Melissa Aikens

Melissa Aikens is an Associate Professor in Biological Sciences at the University of New Hampshire, specializing in undergraduate biology education research. Her work bridges cognitive psychology and STEM pedagogy to address student motivation and persistence in quantitative biology.

• Principal Investigator on NSF grants (2024-2026, 2019-2025, 2016-2018)
• Co-Principal Investigator on NSF grants (2019-2024)
• Developed tools to measure math-biology task values and mentoring structures

Her research explores how self-beliefs, values, and mentoring dynamics influence biology students' engagement with quantitative skills, while also examining faculty motivation to integrate mathematics into biology curricula. Recent publications analyze socioscientific decision-making, group work efficacy, and fieldwork equity.

Key trends in her work include:

• Quantitative skill development in biology
• Mentoring triad (undergraduate-postgraduate-faculty) outcomes
• Demographic factors in educational resource utilization
• Biocalculus curriculum impact

She founded the Biology Education Research Group at UNH, offering undergraduate research opportunities in education studies. Her lab has contributed to national reforms in biology pedagogy through systematic reviews and methodological frameworks for discipline-based education research.