Charting Paths to Undergrad Success

When students ask Donna Stokes how she knew what she wanted to do, her answer is simple.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do.” In high school, teachers and a counselor encouraged her to accept a scholarship to study physics at Southern University. She didn’t intend to pursue research experiences as an undergrad, but a professor brought her onto a project funded by the Environmental Protection Agency. Stokes continued to explore other areas of research until her junior year, when she was exposed to semiconductor research for the first time. That topic sparked her interest—and kept it. She earned a PhD in materials science, went on to do a postdoc on optical characterization of semiconductors, and continues to work in condensed matter physics today.

Now a physics professor at the University of Houston, Stokes is also involved in education research and STEM teacher preparation, and she’s become a passionate advocate for and mentor to students pursuing STEM degrees and careers.

Every stage, she tells her students, led to another.

“You’re not going to know your pathway instantly, and it’s not going to be a straight one, but there is a pathway for you,” she says.

As she works with undergraduates, many of whom have had a similar path to her own, Stokes recognizes the hurdles they must overcome—and that teachers and mentors can have an important hand in helping to surmount them. In each of the pivotal turns along her own journey, a teacher had been involved. “I want to be that person for other students,” she says.

Today, Stokes helps to connect students to faculty, as well as to resources available to assist them with rigorous coursework. For physics and other STEM majors who have difficulty navigating the college environment, knowing the next step can be the key to moving forward, she says. “We let students know about all the opportunities available to them.”

Stokes also provides career assistance in her capacity as associate dean of undergraduate affairs and student success in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, as well as through a career center she recently developed with a colleague.

“Many students don’t know what they’re going to do with their physics degree,” she says. “We point them to career paths, society groups, and local opportunities. We make sure they get involved.”

Participating in organizations like the Society of Physics Students, for which Stokes has served as a chapter advisor, and attending conferences and events hosted by groups like the American Physical Society, the American Association of Physics Teachers, and the National Society of Black Physicists is an important part of building networks and growing as physicists, she says. “I think back to attending those first SPS meetings and National Society of Black Physicists meetings— that’s where I first saw students like myself who enjoy physics,” she says.

As a professor once did for her, Stokes encourages students to seek out research experiences and explore different fields to discover what may and may not be a fit. “A lot of students don’t get engaged in research,” she says. To increase participation, Stokes and others are working to shed light on what research experiences can provide to students and how undergraduates can go about securing opportunities.

For her work with STEM students and future educators, Stokes was recently honored with a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM), the highest recognition bestowed on American educators for achievements in STEM mentoring.

For Stokes, it comes down to doing work she loves—something she often reminds students who are trying to figure out what’s next. When charting your path, she says, “You have to also follow what your heart leads you to do.” //