Estela Lopez

Ed-GRS Fellow

Estela Lopez is a Ph.D. candidate in the Educational Policy Studies program, concentrating in Comparative International Education and Global Studies. Her research interests focus on the intersection of race, gender, and class inequalities in STEM education and the workforce in the United States and Brazil. Her research examines educational policies and the experiences of women in higher education STEM programs, with a particular focus on non-cognitive factors—including identity, utility, self-efficacy, and interest—and how they shape the persistence of women of color in STEM higher education and the STEM workforce. Estela’s research interests have been informed by her experience as first-generation Latina student in STEM. She holds a B.S. in mathematics and B.A. in economics from the University of Texas at Austin, a Master’s of Public Affairs from Indiana University Bloomington, and a Master’s in Educational Policy Studies from UW-Madison. Prior to coming to UW Madison, she worked in institutional research for a nonprofit organization in the DMV area.

Publications

Grooms, A. A., Peters, A. L., Lopez, E., Ogden, K., Childs, J., Martinez, E., & Duran, S. (2025). When Past is Present and Future: How Contextualizing a Community’s Historical Context Can Shape the Development of Equity-Focused Principal Pipelines. The Urban Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-025-00738-8

Bullington, K. E., Ison, M. P., Lopez, E., & Li, J. (2025). Financial Considerations of Vertical Transfer Students: Salary and Student Loan Outcomes for Bachelor’s Degree Recipients. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/10668926.2024.2420905

Awards

Virginia Landwehr Award

2025 International Division Pre-Dissertation Scholarship