Dr. Carol D. Lee, Edwina S. Tarry Professor Emerita of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University, is president-elect of the National Academy of Education, and member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is an AERA Fellow, past President and Vice-President, and a Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences Fellow. Professor Lee’s ground-breaking work in cultural modeling is the standard for understanding and leveraging the rich linguistic and sociocultural repertoires of African American youth. Her research has unabashedly interrupted deficit discourses and practices that have pathologized minoritized youth, and she has inspired a generation of multi-disciplinary scholars to deliberately foreground culture, race and social contexts in the education of children of color. 

The Distinguished Contributions to Research in Education Award is the premier acknowledgment of outstanding achievement and success in education research. Its purpose is to publicize, motivate, encourage, and suggest models for education research at its best. The winner of the award will be invited to give the Distinguished Contributions to Research in Education Award Lecture at the following Annual Meeting.