Educational Psychology & Individual Differences doctoral student Moumita Mukherjee was recently awarded the Phi Beta Delta David Merchant International Student Achievement Award. The Phi Beta Delta (PBD) Honor Society for International Scholars is an international organization for individuals and institutions committed to promote and support international education and internationalization endeavors. The David Merchant Student Achievement Award is presented to outstanding international students engaged in research endeavors to support and advance international education. Mukherjee’s outstanding work in the area of international student enrollment outcomes at community colleges earned her a nomination for the award.

“I feel honored and excited to receive this internationally competitive award for my research,” says Mukherjee. “It is prestigious for me to represent the College of Education, UH-Phi Beta Delta Chapter at the PBD annual conference in Denver this June, and it will be a great opportunity for me to present my research before the international education community and receive constructive feedback about my doctoral research as I prepare to publish my study.”

While studying in the college, Mukherjee has worked closely with Department of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies (DELPS) assistant professor Lyle McKinney and DELPS associate professor Catherine Horn. “I feel extremely privileged to be Dr. McKinney’s doctoral advisee and his research assistant for the past few years,” said Mukherjee. “In addition to providing me the opportunity to work with him on several research projects, he mentored and encouraged me to ask challenging questions that will help to address important policies in higher education.”

Mukherjee’s research focuses on international students who start at community colleges and plan to transfer to a four-year institution and never do. Her findings show that many international students at community colleges successfully complete a large number of course credits, but they do not earn a credential or transfer to a four-year.  “My study is timely and addresses important issues in higher education,” said Mukherjee. “Because of the national initiatives to increase community college completion rates and new state performance-based funding policies that reward the colleges based on student enrollment outcomes, understanding success rates among international students is imperative.”