The
Motivation Center (MC) is an interdisciplinary research center that will provide leadership on motivation, learning, and child development studies. It will also advance the development of non-cognitive factors and learning in formal and informal settings for students from pre-K to undergraduate. To view the center's new website, go to
http://motivation.pitt.edu/. Specifically, the center aims to:
- Identify predictors, mediators, and outcomes of student motivation and engagement that are amenable to interventions;
- Advance the quality and use of empirical evidence on innovations to improve STEM instruction, academic and socioemotional learning, and education policy;
- Enhance motivation and capacity of women, ethnic minorities, and other underrepresented groups to pursue education and careers in STEM;
- Provide training opportunities for undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students interested in studying the social and psychological origins of individual and group differences for achievement motivation and engagement;
- Establish partnership with communities and schools to develop effective means of incorporating research into education.
Motivation Center Chair and Associate Professor Ming-Te Wang [far right] leads a discussion for the center's
executive committee, composed of faculty members and doctoral students.
The center has five strengths:
- Non-cognitive factors and learning
- Early childhood education and school readiness
- Race, poverty, inequality, and achievement gap
- Affective arousal, emotions, and learning
- Educational access and transition from childhood to adolescence to adulthood

Associate Professor Ming-Te Wang and Associate Professor Tanner Wallace
Center for Motivation Co-chairs
Center for Motivation Website: http://motivation.pitt.edu/
Contact Cole Cridlin with any questions related to the MC at cridlin.c@pitt.edu or 412-648-7036.