June 2020
AERA has announced the recipients of the 2020–21 AERA Minority Dissertation Fellowship in Education Research Awards. This highly selective program, targeted for members of racial and ethnic groups historically underrepresented in education research, offers dissertation fellowships to outstanding minority graduate students and provides mentoring and guidance toward the completion of their doctoral studies. An important aim of the fellowship is to enhance the racial and ethnic diversity of faculty, scholars, and researchers who study topics in education research.
The six new fellows are in the final stages of their dissertation studies across a broad range of topics, such as beliefs about white and African American job-seeking women, early childhood education leadership, experiences of diverse Black and Latinx people with STEM, the history of a fugitive science society, racial disproportionalities in school discipline, and historical perspectives on policing on university campuses. Many of the studies examine racial issues in hiring and capacity development, federal and organizational policy, and social justice.
Yalile Suriel Stony Brook University SUNY "Campus Eyes: University Surveillance and the Policing of Brown and Black Student Activism in the Age of Mass Incarceration, 1960-1990"
These scholars use quantitative methods to analyze data from large-scale datasets and administrative data; conduct interviews with students; and apply rigorous archival and oral history methods in their study designs and analyses. It is anticipated that these studies will make a significant contribution to education research and policy, spanning early childhood, K–12, postsecondary education, and the workforce.
Fellows are awarded a $19,000 stipend to complete their dissertation research and training. The fellows will also receive up to $1,000 for travel to attend the 2021 AERA Annual Meeting in Orlando, where they will meet with the Minority Dissertation Fellowship Selection Committee and other senior scholars as part of a mentoring and career development workshop. The awardees will present their work in a poster session during the 2021 Annual Meeting.
Recent fellows are now faculty members at leading research institutions, including Arizona State University, Georgia State University, the University of Chicago, the University of Delaware, and the University of Houston. Other recent fellows are conducting research at university-based research centers or applied research organizations. Their work has appeared in several peer-reviewed journals.
AERA Council established the Minority Dissertation Fellowship Program in Education Research in 1991 to support outstanding graduate students as they develop their research and begin their careers. AERA and its leadership are committed to providing a program of capacity building and training opportunities for scholars from racial and ethnic groups historically underrepresented in education research.
“This year’s fellows are conducting groundbreaking research that will expand our knowledge of schools and the workplace as well as provide a history of significant events in education” said George L. Wimberly, AERA director of professional development and diversity officer. “We are pleased and excited to support this research and help build research capacity among these outstanding graduate students.”
This is a highly competitive fellowship that funds the strongest research on topics across education, school and schooling processes, and student experiences. The selection committee seeks proposals with the potential to bring grounded, insightful, and informed perspectives to the field.
For further details about the program, please email the AERA Fellowships Program at fellowships@aera.net.