Chantra Nhien
Associate Director, Momentum
Chantra Nhien (he/him/his) serves as the Associate Director of Momentum at UCLA. He earned his Ph.D. in Higher Education & Organizational Change and B.S. in Biology from UCLA and received his M.P.H. in Health Promotion & Behavioral Sciences from San Diego State University. Prior to stepping into his current role at Momentum, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Florida State University’s Center for Postsecondary Success where he used quantitative research designs to examine community college pathways to computing for marginalized groups in computing and tech. At Momentum, his research centers on the experiences of students in postsecondary computing. He is also investigating the landscape of more recent broadening participation in postsecondary computing (BPC) scholarship to better understand how BPC research has been conducted and what currently works (or does not) in advancing diversity and equity among women and other marginalized groups in computing and tech. Outside of academia, Chantra enjoys outdoor running and strives to complete at least one marathon a year.
Departments
Areas of Expertise and Advising Interests
Research Centers
Other Affiliations
Titles and Positions
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Associate Director, Momentum: Accelerating Equity in Computing and Technology
Education
- Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, 2022
- M.P.H., San Diego State University, 2014
- B.S., University of California, Los Angeles, 2008
Select Publications
- Nhien, C. (2024). How Southeast Asian Students Develop Their Science Self-Efficacy During the First Year of College. The Journal of Higher Education, 96(2), 251–278.
- Nhien, C., Perez-Felkner, L., Li, Y., & Hu, S. (2024). Pathways into Computing Fields by Florida’s Community College Students: An Intersectional Descriptive Analysis. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 1–15.
- Ngo, F., & Nhien, C. (2025). Using QuantCrit to Understand the Academic Momentum of Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander Community College Students. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 49(10–11), 669–686.
- Sax, L. J., Nhien, C., & Stormes, K. N. (2024). A Quantitative Methodological Review of Research on Broadening Participation in Computing, 2005-2022. SIGCSE ’24: Proceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computing Science Education.
- Perez-Felkner, L., Li, Y., Erichsen, K., Hu, S., Chen, J., Nhien, C., & Fluker, C. (2025). Does advanced high school coursework enhance community college women’s pathways to computing degrees? Evidence from Florida. Review of Higher Education (In Press).
- Wofford, A.M., Fatima, A., Wu, X., Perez-Felker, L., Nhien, C., & Staudt Willet, K. B. (2025) Minority-Serving Institutions’ Role in Enhancing Access to Computing Doctoral Education: A Multi-Method Landscape Analysis. Innovative Higher Eduation.
- Wofford, A.M., Perez-Felkner, L., Staudt Willet, K.B., Nhien, C. (2025). Geography of Computing Graduate Degree Opportunities: Examining the Characteristics of Minority-Serving Institutions. Research in Higher Education 66, 37.
- Chen, J., Perez-Felkner, L., Nhien, C., Hu, S., Erichsen, K., & Li, Y. (2024). Gender Differences in Motivational and Curricular Pathways Towards Postsecondary Computing Majors. Research in Higher Education, 65, 2013-2026.
- Wofford, A. M., Sax, L. J., George, K. L., Ramirez, D., & Nhien, C. (2022). Advancing equity in graduate pathways: Examining the factors that sustain and develop computing graduate aspirations. The Journal of Higher Education, 93(1), 110-136.