Minghui Wang, a UC Riverside doctoral student in the Department of Psychology, has been named a recipient of the Elizabeth Munsterberg Koppitz Fellowship. Awarded by the American Psychological Foundation, the one-year fellowship provides financial support to graduate students whose research promises to advance the field of child psychology.

Wang’s research delves into the psychological foundations of educational inequality by exploring how children perceive achievement gaps and how those beliefs shape their academic futures.

“I study the explanations children give for these differences, such as whether they attribute them to internal factors like ability and effort or to external factors like access to resources and opportunities,” Wang said. “Broadly, my work aims to understand how children’s early beliefs about achievement can either reinforce or reduce educational inequality.”

By analyzing whether children view success through the lens of individual merit or systemic opportunity, Wang’s research seeks to identify how these mindsets influence a child’s motivation, their willingness to seek help, and their perceptions of classmates. The long-term goal is to provide insights that help educators create learning environments that promote greater equity.

The Koppitz Fellowship provides the financial support for Wang to purchase required assessment tools and fairly compensate children and families participating in the study, ensuring a high standard of data reliability. The fellowship also funds her graduate student researcher appointment for one quarter, enabling her to focus entirely on her dissertation during a critical phase.

“On a personal level, receiving this fellowship is both encouraging and affirming,” Wang said. “It represents recognition of the importance of studying children’s beliefs about achievement and inequality.”

Wang earned a bachelor’s in psychology from Zhejiang University in China and a master’s in psychology at Boston University before joining UCR in 2021. She is a member of the Culture & Child Development Lab at UCR, where she works under the mentorship of Cecilia Cheung, an associate professor of psychology.