindset: Individual and interactive effects between economically disadvantaged adolescents’ growth mindsets and metacognitive skill on math engagement.
Awards and Honors
- Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology, American Psychological Association (2019)
- Chancellor for Community Engagement and Partnership of Distinction Award, University of Pittsburgh (2019)
- Richard E. Snow Distinguished Research Contribution to Education and Psychology Award, American Psychological Association (2017)
- “Rising Star” Designation for Outstanding Early Career Psychological Science Researchers, Association for Psychological Science (2016)
- Outstanding Early Career Research Contribution Award, Society of Research on Child Development (2015)