School of Psychological Science alumna Mayahuel Garcia-Harper explores the effects of biophilic spaces in classroom settings
Mayah Garcia-Harper
By Jessica Florescu, CLA Student Writer - November 10, 2025
Before starting her college education at Oregon State, Mayahuel Garcia-Harper, ‘25, had a different plan. Her experience growing up on a farm outside of Portland led her to considering zoology, specifically at Colorado State University.
“I was always a huge animal lover,” said Garcia-Harper. “I was exploring the natural areas around my family’s farm, identifying insects, reptiles, and anything else that moved. I felt a connection between me and critters of all shapes and sizes.”
But the COVID-19 Pandemic derailed Garcia-Harper’s plans. She decided to defer her enrollment at Colorado State and take a gap year. Over fall 2020, Garcia-Harper went on a three month backpacking trip through Utah and Wyoming, led by the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS).
“Taking that time in the wilderness was the best thing that I could have done,” said Garcia-Harper. “I proved to myself that I could accomplish physically and mentally challenging things. My self-confidence grew exponentially.”
Returning to Oregon from isolation in December 2020, Garcia-Harper considered reapplying to college. There was still uncertainty in 2021 as to whether in-person classes would be offered, so Garcia-Harper decided to stick close to home and enroll in Oregon State’s zoology program at the College of Science.
Garcia-Harper began her first year at OSU as part of the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program, managed by the Educational Opportunities Program (EOP), and lived in Sackett Hall while classes were still part in-person and online. Although Garcia-Harper was fascinated with animal behavior studies, she ended up switching her major to psychology, after a stint in the University Exploratory Studies program, to gain more of a school-life balance.
Garcia-Harper explained, “I was doing really well in my classes, but my social life struggled, because I needed to lock in so much with school. I was sometimes overwhelmed with the STEM curriculum and that was when I started looking into different avenues to get myself to the same end goal: learning more about the strong connection that animals have with humans and vice versa.”
Garcia-Harper began working as a research assistant in the Human-Animal Interaction Lab through the College of Agricultural Sciences, where she was able to explore animal behavior, cognition, and attachment theory, facilitating training sessions with family pets and children.
As a student in the School of Psychological Science, Garcia-Harper was introduced to how manmade and natural spaces can impact people’s behavior and cognition. Through Professor Sabine Huemer’s Conservation Psychology (PSY 492) course, students learn more about what motivates people to practice sustainable actions. Garcia-Harper connected these concepts to the interactions between humans and nature in relation to built environments.
Garcia-Harper joined Dr. Huemer’s Nature Engagement Studies (NEST) Lab as a research assistant and for her Honors College thesis, she explored the learning outcomes of increased daylight, greenery, and natural elements (wood) in K-12 classroom settings.
“There isn’t much previous research available that looks at this specifically in educational settings,” said Garcia-Harper. “The biophilia hypothesis states that humans have an innate desire to connect with the natural world. It has been suggested that incorporating natural elements in indoor settings can improve things like productivity, learning, even happiness in humans. I was investigating if this can be seen in educational settings.”
Garcia-Harper was also partially inspired to explore this hypothesis after working in her mother’s early childhood center, Escuela Viva, as a young adult. “I worked with children from ages six months through five years old and observed how our classroom turtles, named Mertle and Gertle, helped facilitate a calmer transition that positively shifted the kids’ focus when their parents dropped them off.”
Now, she’s returned to working at Escuela Viva for the time being before finding a Ph.D. program that’s right for her interests in environmental psychology.
For current students, Garcia-Harper recommends becoming part of campus EOP programs to find community and build a support system. For those studying psychology specifically, explore all of the different facets of psychology and what careers are available after graduating.
“I knew I didn’t want to become a therapist, mainly because of my personal difficulties of compartmentalizing things paired with being highly empathetic,” explained Garcia-Harper. “But that doesn’t mean you have to either when majoring in psychology. The field is broad and diverse and I encourage students to explore and become self-aware of their own interests for the future, in order to find the best personal career path.”