You Are Invited to Participate in This Research Study! Share Your Experience as a Chinese International Engineering Doctoral TA! 

My name is Yiqi Liang, and I am a doctoral candidate in Higher Education at Iowa State University. I really hope you could consider joining the study if you meet the criteria below! This research explores the experiences of Chinese international engineering doctoral students who have served as teaching assistants (TAs) at U.S. research universities.

You are invited to participate in this research study if you meet all of the following criteria:

- Currently enrolled as a full-time international doctoral student at a large or very large public research 1 (R1) university under a temporary non-immigrant visa status (F-1, J-1).

- Currently enrolled in an engineering major.

- Born in the People’s Republic of China (or mainland China).

- Have completed their education through a bachelor’s degree in mainland China.

- Held at least one teaching assistantship appointment (25% or 50% Full-Time Equivalent (FTE)) between Fall, 2025 and Spring, 2027.

- Be at least 18 years old.

Participation involves one 60–90 minutes virtual interview via Microsoft Teams. The interview may be conducted in Mandarin or English, based on your preference.

Confidentiality protections: This study has been approved by the Iowa State University Institutional Review Board (IRB). Specific confidentiality protections are in place to protect your privacy. Your information will be de-identified (e.g., using a pseudonym), and identifying details (e.g., course names, university names, campus resources) will be removed or generalized. Identifiable data will be securely stored in an approved Box folder and accessible only to the research team. You will be invited to review and confirm your transcript and study findings. These are examples of the confidentiality measures in place, with additional measures taken to protect your privacy.

Interested in participating or learning more? You may complete a brief eligibility screening survey (less than 5 minutes) using the Qualtrics link below or contact me directly at yiliang@iastate.edu to learn more and verbally confirm your eligibility.

Qualtrics Survey Link: https://iastate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3TMizNrA42H83L8

Participation is completely voluntary, and you may withdraw from the study at any time without penalty.

If you are not eligible to participate but know someone who may be eligible, I would greatly appreciate it if you could forward this email to them. Please feel free to share the attached recruitment flyer with anyone who may be interested or eligible.

If you have any questions about this study, please feel free to contact me at yiliang@iastate.edu.

Thank you for considering participation in this study. Your experiences and perspectives matter! Sharing them can help inform future institutional and departmental policies, practices, and resources that better address the needs of this population.

Thank you for your time and consideration, 

Yiqi Liang

Doctoral Candidate, School of Education (Higher Education)

Iowa State University

yiliang@iastate.edu

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yiqilliang/