Dr. Villa shares her appointment between the UTEP Office of Research and Sponsored Projects and the UTEP College of Education where she is director of the Center for Education Research and Policy Studies. She has taught at numerous levels: grades 7 through12, community college, and university in the disciplines of mathematics, science, education, engineering, and computer science. Dr. Villa recently led an NSF-funded grant Latinas in Computer Science and Engineering, an investigation of identity and agency of undergraduate Latina students with co-PIs from the UTEP Colleges of Engineering, Liberal Arts, and Education. Currently, Villa is PI of a U.S. Department of Education grant with co-PIs from the UTEP Colleges of Engineering, Science, and Education. Since 1994, Villa has led and co-led numerous STEM grants from corporate foundations and state and federal agencies, and has publications in refereed journals and edited books. Her research interests include communities of practice, gender, STEM teacher education, transformative learning, and identity.