About Me

Hello and welcome!

Headshot of A. Kelly Lane

I am a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln working in the labs of Dr. Marilyne Stains and Dr. Brian Couch. Broadly, I am a discipline-based education researcher, but my primary research interests focus on graduate education: how graduate school prepares students for a variety of future career paths, the social systems that impact graduate-level training, and creating equitable and inclusive learning opportunities in graduate school to aid in increasing the diversity of future STEM professionals. I have conducted research in the areas of institutional change, professional identity, and faculty development. Specifically, I have studied the processes by which faculty make decisions about their instructional practices, how faculty learn about and adopt evidence-based instructional practices, and how graduate students develop identities as educators.

I consider myself a qualitative researcher who believes in the power of qualitative data to open up new areas of inquiry and capture the hard to observe, yet impactful, experiences of individuals. Qualitative research allows us to ask the how and why questions explaining the processes of a given phenomenon; however,  I also have experience in using R and see mixed-methods research as a powerful and oft-overlooked avenue to apply multiple lenses to the same research question. Quantitative data is necessary to determine generalizability across populations. Qualitative data identifies what experiences and events need to be studied.

In my research, teaching, and mentoring I aim to foster and inclusive environment where all individuals have an opportunity to thrive. Diversity improves outcomes and productivity, but inclusive practices are what helps all voices be heard and ensures that diversity is not performative but rather equitable.

My doctoral work was in genetics and I was advised by Dr. Tessa Andrews and Dr. Jim Leebens-Mack at the University of Georgia. For my dissertation, I studied the factors that affect teaching identity in life sciences, graduate students. I also studied the phylogenomics of opium poppy and the transcriptomics of morphine production. I have my B.S. in Biology from Washington and Lee University as well as a B.A. in Classics. At Washington and Lee I did 3.5 years of undergraduate research under the advisement of Dr. Nadia Ayoub studying the transcriptomics of spider silk production.

Outside of the office, I enjoy geeky pursuits including board games and tabletop roleplaying games, the never-ending stream of Marvel movies, and reading voraciously.

You can contact me at alane6@unl.edu