Yevgeniya V. Zastavker

Born and raised in Kyiv, Ukraine, she came to the United States in 1990. 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 diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Dr. Zastavker is currently involved in an NSF-supported project to understand students’ motivational attitudes in game-based learning environments as a variant of a non-traditional learning space. In all her work, Dr. Zastavker aims to improve learning opportunities for students and equip 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 learning 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.