April 30, 2026
The associate teaching professor was recognized for helping students grow intellectually, pursue ambitious opportunities and meaningfully contribute to interdisciplinary research.
By Alivia Roach | Student Success
Photo by Yvonne Groner
Mentors play a vital role in the undergraduate research experience at the University of Missouri. They help students turn curiosity into meaningful discoveries that contribute to their fields, while also providing guidance, advice and support throughout their academic journey.
Each year, the Office of Undergraduate Research shines a spotlight on exceptional mentors and the meaningful impact they have made in their fields by awarding the Office of Undergraduate Research Mentor of the Year Award, an award that is completely based on student nominations. Awards like the Mentor of the Year are not just about achievements on paper — they’re driven by the voices of the students who work alongside these mentors every day.
Student nominations reveal the genuine, personal connections behind each selection, highlighting not only research excellence but the mentorship, guidance and inspiration that truly set these individuals apart. This year, one of the awardees is Fang Wang.
Wang is an associate teaching professor and the director of both the undergraduate studies for the Department of Engineering and Information Technology and the Collaborative Research Environments for Extended Reality (CREXR) Lab. Her current research focuses on virtual and augmented reality, game and mobile application in healthcare and education and engineering simulation software development.
Nominations from students describe not only how dedicated she is to her work, but how she makes diligent efforts to create a space for her students to “grow intellectually and pursue ambitious opportunities and meaningfully contribute to interdisciplinary research,” Olivia Franken, Dr. Wang’s student nominator said.
With Wang’s insightful guidance, undergraduate researchers feel supported in the midst of difficult course work and busy lives. In the environment she has curated, students feel a sense of “trust, accessibility and deep commitment,” Franken said. She encourages students to remain curious, to ask hard questions and grow independently as scholars.
With these opportunities to grow inside the classroom, student researchers feel supported to pursue opportunities outside of the classroom and successfully contribute in ways that further their own education and future. Students attribute many of their accomplishments to Wang’s commitment to her students’ progress.
“Dr. Wang’s mentorship has profoundly shaped my development as a researcher,” Franken said.
“Most mentoring happens in small, everyday moments, and you don’t always know how it’s landing until much later. So, to hear directly from students that it made a difference really stays with me,” Wang said. “It’s made me more intentional about how I mentor. I’ve found myself reflecting more on what students take away from the experience, both in terms of the skills, techniques and knowledge they develop through research, and how they grow in confidence and see themselves. I feel lucky to work with students who are engaged and willing to put themselves out there, which makes a real difference.”
This story originally appeared on Student Success.