2026 AERA Awards and Annual Meeting Info

The 2026 AERA Annual Meeting, held in Los Angeles, CA, from April 8-12, is themed “Unforgetting Histories and Imagining Futures: Constructing a New Vision for Education Research.” The National Council on Measurement in Education holds its annual meeting in conjunction with AERA.

Representation and participation from Education at Illinois faculty, visiting scholars, graduate students, and staff is always robust, and this year is no exception: 

• 145 individuals from the College of Education are attending the annual meeting
• Members of the College community are giving 95 unique presentations
• The College of Education at Illinois boasts nine current AERA Fellows
• Seven faculty members are division officers or part of committee leadership

Find more College of Education 2026 AERA Annual Meeting news and information here.

Additionally, congratulations to these eight Education at Illinois scholars and five alumni for their well-deserved 2026 AERA awards:

Faculty and Staff

Idalia Nuñez

Early Career Award, Bilingual Education Research SIG

This award recognizes an individual in the early stages of their career—within 10 years of receiving the doctoral degree—whose research focuses on the role of bilingualism in education, including bilingual education policy, research, and practice. The Early Career Award Committee and the BER SIG Executive Committee commended the exceptional caliber and impact of Nuñez’s scholarship.

Monica González Ybarra

Early Career Award, Latina/o/x Research Issues SIG

González Ybarra was selected on the criteria of outstanding accomplishments in the area of Latina/o/x issues in education, such as the quantity of scholarship that makes a significant contribution to the field of Latina/o/x issues in education, the quality and rigor of the scholarship, and additional professional accomplishments/contributions to Latina/o/x issues in education.

Paul Bruno

Outstanding Reviewer Award, AERA Open, and Educational Researcher

Bruno was recognized for his exceptional contributions to maintaining the scholarly excellence of AERA journals through peer review. Honorees were chosen for their high-caliber, consistent contributions to a rigorous peer-review process. Bruno was recognized this year for his work as a reviewer for both AERA Open and Educational Researcher.

Justin Kern

Outstanding Reviewer Award, Journal of Education and Behavioral Statistics

Kern was recognized for his exceptional contributions to maintaining the scholarly excellence of AERA journals through peer review. Honorees were chosen for their high-caliber, consistent contributions to a rigorous peer-review process. Kern was recognized this year for his work as a reviewer for the Journal of Education and Behavioral Statistics.

Oliver Tapaha

2026 Bobby Wright Award for Early Career Contributions to Research in Indigenous Education, AERA Indigenous Peoples of the Americas SIG

Tapaha’s nomination was selected for his publications in Educational Researcher and a major award from the Spencer Foundation, among many other accomplishments. His contributions to research in Indigenous education, particularly tribal IRB processes, were also highly regarded. He was nominated for this award by Nathan Tanner, Ph.D. ’25 EPOL.

Devon Hedrick-Shaw

Outstanding Dissertation Award (Third Place), Bilingual Education Research SIG*

Hedrick-Shaw earned honorable mention for his dissertation, Learning to Become Language Policy Actors: A Qualitative Longitudinal Study of Bilingual Special Educators in Synchronous-Service Teacher Preparation.

Leslie Ellis

Foster-Polite Scholarship, Division A

Drawing on her background as a teacher, instructional coach, and professional learning specialist, Leslie is committed to advancing educator preparation and development. Ellis is studying how preparation and professional learning enhance educational practices and systems. Her work aims to improve experiences and outcomes for both children and the educators who serve them.

Aigul Rakisheva

Travel Award, Environmental Education SIG

Rakisheva is a Ph.D. student in Education Policy, Organization & Leadership. Students are selected for this award based on financial need and are targeted towards those who either did not receive complete travel funding or did not receive any funding from their institution.

Alumni Award Recipients

Chezare Warren, '05 C&I

2026 AERA Scholars of Color Mid-Career Contribution Award*

Royel Johnson, ’10 LAS, Ed.M. ’11 EPOL

2026 Division E Trueba Award for Research Leading to the Transformation of the Social Contexts of Education

Elise McCarren, Ph.D. '24 EPSY

AERA-NSF Research Grantee

Taiylor Rayford, Ph.D. '25 EPSY

2026 Division E Outstanding Dissertation Awardee in Human Development

Destiny Williams-Dobosz, Ph.D. '25 EPSY

2026 Outstanding Dissertation Award, Critical Examination of Race, Ethnicity, Class, and Gender SIG

Jiadi Zhang, Ph.D. '25 C&I

2026 Outstanding Dissertation Award, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Education and Research SIG

*For work completed at institutions other than the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. This list may not be complete; please email communications@education.illinois.edu for inclusion.