OCCRL Staff and Affiliates

Research Consultant/External Evaluator

Soko Starobin, Ph.D., serves as the lead evaluator for the TLC3 grant and engaging in formative and summative evaluation of the project. Starobin began her higher education in Architecture at Toyota National College of Technology in Japan. After receiving her undergraduate degree, as a transfer student, she completed Counseling Associate Studies (B.S.), Counseling and Student Services (M.Ed.), and Higher Education (Ph.D.). Starobin served on the faculty in the School of Education and was recognized for exemplary research performance at Iowa State University. Dr. Starobin also was the Director, Office of Community College Research & Policy at ISU. Dr. Starobin is one of the foremost key researchers in Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics (STEM) fields, particularly STEM literacy, access, and participation in STEM at community colleges. Starobin served as the principal investigator of the evaluation research project for the Iowa Project Lead the Way (PLTW) (pre-engineering programs in high school and community colleges. She was PI for a third-party outcome and impact evaluation team for two statewide consortiums and two community colleges that received the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) Grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. Dr. Starobin’s expertise has also been tapped in serving on NSF funded project advisory boards (i.e., DUE 0969474, EEC 1428502, and HRD 1102461).