Matthew Wolfgram
Associate Researcher and Principal Investigator
Matthew Wolfgram, Ph.D., is an anthropologist at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research. His research employs ethnography, participatory action research, linguistics and discourse analysis, and other qualitative research methods to study factors that impact the educational experiences of minoritized college students. Dr. Wolfgram's current study examines STEM experiences of Hmong undergraduates across Wisconsin—studentengagedpar.wceruw.org. His prior research addressed social interaction and gesture in STEM classrooms, and the historiy and contempoary modernization of Ayurvedic medicine in Kerala, South India.
Selected publications from current research:
- Wolfgram, M., Lee, S. J., Her, C., Pheng Pha, K., Smolarek, B. B., & Xiong, C. P. (2025). STEM Asianization and the racialization of the educational experiences of Asian American college students. Race Ethnicity and Education, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2025.2509065
- Wolfgram, M., & Larson, J. (2025). “It was supposed to be an internship”: The consequences of semiotic ambiguity for labor and learning in the new economy. Signs and Society. 13(1), 25-42. https://doi.org/10.1017/sas.2024.6
- Wolfgram, M., & Van Auken, P. (2023). The time politics of refugee resettlement and higher education in the United States. Refuge: Canada's Journal on Refugees, 39(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.41129
- Wolfgram, M., & Kendell, N. (2023). “Piling on the stress”: Low-income students’ experiences in a neoliberal majoritarian university. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 54(4), 392–413. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/10.1111/aeq.12458
- Vang, M., Wolfgram, M., Smolarek, B., Lee, L., Moua, P., Thao, A., ... & Yang, L. (2022). Autoethnographic engagement in participatory action research: Bearing witness to developmental transformations for college student activists. Action Research, 21(1), 104-123. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/10.1177/14767503221145347
- Wolfgram, M., & Ahrens, V. (2022) "One internship, two internships, three internships … more!": Exploring the culture of the multiple internship economy. Journal of Education and Work, 35(2), 139-153. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/10.1080/13639080.2022.2036713
- Wolfgram, M., Vivona, B., & Akram, T. (2021). On the intersectional amplification of barriers to college internships: A comparative case study analysis. Harvard Education Review, 91(4), 457-481. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/10.17763/1943-5045-91.4.457
- Smolarek, B. B., Wolfgram, M., Vang, MN., Xiong, C. Lee, L. Lee, P., Thao, M., Vang, K., Xiong, P. K., Xiong, O., & Xiong, P. (2021). Our HMoob American college paj ntaub: Student-led community-based participatory action research (CBPAR) as counter-invisibility work. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 36(6), 1018–1038. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/10.1080/09518398.2021.1888162
- Wolfgram, M. (2020). Refugees and the audit culture of international higher education in the United States. New Directions for Higher Education, 55–66. https://doi.org/10.1002/he.20382
- Kendall, N., Goerisch, D., Kim, E. C., Vernon, F., & Wolfgram, M. (2020). The true costs of college. Springer Nature.
Selected publications from prior research:
- Sicoli, M. & Wolfgram, M. (2018). Charles Sanders Peirce and anthropological theory. In J. Jackson (ed), Oxford Bibliographies in Anthropology. New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/OBO/9780199766567-0187
- Nathan, M. J., Wolfgram, M., Srisurichan, R., Walkington, C., & Alibali, M. W. (2017). Threading mathematics through symbols, sketches, software, silicon and wood: Teachers produce and maintain cohesion to support STEM integration. The Journal of Educational Research 110(3), 272-293. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/10.1080/00220671.2017.1287046
- Wolfgram, M. (2016). Science talk and scientific reference. Annual Review of Anthropology 45, 33-44. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/10.1146/annurev-anthro-102214-014019
- Wolfgram, M. (2014). Gesture and the communication of mathematical ontologies in classrooms. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 24(2), 216-237. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/10.1111/jola.12049
- Alibali, M. Nathan, M., Wolfgram, M., Church, B., Jacobs, S., Johnson, C. & Knuth, E. (2014). How teachers link representations in mathematics instruction using speech and gesture: A corpus analysis. Cognition and Instruction 32(1), 65-100. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/10.1080/07370008.2013.858161
- Wolfgram, M. (2012). The entextualization of Ayurveda as intellectual property. International Journal of Cultural Property 19, 313–343. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0940739112000197
- Wolfgram, M. (2010). Truth claims and disputes in Ayurveda medical science. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 20(1), 149-165. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/10.1111/j.1548-1395.2010.01054.x
Contact Information
mswolfgram@wisc.edu
Phone: (608) 436-0478
Office: 551S Ed Sciences
Current Projects
Community -Based Learning Coure Development GrantExploring Student Service Member/Veteran STEM Career Persistence Longitudinally and in Military-Centric Contexts
STEM Undergraduate Education for Minoritized Students: A Longitudinal Mixed-Methods Study of the STEM Experiences of Hmong American College Students
