May 2025

AERA’s Undergraduate Student Education Research Training Workshop was held with 19 promising undergraduate students during the 2025 Annual Meeting in Denver. The cohort was competitively selected to participate from a pool of over 200 applicants. The workshop participants were college sophomores, juniors, and seniors who were conducting education research with faculty members or had an ongoing research project that was part of their undergraduate studies. Many of the students began their studies as part of institutionally sponsored summer research projects or as part of larger research projects. Each student aspires to pursue doctoral studies in the behavioral or social sciences and focus their work on education research.

The workshop consisted of three days of dynamic lectures and other learning activities led by senior scholars and researchers. Sessions focused on research design topics such as conducting research in K–12 schools, mapping and disseminating research, and strategies for translating data into research. Participants received career development advice from senior scholars and had opportunities to network with graduate students, faculty members, and other researchers attending the Annual Meeting.

The undergraduate students shared their research with the AERA Annual Meeting community during a poster fair, providing them with an opportunity to receive immediate feedback from junior and senior scholars. Their work covered a broad range of topics including student belonging, teacher retention, gentrification, higher education, and cultural identity. It spanned from early childhood education to labor force participation, focusing on student-, teacher-, school-, and community-level studies. Much of the work addressed topics across race, gender, and social class. The students’ poster titles are listed in the table below. The poster presentations are currently accessible in the AERA i-Presentation Gallery for those who are registered for the 2025 Annual Meeting. They will become publicly available in August.

“These undergraduate students are poised to make a successful transition from college to graduate study in education research,” said George L. Wimberly, AERA director of professional development and workshop chair. “Their work represents sound, scientific research addressing salient topics in the field. AERA is pleased to offer this workshop to undergraduate students to build their research capacity and to introduce them to the education research community.”

This fall, AERA will begin accepting proposals for the 2026 Undergraduate Workshop, planned for the 2026 Annual Meeting in Los Angeles. Questions can be directed to fellowships@aera.net.