Priya Patterson-Lee

Priya was born and raised in Detroit, MI and she is the middle of three children. Education has always been her first love, even while growing up and college has always been a planned part of her journey.  

She is a first-generation college student, and her curiosity and love for school has fulfilled her and made her work harder to have a robust and fully engaging college experience. Her interest in neuroscience as a major and career stems from the loss of her great-grandfather, who passed away due to a stroke. In response, she threw herself into the topic to gain deeper understanding and to find ways to help others.  What she has found on her trek into neuroscience led her to becoming a Spartan, and to a field of study that is fascinating and expansive, it keeps her fully interested and always wanting to know more. 

Her overarching goal is to eliminate the stigma and obstructive conversations surrounding mental health. Currently, mental health is a nonexistent conversation in many communities, especially communities of color. She aims to attend graduate school to obtain a doctoral degree in neuroscience, while conducting research that redefines and expands adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) standards, particularly, those around groups within urban communities.

Throughout her life, her constant companions are her positive and optimistic outlooks. She has shared with us that even when encountering obstacles and challenges, she readily seeks out avenues that help her turn lemons into lemonade.

“This experience helped me realize what I wanted to do for my future career! 

Coming into college, I knew my passion but wasn’t sure of my direction. Prior to this research, I had a very narrow mind about STEM research and didn’t know that inductive/investigative research could be considered in my field. I had never heard about coding beyond computers, so the entire project was new and exciting to me. I learned to “just go for it” because you have no idea where the possibility may lead you.”

STRIVING FOR VALIDITY: ANALYSIS OF QUALITATIVE METHODS USED TO EXPLORE EMPLOYER-DESIRED COMPETENCIES IN PROJECT-BASED GENERAL CHEMISTRY LABORATORY COURSES

Co-Author(s):  Brit Eggley

Mentor(s):  Lynmarie Posey, Ph.D.

Thematic analysis is used as a framework to help researchers identify emergent themes in qualitative studies. Braun & Clark believe it should be a foundational method, useful for identifying, analyzing, describing, organizing, and reporting themes (2006). Some studies believe it should be an assistive approach, but this study uses thematic analysis as a methodological approach. Within this approach themes are coded inductively. This method of coding generates themes from the data, compiling them into a coding scheme. To verify the validity of the coding scheme inter-rater reliability (IRR) is run. IRR is used to determine the extent to which two or more coders agree, through applying the coding scheme individually and analyzing the percent agreement and kappa value. This ensures qualitative analysis is both reliable and valid.

Poster

Priya has shared what it means to be a Drew scholar:

“Drew has been my compass for much of my time at MSU. “COVID College” was an overwhelming experience, but transitioning on campus has been even more so. Team Drew has supported me academically and personally by ensuring both my health and education are on equal playing fields. The support from the Drew community has been very helpful as I navigate this huge university as a first-generation college student.”

Member, Dow-STEM Scholar

Mentorship Coordinator, First-Generation Honors Association (FGHA)

Resident Assistant, Akers Hall, East Neighborhood

Research Assistant, Chemistry Education Research with Dr. L. Posey

MTH 103A Undergraduate Learning Assistant, Department of Mathematics

Lead Office Assistant, Drew Scholars

Peer Mentor, Drew Scholars

Priya shares words of wisdom and encouragement with peers and successors:

“Don’t be afraid of yourself! 

Your opinion of yourself is the only one that matters. Sometimes, we are convinced people are judging us when it’s only ourselves. The worst others can say is “No”, but YOU have the power to change everything.”