April 2026
Sixteen highly promising undergraduate students participated in the Undergraduate Student Education Research Training Workshop during the 2026 Annual Meeting in Los Angeles. The competitive program introduces participants to the field of education research, key areas of inquiry, and pathways for professional development.
Selected through a rigorous application process, this year’s participants were students conducting research with faculty members or pursuing research projects as part of their undergraduate studies. The cohort represented a range of disciplines across the humanities and behavioral and social sciences, including economics, psychology, and sociology. All participants plan to pursue a doctorate degree and focus on an education research topic.
The workshop featured lectures and interactive sessions led by senior scholars on saliant topics such as the use of large-scale federal and state longitudinal data and the connection between research, policy, and practice. Participants also received career advice and had opportunities to engage with graduate students, faculty, and other researchers attending the Annual Meeting.
As part of the program, students presented their work during a poster session, gaining valuable feedback from members of the education research community. Their projects spanned a wide range of topics, including civics education, early childhood literacy, teacher quality, STEM education, and the use of AI in the classroom. Poster titles are listed in the table below. Presentations are currently available in the AERA i-Presentation Gallery for Annual Meeting registrants and will be made publicly available in August.
“The Undergraduate Student Workshop is key to AERA’s efforts to build research capacity and support professional development,” said George L. Wimberly, AERA director of professional development and workshop chair. “These students represent the next generation of scholars advancing rigorous education research.”
AERA will begin accepting proposals this fall for the 2027 Undergraduate Workshop, which will be held at the 2027 Annual Meeting in Toronto. Questions can be directed to fellowships@aera.net.
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2026 Undergraduate Workshop Participants
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Name
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Institution
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Poster Title
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Liz Andrade Varela
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Davidson College
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Lived Experiences and the Crisis of (Dis)belief in Education: The Reality at Public Schools in Salvador, Brazil
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Salma Baksh
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Smith College
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Why is Youth Civic Engagement So Low? Civics Amnesia and Other Educational Barriers
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Catalina Bonanata
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New York University
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Everyday Science and Gendered Practices in Latine Families of Young Children
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Caludia Castruita
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University of California – Los Angeles
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En sus propias palabras: Understanding the Postsecondary Experiences of Formerly Incarcerated Latinas in California
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Sam Ferraez Diaz
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University of California – Los Angeles
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“No one wants to be within this system”: The Importance of Critical Consciousness in Reclaiming a Liberated Identity Post Incarceration
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LaNaiah Frieson
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Duke University
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Accessibility as a Determinant of STEM Persistence in Early Education
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Cal Kreuter
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Occidental College
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Mapping Educational Inequality: The COVID-19 Impact on St. Louis Public Education
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Iris Lazo-Cruz
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University of the District of Columbia
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Propelling Youth Towards Anti-Racist Action: The Role of Family and School Ethnic Racial Socialization
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Henry Lee
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Northwestern University
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Different Ways of Coping, Different Ways of Learning: How Adaptation Shapes Transferable Skills in Military Conscription
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Evelyn Li
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University of Wisconsin – Madison
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Navigating Early Language Development: The Role of Maternal Education and Cash Assistance in Low-Income Families
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Nora Ngo Mitchell
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Harvard University
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“The Lifeblood of Our Community:” Understanding Historic Black High Schools & Race-Restrictive Education Policy
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Madison Peroutka
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Vanderbilt University
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Evaluating Approaches to Advising Students’ Studying Experiences: An Application of Language Analysis Techniques
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Joanna Rydberg
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Vanderbilt University
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Exploring Features of Book Difficulty in Read Alouds with Preschool Children
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Timothy Sims
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Vanderbilt University
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They Know What They Need: Student Perceptions of “Good Teachers”
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Helena Tran
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University of California – Irvine
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Using AI to Combat Math Anxiety
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Rachel Williams
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Texas A&M University
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Developmental Language Disorder: Exploring the Diagnostic Accuracy of Parent & Teacher Reports of Bilingual Children’s Language Proficiency
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