AERA Community Voices features the perspectives of AERA members and Annual Meeting attendees as they share what makes the AERA community meaningful to them. Through their experiences, these conversations highlight the connections, collaboration, mentorship, and shared commitment to advancing education research that define AERA. Hear firsthand how being part of the AERA community supports professional growth, inspires new ideas, and fosters lasting relationships across the field.
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University of Central Florida | Member since 2019
“AERA is a great way to connect with people and talk about policy and other types of areas of education we don't typically get to work with.” Access the transcript - Megan Wiedbusch
Los Angeles Unified School District; UCLA | Member since 2007
"AERA is a magnificent organization. In fact, it's the premier organization, educational organization in the country, especially for young aspiring educators, researchers. This is the place to meet mentors." Access the transcript - Octavio Pescador
Montclair State University | Member since 1999
"It’s also important to engage in this work so that educational research is part of the conversation in relationship to how we move through the world." Access the transcript - Theodorea Regina Berry
Brandon University | Member since 2015
"While in grad school, I saw the people whose work I was reading, the authors that are shaping the field of motivation, self-regulated learning. And so now as a faculty member, I continue to connect with people." Access the transcript - Aloysius Anyichie
Clemson University | Member since 2025
"I believe that we have a lot of great minds coming to AERA, so when I present my ideas, I get very important feedback to be able to refine and improve my research." Access the transcript - Augustine Owusu Achiaw
George Washington University | Member since 2025
"Whenever I come to AERA, I find another perspective, another approach, another methodology to hone my own research and to contribute more to the field." Access the transcript - Krishna Cart
University of Pennsylvania | Graduate Student
"Thank you AERA for expanding our opportunities to get involved in educational research and making things possible for educators like me." Access the transcript - LeNaya White
Florida State University | Graduate Student
"Those moments where the person that you have basically read throughout grad school, you met them, you have a coffee with them, you share your smile, your joy, that's AERA." Access the transcript - Bhushan Dahal
University of Arizona | Member since 2025
"It's been just great to reconnect, talk to more people, meet new people, look at new potential collaborations that exist that we can foster together." Access the transcript - Ryan Sermon
"I have to thank AERA for these spaces and for bringing this community together." Access the transcript - Ruth Cuasialpud-Canchala
Pepperdine University | Member since 2025
"AERA has offered me that safe space and that community that I already knew would be there where we take care of each other." Access the transcript - Meya Hargett
Ignite Jamaica Fund; St. Joseph's University | Educator and Faculty Member
"It's also community and finding community and like-minded people that you can learn from formally in sessions and then also informally just through dialogue and discourse." Access the transcript - Kimisha Simpson
University of Kentucky | Member since 2009
"I always view AERA as a really, really critical resource for me." Access the transcript - Lin Xiang
The Ohio State University | Member since 2005
"We get so siloed that we don't often connect across the field with that breadth and depth, and AERA allows you to do that." Access the transcript - Penny Pasque
Boston University | Member since 2020
"Being at AERA is, for me, a family reunion." Access the transcript - Azaria Cunningham
University of North Texas | Member since 2024
"We can get so much out of each other that we really want to collaborate with each other as well as also find our research interests through AERA itself." Access the transcript - Arnob Kumar Saha
University of Missouri | Member since 1983
"One of the best things about being at AERA is that we learn from one another and we ask hard questions of one another." Access the transcript - Christi Bergin
Molloy University | Member since 2014
"I felt like I had an academic home and community for the first time." Access the transcript - Chandler Patton Miranda
University of Wisconsin - Madison | Member since 2023
"It overwhelms me with joy just having a space that we can all come together and just learn and be a nerd and socialize in a way that is only unique to AERA every single time." Access the transcript - Devin Henry
Coppin State University | Undergraduate Student
"Being an undergrad, being around nothing but graduates and researchers and people that I actually cite in my papers is like completely mind-molding." Access the transcript - Ashley Davis
Pennsylvania State University | Member since 2025
"Coming here, I've been able to meet so many people that can help me with my research, whose research I can help with, and I've been able to connect with people that I haven't been able to meet in person. So I definitely feel rejuvenated, and I'm ready to just hit the ground running." Access the transcript - ML Brown
Yale University | Member since 2019
"And that's why networking at AERA is so impactful. It changed my life, gave me a new path, and I'm extremely happy." Access the transcript - Aakash Chowkase
Kent State University | Member since 2023
"I think AERA is just a good place to be. Yeah, it can be so large a community but it's also small enough to find your connection." Access the transcript - Iyanu Olalowo
Claremont Graduate University | Member since 2023
"AERA gives us a space, a time to share our voice, and then also knowing that this kind of work is not done in isolation." Access the transcript - Melody Isabela
Cleveland State University | Member since 2026
"I come to AERA to be a community with people, to hear about the other research that overlaps with mine and to build those networks so that we can have cross-state collaboration." Access the transcript - Quinci Teer
"We're going to be the change, and I know in 20 years, I'm going to be part of the change." Access the transcript - Anastasia Roddy
Lund University | Member since 2003
"The value of AERA to the research field is that we who do research, we can come together and present our research in a very smooth way." Access the transcript - Mona Holmqvist
University of South Carolina | Member since 2025
"Between the SIG and the Division, I've found my home right now." Access the transcript - Gaurav Harshe