The Special Interest Group for Research in Mathematics Education (SIG-RME) of AERA invites nominations for the Karen King Future Leader Award. The Karen King Future Leader Award recognizes graduate students, who—following in Dr. King's scholarly footsteps—demonstrate exemplary promise as future leaders of mathematics education research. The award includes a stipend of $500, announcement in the SIG-RME newsletter and on the SIG-RME website and recognition at the AERA 2026 Annual Conference.
The graduate student must hold student status in January 2026 and have successfully passed their qualifying exam or equivalent. They will be nominated by a faculty member or administrator. Nominations are encouraged from both domestic and international scholars. The following materials must be submitted for a nomination to be considered:
All nomination materials must be submitted electronically no later than 11:59 pm ET on December 1, 2025 to the Awards Chair. Nomination letters and the student statement should explain how the nominee demonstrates exemplary promise as a future leader of mathematics education in the following areas: 1) academic innovation in the areas of equity; 2) community engagement; and 3) teaching and research.
Nominations will be evaluated in relation to the three criteria above as described in the nomination letters and statement and listed in the graduate student's CV, which should include: 1) scholarly/creative work published and/or in progress in journals, open platforms, or institutional repositories; 2) specific teaching, service, and research efforts and activities that realize diversity, equity, inclusion, and community engagement initiatives; and 3) teaching, research, or service awards and grants. An awards committee composed of the Awards Board Member, the Senior Graduate Student Representative and the Communications Board Member of SIG/RME will decide on the award. The nomination packet must be received by 11:59 pm ET on December 1, 2025. Electronic submissions to Karen King Nomination are required. Contact Patricia Buenrostro at pbuenr1@uic.edu with any questions.
In 2001, the Special Interest Group for Research in Mathematics Education established the "SIG-RME Early Career Publication Award." The purpose of the Early Career Publication Award is to recognize an outstanding mathematics education research publication by an early career scholar. The award includes a stipend of $500, announcement in the SIG-ME newsletter and on the SIG-RME website and recognition at the AERA 2026 Conference. The first award was presented in 2002, and the most recent award was presented to Dr. Mallika Scott. The 2026 Early Career Publication Award nomination is due no later than Saturday, November 15, 2025.
Nomination Guidelines:
The publication being nominated for the SIG-RME Early Career Publication Award may be based on the dissertation work of the nominee or other recent research the nominee has conducted. The nominee should be ether the single author or the first author (in the case of a jointly authored paper) and the contributor of the majority of the work done on the paper. Only peer reviewed research publications are eligible for nomination; the award will not be given for a dissertation. The nominee should be considered pre-tenure at their institution or have received their doctoral degree in mathematics education no earlier than 6 years prior to the nomination deadline (i.e., no earlier than November 15, 2019 for this year's nomination). Current SIG/RME board members are not eligible. The publication being nominated will be judged according to the following criteria:
Nomination Packets
Nominations should include (and are restricted to) the following:
Nominations will be considered by a sub-committee of the Executive board, consisting of the Awards, Events, and Electronic Board Members. The decisions of that committee will be final. Please send nomination materials electronically no later than Saturday, November 15, 2025 to Early Career Nominations. Electronic submissions are required. Direct questions to Patricia Buenrostro at pbuenr1@uic.edu.
*Note that no award was given in 2010 because no scholars were nominated for the award.