About Me

I’m Patti Hamerski, PhD (she/her). I’m an assistant professor in the physics department at Oregon State University.

I direct the Hamerski lab group doing student-centered research in physics and computing education. I also collaborate as a member of the OSU Physics Education Research group.

My current projects encompass analyzing how undergraduate students use and think about generative AI in computational physics, implementing a peer mentorship program for undergraduate physics transfer students, and establishing a landscape of the challenges that transgender students navigate in STEM graduate programs.

Broadly, I research the perspectives of students to learn about the intersections of social systems, physics education, and computing education. Students know the challenges and inequities of academic programs designed with good intentions, but often failing to deliver an effective and socially just education. As a researcher, educator, and curriculum developer, my goal is to leverage students’ firsthand perspectives of academia’s structural underbelly to critically analyze the work of educators and institutions and design for better outcomes.

My interest in physics and computing stems in part from my personal experience devoting years of my own schooling to learning both subjects. The idea of learning about what I saw as objective reality and algorithmic trustworthiness motivated me. When I saw these veneers fade through my own learning and experiences, I became fascinated in a different way – physics and computing became places where I could learn about human subjectivity, social processes, and systemic bias. These forces continually shape the fields of physics and computing. I hope to use my research not only to critique and analyze these processes, but also create new ways to infuse justice and humanity into what it means to do physics and computing.

Last updated April 2025