Our First iPhD!

Congratulations to Najla Mouchrek, our (and VT’s) first indepenedent/interdisciplinary PhD!

Najla’s dissertation, Empowerment in the transition to adulthood: supporting career exploration in college using participatory design, was completed and successfully defended on May 8.

Her research was an interdisciplinary study of empowerment in emerging adulthood and application of design-based processes to support college student developmental outcomes, including:

• Construction of a theoretical model of developmental empowerment in the transition to adulthood.
• Online survey with VT students about empowering experiences in college
• Development and implementation of a participatory design-based intervention for Virginia Tech first-year students exploring career options