Dr. Jacinta Mutambuki

Assistant Professor and Todd Wehr Professor

Chemical Education

Education

Ph.D., Western Michigan University

M.S., Western Michigan University

B.Ed./Science, University of Nairobi

Research Interests

Research in the Mutambuki Chemical Education Research Lab (CERL) seeks to improve undergraduate chemistry and STEM education. We are interested in designing and testing innovative curricula and research-based teaching interventions, and investigating how they contribute toward lowering DFW grades and opportunity gaps, improving STEM learning environments and students’ course experiences, addressing systemic barriers and enhancing equity in STEM programs, and increasing persistence and graduation rates in STEM.

Specific Research Focus  

• Designing and investigating the effects of various pedagogical approaches and inclusive teaching interventions on students’ cognitive and affective outcomes in chemistry courses.  
• Diagnosing student barriers to meaningful learning and equitable learning outcomes in chemistry and other STEM courses.  
• Enhancing content relevance in chemistry sequence lecture and laboratory courses. 
• Developing and validating instruments and observation protocols for assessing learning and instructional practices in STEM classrooms.  
• STEM faculty, future faculty, and K-12 teacher teaching development programs and teaching progressions. 

GROUP MEMBERS

As of Summer 2024, our lab is composed of one graduate student.

· Althea Hewitt (2nd year)

Professional Experience

Dr. Mutambuki received her B. Ed/Science degree (Chemistry & Math) from the University of Nairobi, Kenya. She then moved to the U.S.A for her graduate studies 2014 at Western Michigan University, where she attained a M.S. degree in Chemistry/Chemical Education under the direction of Dr. Herb Fynewever and thereafter a doctorate degree under the tutelage of Professors William Cobern and Sherine Obare in 2014. Her dissertation focused on the integration of nanotechnology and nanoscience in the undergraduate Quantitative Analysis Chemistry lab course and the impact on students’ affective outcomes. She then proceeded to pursue her postdoctoral training as a STEM Education Research Associate in the Teaching Center at Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) under the direction of Prof. Regina Frey. At WashU, she contributed to the expansion and evaluation of the STEM faculty and future faculty professional development (PD) programs on evidence-based pedagogies and inclusive teaching. After completion of her postdoctoral training in 2018, she joined the Department of Chemistry at OSU as an assistant professor and the Edward E. Bartlett professor of Pedagogy in Chemistry. Dr. Jacinta Mutambuki joined the Chemistry Department at Marquette University on June 1, 2024, where she continues her professoriate role as the Todd Wehr Professor and an assistant professor. In Milwaukee, she joins her husband, Dr. Joshua Muia, who was also an assistant professor at OSU before joining the Versiti Blood Research Institute in Milwaukee on April 29, 2024, as an associate investigator. 

Selected Publications

1. Manning-Ouellette, A.* & Mutambuki, J.* (In Press, 2024). Anti-racist pedagogy, practice, and strategies in leadership education teaching and curriculum. In C. C. Beatty & A. Manning-Ouellette (Eds). Moving Towards Action: Anti-Racism in Leadership Learning (pp. xx-xx). Information Age Publishing. https://www.infoagepub.com/products/Moving-Towards-Action#:~:text=Moving%20Towards%20Action%3A%20Centering%20Anti,administrators%2C%20and%20student%20affairs%20practitioners. 
2. Sristy, S.M. I. H., Vasquez, Y., & Mutambuki, J. M.* Enhancing Chemistry Relevance in a General Chemistry Lecture Course Through Real-World Contexts and Application Cards Activities. In D. King & G. H. Webster (Eds). Engaging Chemistry Students with Real-World Context. American Chemical Society (ACS) Symposium Series Vol. 1460 eISBN: 9780841297135, 2023, Chapter 8, pp 99-114, https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/bk-2023-1460.ch008.  
3. Sristy, S.M. I. H., Muteti, C. Z., Vasquez, Y., & Mutambuki, J. M.* Integrating Real-World Contexts and Application Cards Activities in the General Chemistry I Course Increases Students’ Achievement Scores and Perceived Chemistry Relevance. ACS, J. Chem. Educ. 2023, 100, 12, 4608–4618, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.3c00516. 
4. Muteti, Z. C., Jacob, I. B, & Mutambuki, J.* Metacognition instruction enhances equity in effective study strategies across demographic groups in the general chemistry I course. Chem. Educ. Res. Pract., 2023, 24,1204-1218, DOI: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2023/rp/d3rp00103b. 
5. Muteti, Z. C. & Mutambuki, J. M.* 'I Felt Not So Alone’: the Impact of Muddiest Point Activities on Student Learning Outcomes Through Top Hat Technology. Advances in Chemical Education Series: Digital Learning and Teaching in Chemistry. ed. Y. Dori, C. Ngai, and G. Szteinberg, The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2023, ch. 26, pp. 337-351.DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/9781839167942-00337. 
6. Caroline Z. Muteti, Tracy Kerr, Mwarumba Mwavita, Jacinta M. Mutambuki*, Blending muddiest point activities with the common formative assessments bolsters the performance of marginalized student populations in general chemistry. Royal Society of Chemistry, Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 2022, 23, 452-463, https://doi.org/10.1039/D1RP00314C. 
7. Bjornen, K.*, Carlton, M.*, & Mutambuki, J.* (2022). Disciplinary data literacy: Expanding on what instructors already teach. In J. Bauder (Ed). Research Data Management. The American Library Association, ISBN: 978-0-8389-3797-6, pp. 57-72, https://www.alastore.ala.org/trdm. 
8. Caroline Z. Muteti, Carolina Zarraga, Brooke I. Jacob, Tuli M. Mwarumba, Dorothy B. Nkhata, Mwarumba Mwavita, Smita Mohanty, Jacinta M. Mutambuki. * I realized what I was doing was not working: the influence of explicit teaching of metacognition on students’ study strategies in a general chemistry I course. Royal Society of Chemistry, Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 2021, 22(1), 122-135, DOI: 10.1039/d0rp00217h. Featured in the RSC News, ‘Making study time count’: https://edu.rsc.org/education-research/this-is-why-you-should-teach-metacognition-explicitly/4012761.article#!divAbstract. 
9. Jacinta M. Mutambuki, * Mwarumba Mwavita, Caroline Z. Muteti, Brooke Jacob, and Smita Mohanty. Metacognition and Active Learning Combination Reveals Better Performance on Cognitively Demanding General Chemistry Concepts than Active Learning Alone. ACS, Journal of Chemical Education, 2020, 97(7)1832–1840, https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00254. Featured on the Chemical &Engineering News (c&en), ‘HELPING STUDENTS THRIVE’: https://cen.acs.org/education/undergraduate-education/Weeding-inequity-undergraduate-chemistry-classes/98/i34. 
10. Mutambuki, J.M., Frey, R.F., Leonard, D.A. Features of an Effective Future Faculty Teaching-Development Program: A Case Study of 10 STEM Faculty. J. College Science Teaching, March/April 2020, 49(4):58-65. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1260589. 
11. Jacinta M. Mutambuki, * Herb Fynewever, William W. Cobern, Kevin Douglass, Sherine Obare. Integrating Authentic Research Experiences into the Quantitative Analysis Chemistry Laboratory Curriculum: Student Self-Reported Perceptions and Experiences. ACS J. Chem. Educ. 2019, 96(8) 1591-1599, (Featured Supplementary Journal Cover) https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.jchemed.8b00902. 
12. Solomon, E. D., Repice, M. D., Mutambuki, J.M., Leonard, D. A., Cohen, C. A., Luo, J., & Frey, R. F. A Mixed-Methods Investigation of Clicker Implementation Styles in STEM. CBE Life Sci Educ. 2018, 17(2):ar30. doi:10.1187/cbe.17-08-018, https://www.lifescied.org/doi/10.1187/cbe.17-08-0180.  
13. Jacinta M. Mutambuki* and Renee Schwartz. We Don’t Get Any Training: The Impact of a Professional Development Model on Teaching Practices of Chemistry and Biology Graduate Teaching Assistants. Journal of Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 2018, 19, 106. https://doi.org/10.1039/C7RP00133A. 
14. Frey, R. F., Fisher, B.A., Solomon, E.D., Leonard, D.A., Mutambuki, J.M., Cohen, C.A., Luo, J., & Pondugula, S. A visual approach to helping instructors integrate, document, and refine active learning. Journal of College Science Teaching, 2016, 45(5), 20-26.