Alumni Spotlight: Faheemah Mustafaa

She is currently co-principal investigator of a multi-year National Science Foundation-sponsored project that aims to increase Black girls’ and women’s representation in STEM. She also studies social justice praxis in postsecondary teaching and learning, and K-12 educators’ racial attitudes and practice. 

Mustafaa is driven by a passion for teaching and supporting other people’s life journeys. Prior to joining the faculty at University of California, Davis, she was a postdoctoral researcher in social-personality psychology at University of California, Berkeley, and in teaching and learning at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development. Mustafaa earned a Ph.D. in the combined program in education and psychology, and M.A. in higher education, both from the University of Michigan. Earlier in her career, she was a middle school science teacher in Miami, Florida and still enjoys collaborating with early adolescents to help them imagine and pursue paths toward their highest potential. In her spare time, she enjoys domestic and international travel, hiking, crafting, and spending quality time with loved ones. 

A proud Philadelphia native and first-generation college graduate, Mustafaa earned a bachelor’s degree in biobehavioral health from Penn State in 2005, along with a minor in psychology. Among several campus engagements, she was a Bunton Waller fellow, Penn State Crew rower, and member of the College of Health and Human Development’s first cohort of the Women’s Leadership Initiative. In 2005, she received the Multicultural Resource Center’s Senior Volunteer Service Award for significantly contributing to campus and community service initiatives. She credits faculty members in the College of Health and Human Development for first helping her understand that studying structural connections between quality education access and health outcomes is an important and worthwhile career endeavor.

This profile was published in May 2022.