UWO College Paj Ntaub Project
Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF)’s Racial Equity in STEM Education program (Fall 2022-present) and the AmeriCorps Research Evaluation program, this participatory action research (PAR) team explores the experiences of Hmong American undergraduate students across the UW System (UW-Oshkosh, UW-Eau Claire, UW-Madison, and UW-Milwaukee). This project examines identified several factors, such as advising, gatekeeping mechanisms, and racial climate, that affectively redirected and/or pushed out Hmong-identified students from competitive STEM majors.
What is Student-driven Participatory Action Research (PAR)?
Student-driven PAR is critical research that centers students’ experiential knowledge as valid evidence for designing, analyzing, and theorizing research. Students are directly involved in multiple processes of this project where their interpretations and reflections lead and guide the project directions. In addition to developing critical research skills, students’ direct involvement strenghten the research inquries about undergraduate experiences and recognizes students as agentic assets to scholarly knowledge production. PAR is a legitimate research methodology and a powerful tool that counters hierarchial, hegemonic norms in academic institutions and scientific research.
Student Research Team
Andy Yang
Student Researcher
Andy Yang (she/her/hers) is a junior majoring in Accounting at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. She has been a student researcher for the NSF research team at the UW-Oshkosh site since March of 2023. By joining this research team, she hopes to connect more with the Hmong community at the UW-Oshkosh campus.
Pangnra Yang
Student Researcher
Pangnra Yang (she/her/hers) is a sophomore in the pre-nursing program. She is involved in various on-campus organizations and programs including the UWO Quest peer mentor program. Pangnra’s recruitment strategy is rooted in building and sustaining relationships with Hmong students across campus. She has significantly contributed to the team’s recruitment process and partnership across campus.
Seng Yeng Lee
Student Researcher
Seng Yeng Lee (she/her/hers) is a Junior majoring in Communication Studies. She just joined the team in March 2025. She hopes to help with the team and bring more HMoob student awareness about this research. Her goal is to disseminate and share more information about the project to UW-Oshkosh and the broader community.
Research Team Members
Dr. Choua P. Xiong
Principal Investigator (PI)
Faculty in the Hmong Studies program, Choua’s scholarship is driven by her involved with student activism and community organizing. She serve as the lead PI for this team, providing guidance and research training for students interested in activism and institutional changes. Choua has led several action research projects that resulted Hmong Studies programs at UW-Eau Claire and UW-Madison.
Mai Chong Yang
Project Coordinator
Mai Chong Yang (she/her/hers) is a UW-Oshkosh alumna with a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and a Hmong Studies Certificate. She has been a part of the Our HMoob American College Paj Ntauj team for over 2 years with a focus on the impact of the WiscAMP program at UW-Milwaukee. She is also the project coordinator for UW-Oshkosh NSF grant project, an extension of the Paj Ntauj project, as well as the Los Tsev: Cia Siab Traveling Exhibit. Mai Chong hopes this project receives the acknowledgement of Hmoob American college students’ experiences in higher education and continue to advocate and support underrepresented minorities.
Vincent Lee
Research Technician
Vincent Lee (he/him/his) graduated with his Bachelors of Arts in Communication Studies, minor in Radio, TV, Film, and a Hmong Studies Certificate in Spring 2025. He joined the team since March 2023 and has recruited and conducted multiple research interviews. In being part of this research, he has learned a lot about HMoob students experiences and allowing them to have a voice in any space. His future career plan is to work in the film industry.
is majoring in Communication.
Javit Thao
Research Technician
Javit Thao (he/him/his) graduated with his Bachelors of Sciences in biomedical science in spring 2024. His passion lies in psychiatry and informing and teaching others about mental health. Javit has also been involved in other research relating to parasitic worms and is currently researching a long-horned beetle genome. The NSF research team, however, provides an outlet for a fulfilling experience being able to have conversations with and gain a better understanding of Hmong people and culture.
Cheemeng Xiong
Research Specialist (2023-24)
Cheemeng Xiong (he/him/his) has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from UW-Oshkosh. He has been involved with UWO College Paj Ntaub team since the beginning as a lead student researcher. Cheemeng has recruited and interviewed participants for this project. Cheemeng supported the data analysis, coding process, and training new student researchers about student-driven participatory research design. Cheemeng is no longer part of the research team, but has been a major contributor to our project.
Learn about our project!
We are interested in connecting with current students and recent graduates! Please contact Dr. Choua at xiongc@uwosh.edu to learn more about our project.
Critical Vocabularies
College Paj Ntaub: The title of this project started with the UW-Madison’s HMoob American Studies Committee (HMASC) back in 2016. The term “Paj Ntaub,” or story cloth, is a narrative pictographic representation in fabric of the experiences of the HMoob people, which often address their history during the U.S. wars in Southeast Asia and as refugees. We call our study “Our HMoob American College Paj Ntaub” because this study presents the stories of the lives of HMoob American college students. The study uses interviews and observations with HMoob American college students to better understand the college experiences of HMoob American students through their voices and lived experiences.
HMoob: We utilize this spelling HMoob in comparison the common Hmong or the variations of Mong, HMong, Mhong, etc. for various reasons. Firstly, this spelling aims to recognize the two major dialects (White and Green/Leng) of HMoob people in the United States. Secondly, the ending -oob utilizes the Romanized Phonetic/Popular Alphabet (RPA) to indicate the accurate pronunication tone for this ethnic group. To read more visit this report by Ariana Thao.
Hmong Studies
Interdisciplinary Studies Office
Sage Hall 3003
(920) 424-7065
hmongstudies@uwosh.edu
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