August 2017
Earlier this month, the American Educational Research Association received a five-year $4.3 million award from the National Science Foundation to support the work of the AERA Grants Program to advance knowledge and capacity building related to STEM using large-scale national and international data resources. This award will allow the program to invest in rigorous research and promising scholars, strengthen advanced methodological skills among early career scholars, promote data use and sharing, and emphasize better connecting research to public and policy communities.
With the award, the Grants Program will focus on three broad areas:
1. Advancing Knowledge and Capacity Building on STEM Learning and Learning Environments—The Grants Program will continue to provide funds for dissertation and research grants, along with professional development and training. This new award will include research using statewide longitudinal administrative data systems.
2. Fostering an Infrastructure for Innovation—The Grants Program will emphasize data sharing, replication research, and appropriate scientific use of new forms of big data. This new NSF award continues work with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development on use of administrative data consonant with safe, secure, and responsible access and the partnership with the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research on data sharing and archiving of NSF-funded projects.
3. Promoting Communications and Quality Research Practices for Broader Impact—The Grants Program will expand to include science communications institutes for early career scholars engaged in STEM-related research as well as develop designed opportunities to communicate research to public audiences. Also, the AERA Virtual Research Learning Center will be used to broaden the research of the program’s capacity building to a wider community of early career researchers.
By strategically targeting these areas, AERA will work to improve the quality and impact of education research in STEM. In addition, funds will continue the Grant Program’s professional development activities and complementary mentoring for awardees.
“AERA is proud of its positive track record in providing grant opportunities to doctoral students and early career scholars, while emphasizing professional development and building thriving research infrastructure through our grants program,” said AERA Executive Director Felice J. Levine.
“This NSF award represents more than additional research funds,” Levine said. “It solidifies our efforts in advancing STEM knowledge throughout the world and strengthening our scientific research community to foster the education science workforce of tomorrow.”
Since its inception in the 1990s, the AERA Grants Program has supported education research scientists and other scholars from related fields and disciplines in conducting studies of education and STEM learning. A governing board and project team lead the AERA Grants Program with expertise in advancing scientific knowledge to provide effective oversight and management of these efforts.
Levine serves as Principal Investigator of the Grants Program, and George Wimberly, AERA Director of Professional Development, is Co-Principal Investigator. Governing Board members include Margaret Burchinal (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Louis Gomez (University of California, Los Angeles), Larry V. Hedges (Northwestern University), Heather C. Hill (Harvard University), Sarah Theule Lubienski (Indiana University), Chandra Muller (University of Texas at Austin), Laura W. Perna (University of Pennsylvania), William H. Schmidt (Michigan State University), Barbara Schneider (Michigan State University), and Deborah Lowe Vandell (University of California, Irvine).
To learn more about the AERA Grants Program, click here.