2026 GSE AERA Presentations

April 8-12, 2026 | Los Angeles, California

Unforgetting Histories and Imagining Futures: Constructing a New Vision for Education Research

Below is a complete list of faculty, staff, students and alumni from the Graduate School of Education and other departments at the University at Buffalo presenting at the AERA annual meeting. 

Name Title of Research or Presentation Affiliation Link to Learn More
Oluwabunmi Blessing Alao
  • "Reframing Civic Education In A Post-COVID World: A Systematic Review of Scholarship (2020–2025)"
  • "Effects of Reading Comprehension Interventions on the Reading Outcomes of Middle School Students with Dyslexia"
 Student Presentation Information
Azzah Alzahrani
  • "Exploring the Role of AI in Enhancing EFL Students’ Academic Writing and Self-Regulated Learning"
  • "Exploring Self-Regulated Learning Strategies in AI-Supported EFL Writing"
 Student Presentation Information
Blythe E. Anderson, PhD
  • "Effects of a Multicomponent Intervention in Upper-Elementary Grades: Findings from a Quasi-Experiment and Conceptual Replication"
 Faculty Presentation Information
Tasha Austin, PhD
  • "Mathematics Ability as Property: Examining Mathematics Reform as a Racial Project Through Raciolinguistic Genealogy"
  • Chair and Session Organizer: "Where in the World are World Languages?"
  • "Where is World Language Education in Teacher Education?"
 Faculty Presentation
Information
Fabian Barch, PhD
  •  Chair: "Leadership and Faculty Development in International Education"
  • "Temporary, Not Trivial: Measuring Differing Associations Between Unhoused Students’ Temporary Housing Accommodations and Their Learning"
  • "What works where? Identifying Pedagogical Practices to Optimize Data Literacy Learning in Singapore and America"
 Faculty Presentation Information
Maureen Bender "Imagining Futures for Early Literacy and Responsible AI: Results from CELaRAI’s Year 1 Exploratory Study" Student Presentation Information
Daphanie Bibbs
  • "We Ain’t Going If She Can’t Come With Me: An Auto-ethnography of a Black Single Mama who Walked Across EVERY Stage with her Daughter"
 Student Presentation Information
Christopher P. Brown, PhD
  • "The Road Less Traveled: Early Childhood Teachers' Rare Ascent to the Superintendency and Its Impact on Leadership"
  • Chair and Presenting Author: "Teacher Education and Professional Development, A Case Study Examining Second Grade Teachers and Their Students in Texas Sensemaking of Instruction"
 Faculty Presentation Information
Zhuoyun Cai
  • "Young Children’s Perception and Interaction with Intelligent Agents: A Scoping Review"
  • "Preparing Young Children for an AI Future: What Two Decades of CT Research Tell Us"
  • "Responsible AI in K–12 Education: A Policy Review"
  • "AI Integration in Early Childhood Education: Perspectives and Imagining Futures from Pre-service Teachers"
 Student Presentation Information
Yunjeong Chang, PhD
  • "Towards the Critical Use of AI in Foreign Language Learning: Insights from AI-assisted Songwriting"
 Faculty Presentation Information
Nathan J. Daun-Barnett, PhD
  • "A Perfect Match: How Demographic Matching in Peer Mentoring Affects Academic Outcomes"
 Faculty Presentation Information

Weiyi Ding
  • Chair: "Science Teaching and Learning"
  • "The Impact of an NIH-Funded Project on Students’ STEM Self-Efficacy, Science Identity, and Career Interest"
 Student Presentation Information
Courtney Doxbeck, PhD
  • "A Freirean Reckoning with AI and Capitalism in the Pursuit of Humanizing Education"
 Alumni Presentation Information
Simone Fried, PhD
  • "Toolkits for Centralization: Logics of School District Takeover"
 Faculty Presentation Information
Finn Goehrig
  • "From Remembering to Repositioning: A Returning Youth’s Languaging of Memory, Belonging, and Future Possibility"
 Student Presentation Information
Claribel González
  • "Seguimos en La Brega: How the concept of “La Brega/Bregando” can be used as an analytic tool in analyzing (social studies) teacher practice"
 Student Presentation Information
Rubén A. González, PhD
  • "“You’re Representing a Movement Larger Than Yourself”: Counter-Storytelling and Solidarity-Building in the Teaching of Palestine"
 Faculty Presentation Information
Junye Guo
  • "Reimagining World Language Teaching: AI Integration and Professional Development for K-12 Educators"
 Student Presentation Information
Sarah A. Hale
  • "Resisting Neoliberal Narratives: Student Activists and Palestinian Solidarity"
  • "Stories of success in STEM: Composite counter-narratives of non-dominant pathways for minoritized students"
  • Presenter: Division J Fireside Chat: "Unwriting the Hidden Curriculum: Unforgetting Histories, Reimagining Doctoral Futures"
  • Participant, Chair and Author: "The Grad School Escape Room: Decoding Doctoral Survival"
 Student Presentation Information
Seong Won Han, PhD
  • "Socioeconomic Inequality in Digital Learning Skills: Cross-National Evidence from Home and School Digital Environments"
 Faculty Presentation Information
Jingning He
  • "Exploring CFL Teacher Identity through Podcasts: Positioning, Agency, and Social Justice in Cross-Cultural Contexts"
 Student Presentation Information
Kylee Healy
  • "Exploring Cross-cultural Predictors of Creativity as a Value-added Construct: Comparative Multi-level Analysis Using PISA Data"
 Student Presentation Information
Ngo Hna
  • "“Invisible Newcomers”: First-Generation Burmese Refugee Students Life After High School"
 Student Presentation Information
Christopher Hoadley, PhD
  • "Novel Pathways to Sustained Equitable Computing Education"
  • "Responsible AI in K–12 Education: A Policy Review"
 Faculty Presentation Information
Ari Hock, PhD
  • "Strengthening Pre-Service Elementary Science Education with Community Storytelling"
  • "Responsible AI in K–12 Education: A Policy Review"
 Post Doc Presentation Information
Seyyedeh Mobina Hosseini
  • "Weaving Relational Approaches in World Language Teacher Learning: Embodiment, Creative Expression and Connection"
  • "Helping Overwhelmed Teachers Become Empowered: Language Teacher Educators Leading Professional Development in NYS Standards Reform"
 Student Presentation Information
Megan Holland Iantosca, PhD
  • "Erasing gender and race demographics: A critical discourse analysis of law school class profiles"
  • "Connections, Expectations and Fit: Institutional Agents and Student Success"
  • "Racial Integration, Belonging and Gaps Across States, Districts and Schools"
  • "Stories of success in STEM: Composite counter-narratives of non-dominant pathways for minoritized students"
  • "Broken Links in the Pathway from School to Career"
  • "Review of Educational Research: Closed Editorial Board Meeting"
  • "Investment, Inputs and Hoarding: The Role of Parents and Families on Status and Achievement"
 Faculty Presentation Information
Dawnavyn James
  • "Bearing Witness: Protecting Black History Within Black Nonfiction Picture Books"
 Student Presentation Information
Hyeonji Jeong
  • "Does Internet Use Influence Science Performance Directly and Indirectly Through ICT Self-Efficacy and Science Self-Efficacy?"
 Student Presentation Information
Brittany Jones, PhD
  • "Black Students’ Emotions Matter Too! Examining How Black Students Feel when Learning Black Historical Suffering"
  • "Examining Black Students’ Emotions and Feelings when Learning Histories of Black Historical Suffering"
  • "Analyzing Emotions and Affect in the Curriculum: A Critical Discourse Analysis"
  • Chair: "Teaching History SIG Business Meeting"
  • "A Critical Discourse Analysis of Emotions and Affect in U.S. History Curriculum Frameworks"
 Faculty Presentation Information
Tiffany Karalis Noel, PhD
  • "A Freirean Reckoning with AI and Capitalism in the Pursuit of Humanizing Education"
 Faculty Presentation Information
Erin Kearney, PhD
  • "Weaving Relational Approaches in World Language Teacher Learning: Embodiment, Creative Expression and Connection"
  • "“The reality of teaching is that…we don't get our own classroom”: Language teacher identity through intra-action and subjectivity"
  • "Helping Overwhelmed Teachers Become Empowered: Language Teacher Educators Leading Professional Development in NYS Standards Reform"
  • "Examining Asset-Based Pedagogical Development for Preservice Language Teachers: Theory into Practice"
 Faculty Presentation Information
Akshay Kedari
  • "A Bioecological Systems View of Rural Indian High-Ability Students’ College Experiences: A Longitudinal Study"
 Student Presentation Information
Heather Killen, PhD
  • Chair: "Community-Informed STEM Learning"
  • "Contextualizing Institutional Data with Lived Experience: Collaborative mapping to catalyze data science learning and engagement"
 Post Doc Presentation Information
Sunha Kim, PhD
  • "Does Internet Use Influence Science Performance Directly and Indirectly Through ICT Self-Efficacy and Science Self-Efficacy?"
  • "Does AI Use Influence Students’ Academic Performance Directly and Indirectly Through Mental Health?"
  • "The Impact of an NIH-Funded Project on Students’ STEM Self-Efficacy, Science Identity, and Career Interest"
 Faculty Presentation Information
LaGarrett J. King, PhD
  • "Stepping into the (Cess) Pool While the Water Is Stirring: Deconstructing/Reconstructing Black Pedagogical Activism Narratives"
 Faculty Presentation Information
Iman Lathan
  • "From Recruitment to Disposability: Mapping the Temporal and Educational Pathways of Black Women in Division I Basketball"
  • "The Secondary Diaspora: Black Women in NCAA Division I Basketball"
 Student Presentation Information
Jaekyung Lee, PhD
  • "Exploring Cross-cultural Predictors of Creativity as a Value-added Construct: Comparative Multi-level Analysis Using PISA Data"
  • Session Organizer: "Reframing Global Education: Internationalization and Transnational Perspectives"
  • Session Organizer: "Language, Culture, and Citizenship: Global Education for Diverse Communities"
  • Session Organizer: "Leadership and Faculty Development in International Education"
  • Chair: "AERA International Relations Committee: Closed Meeting Honoring International Travel Award Recipients"
  • "What Works (and Doesn’t Work) for Closing Achievement Gaps? Comparative Meta-Analysis of Educational Intervention Approaches"
  • "What works where? Identifying Pedagogical Practices to Optimize Data Literacy Learning in Singapore and America"
 Faculty Presentation Information
Seoyeon Lee
  • "Collaborative Reflection in Teacher Education: A Duoethnographic Approach to Enriching Educators’ Experiences"
 Student Presentation Information
Danielle Vegas Lewis, PhD
  • "Stories of success in STEM: Composite counter-narratives of non-dominant pathways for minoritized students"
 Alumni Presentation Information
Ziqi Li
  • "“The reality of teaching is that…we don't get our own classroom”: Language teacher identity through intra-action and subjectivity"
  • Chair "From Theory to Transformation: Preparing Justice-Oriented Educators Through Critical Literacy, Equity, and Practice" 
  • "Examining Asset-Based Pedagogical Development for Preservice Language Teachers: Theory into Practice"
 Student Presentation Information
Hui Hsuan (Shana) Liu
  • "Influence of Extracurricular Resources on Mathematics Achievement: PISA 2022 Study"
 Student Presentation Information
Qianqian Ma
  • "Scoping Peer Reviewed Journals for Supporting Multimodal Publishing in Literacy and Language Education"
  • "Meaning in the Making: Revealing the Convergence of Languaging, Semiosis, Knowledge, and Culture in Digital Video Composing"
  • "Constructing Cross-Cultural Meanings Across Nested Timescales Through Digital Video Composing in an EFL Context"
  • "Positioning a Volunteer Chinese Teacher in an American Heritage School: A Narrative Inquiry Approach"
  • "Integrating GenAI into Lesson Planning: A Study of AI Literacy Development in EFL Teacher Education"
 Student Presentation Information
Preston Martin
  • "Curriculum Matters: Math Growth Among Low-Performing Elementary Students in Grades 3–5"
 Student Presentation Information
Halley A. Maza, PhD
  • "Exploring Social Emotional Learning in Action Research: Teacher Residents’ Inquiries & Identities in Urban Contexts"
 Post Doc Presentation Information
Mary B. McVee, PhD
  • "Visual Artifacts as Scaffolds in Multilingual Third-grade Classrooms: How Do Visual Scaffolds Support Engineering and Translanguaging"
  • "Positioning Theory as an Expansive Lens for Research on Digital Literacies"
  • Participant: "We Got You, You Got Us: Workshopping Mentoring Practices within the Social Context of Education"
 Faculty Presentation Information
Blessed Aspinas Mhungu
  • "Enhancing Integrated STEM Instruction Through Teacher Professional Development: A Systematic Review"
  • "Developing AI Literacy Through Teacher Professional Development in STEM: Design Principles for Equitable Integration in K-12 Contexts"
  • "AI for Enhancing Spatial Thinking in South African Urban Planning Education"
 Student Presentation Information
Monica L. Miles, PhD
  • "Black Students’ Perceptions of Mathematics Teacher Treatment on their Mathematics Motivation"
  • "Who’s Writing About Black Girls? Analyzing Author Positionality in Studies of Black Girls in STEM"
  • "“I Was Told I Was Too Bubbly”: Equity Expansions Through a Virtual Geosciences Educator Network"
  • Discussant: "Frameworks for STEM Equity in a Time of Polycrisis: Navigating Tensions in Theory, Practice, and Policy"
 Alumni Presentation Information
Timothy Monreal, PhD
  • "From Awareness to Action"
  • "“The reality of teaching is that…we don't get our own classroom”: Language teacher identity through intra-action and subjectivity"
  • Session Organizer: "Quantitative and Mixed Methods Research in Social Studies Education"
  • Session Organizer: "And some will speak…"
  • "Examining Asset-Based Pedagogical Development for Preservice Language Teachers: Theory into Practice"
  • Discussant: "Theorizing Social Studies Education from Below: Civic Knowledge, Praxis, and Possibility from Los de Abajo"
  • Chair: "Business Meeting - Social Studies Research SIG"
  • Session Organizer: "Emotion, Justice, and Curriculum"
  • Chair and Discussant: "Critical Dialogues in Latinx Education"
 Faculty Presentation Information
Fatemeh Mozaffari
  • "On “Heaviness”, Racialized Emotions, and “Big” Emergencies: Community Knowledge and Education for Social Justice Amid Climate Coloniality"
  • "International Mothers in Motion: Navigating and Supporting Their Children’s Educational Journeys in the U.S."
  • "From Remembering to Repositioning: A Returning Youth’s Languaging of Memory, Belonging, and Future Possibility"
 Student Presentation Information
Tukhbita Afroz Nawmi
  • "Influence of Extracurricular Resources on Mathematics Achievement: PISA 2022 Study"
 Student Presentation Information
Anthonia Ojeh
  • "Imagining Futures for Early Literacy and Responsible AI: Results from CELaRAI’s Year 1 Exploratory Study"
 Student Presentation Information
Lianzi Ouyang
  • "A Comparative Study between Chinese and Indian International Students in United States Higher Education"
 Student Presentation Information
Lariba Wilson Pakmoni
  • "(Re)thinking Climate Change and Sustainability Education: A Case Study of Junior High Schools in Ghana"
 Student Presentation Information
Yeshi Paljor
  • "Designing Meaningful Computing Education for Diaspora Youth"
 Student Presentation Information
Chris Proctor, PhD
  • "Preparing Young Children for an AI Future: What Two Decades of CT Research Tell Us"
 Faculty Presentation Information
Dris Prophete
  • "Does Internet Use Influence Science Performance Directly and Indirectly Through ICT Self-Efficacy and Science Self-Efficacy?"
 Student Presentation Information
Khadejah Ray, PhD
  • "Erasing gender and race demographics: A critical discourse analysis of law school class profiles"
 Post Doc Presentation Information
Ryan M. Rish, PhD
  • "From Remembering to Repositioning: A Returning Youth’s Languaging of Memory, Belonging, and Future Possibility"
 Faculty Presentation Information
Stacy Scheuneman
  • "From Remembering to Repositioning: A Returning Youth’s Languaging of Memory, Belonging, and Future Possibility"
 Student Presentation Information
Alexandra Schindel, PhD
  • Chair: "Environmental Education-SIG Business Meeting"
  • Discussant: "Emotions, identities, and engagement in climate change education"
 Faculty Presentation Information
Young Sik Seo, PhD
  • "Perception and Use of Active Learning Classroom: Are They Related?"
  • "Validation of Active Learning Classroom Usage Survey for College Students Introduction"
  • "Predictors of Self-Efficacy Among Secondary Teachers in Multicultural and Multilingual Classrooms Using a Machine Learning Approach"
  • "What works where? Identifying Pedagogical Practices to Optimize Data Literacy Learning in Singapore and America"
 Post Doc Presentation Information
Vandana Sharma
  • Chair: "Systemic Access, Lived Experiences: Pursuing Authentic Inclusion in Postsecondary Education"
 Student Presentation Information
Kristen Smigielski, PhD
  • ""All Behavior is Communication": How Teacher SEL and Lived Experience Shape Inclusive Classroom Practice"
  • "Responsible AI in K–12 Education: A Policy Review"
  • Chair: "Access as Method: Adaptive, Embodied, and Disability-Centered Approaches to Qualitative Inquiry"
  • "From Lived Experience to Theory: Developing the Equity and Justice Framework for Inclusive Teaching"
 Faculty Presentation Information
Ji-Won Son, PhD
  • "What works where? Identifying Pedagogical Practices to Optimize Data Literacy Learning in Singapore and America"
 Faculty Presentation Information
Shuoqi Song
  • "Becoming in the Cracks: Teachers’ Lines of Practice in the Implementation of China’s Bi-Transition Policy"
 Student Presentation Information
Angie Sostak
  • "The Impact of Project-Based Learning on Achievement in Secondary Mathematics"
   Presentation Information
Kate Hasler Steilen
  • "Beyond Bouncing Back: Organizational Resilience and K-12 Leadership Adaptability During the COVID-19 Crisis"
 Student Presentation Information
John Z. Strong, PhD
  • "Assessment of Reading, Writing, and Language Skills Across Elementary and Middle Grades"
  • Chair: "Evaluation of the Impact of Interventions and School Characteristics on Reading and Literacy Achievement"
  • "Effects of a Multicomponent Intervention in Upper-Elementary Grades: Findings from a Quasi-Experiment and Conceptual Replication"
  • "AI-Generated Decodable Texts: Problems, Promise, and Directions Supporting Beginning Reading Objectives"
  • "Imagining Futures for Early Literacy and Responsible AI: Results from CELaRAI’s Year 1 Exploratory Study"
  • "AIRE: AI Reading Enhancer for Personalized Decodable Texts in Early Literacy"
  • Officer: "Distinguished Scholar Address with Dr. Elfrieda (Freddy) H. Hiebert and Dr. Sarah M. Lupo at Research in Research & Literacy SIG 11 Business Meeting"
 Faculty Presentation Information
Haochu Tian
  • "Influence of Extracurricular Resources on Mathematics Achievement: PISA 2022 Study"
 Student Presentation Information
Vi Trinh
  • "Exploring Social Emotional Learning in Action Research: Teacher Residents’ Inquiries & Identities in Urban Contexts"
 Student Presentation Information
Jennifer Tripp, PhD
  • "On “Heaviness”, Racialized Emotions, and “Big” Emergencies: Community Knowledge and Education for Social Justice Amid Climate Coloniality"
  • "From Remembering to Repositioning: A Returning Youth’s Languaging of Memory, Belonging, and Future Possibility"
 Post Doc Presentation Information
Xintian Tu-Shea, PhD
  • Chair: "Computational Playgrounds: Foundations and Futures of AI, Play, and Pedagogy in Early Childhood"
  • "Preparing Young Children for an AI Future: What Two Decades of CT Research Tell Us"
  • "Zooming Out: How AI Agents Help Young Children See Interdependence in Ecological Systems"
  • "Imagining Futures for Early Literacy and Responsible AI: Results from CELaRAI’s Year 1 Exploratory Study"
  • "AI vs. Parent: Supporting Early Literacy at Home Through Conversational Agents"
 Post Doc Presentation Information
Noemi Waight, PhD
  • "On “Heaviness”, Racialized Emotions, and “Big” Emergencies: Community Knowledge and Education for Social Justice Amid Climate Coloniality "
  • "From Remembering to Repositioning: A Returning Youth’s Languaging of Memory, Belonging and Future Possibility"
 Faculty Presentation Information
Wei Wang
  • "Does Internet Use Influence Science Performance Directly and Indirectly Through ICT Self-Efficacy and Science Self-Efficacy?"
 Student Presentation Information
X. Christine Wang, PhD
  • Chair: "Computational Playgrounds: Foundations and Futures of AI, Play, and Pedagogy in Early Childhood"
  • "Young Children’s Perception and Interaction with Intelligent Agents: A Scoping Review"
  • "Preparing Young Children for an AI Future: What Two Decades of CT Research Tell Us"
  • Chair: "Innovating K–12 Teaching and Learning with Generative AI: Insights From IES-funded National R&D Centers"
  • "Imagining Futures for Early Literacy and Responsible AI: Results from CELaRAI’s Year 1 Exploratory Study"
  • "Responsible AI in K–12 Education: A Policy Review"
  • "Innovating K–12 Teaching and Learning with Generative AI: Insights From IES-funded National R&D Centers"
  • "AIRE: AI Reading Enhancer for Personalized Decodable Texts in Early Literacy"
 Faculty Presentation Information
Yuejia Wang
  • "Gendered Pathways and Precarious Promises: Chinese International Graduates Navigating the U.S. Temporary Visa Regime"
 Student Presentation Information
Paris D. Wicker, PhD
  • "Not All Birds Flock Together? Intersectional Homophily Within the Social Support Networks of Black Women Faculty"
  • Chair: "Teaching and mentoring mixed methods research: Highlighting challenges and opportunities for novices and experts"
  • "Integrating Social Network Analysis with Asset-Based Higher Education Research"
  • Discussant: "Equity and persistence among students of color"
 Faculty Presentation Information
Allen Christopher Williams
  • Participant: "Multicultural/Multiethnic Education: Theory, Research, and Practice Buisness Meeting"
 Student Presentation Information
Richard Williams
  • "Understanding Contemplative Practice in Special Educator Well-Being"
 Student Presentation Information
Amanda Winkelsas, PhD
  • "Exploring Social Emotional Learning in Action Research: Teacher Residents’ Inquiries & Identities in Urban Contexts"
 Faculty Presentation Information
Jinting Wu, PhD
  • "Institutional Dynamics"
 Faculty Presentation Information
Grace Yaxin Xing
  • "Parental Multimodal Revoicing: Guiding Children in Computational Thinking Learning"
  • "Young Children’s Perception and Interaction with Intelligent Agents: A Scoping Review"
  • "Preparing Young Children for an AI Future: What Two Decades of CT Research Tell Us"
 Student Presentation Information
Yuya Yamamoto
  • "Young Children’s Perception and Interaction with Intelligent Agents: A Scoping Review"
 Student Presentation Information
Yilang Zhao, PhD
  • "The Voice from Our Community: Appalachian Youth Crafting Data Visualizations for Social Good"
  • Chair: "Beyond the Numbers: Youth Interpreting and Acting on Data for Social Change"
  • "Data Visualizations for Social Betterment: Youth Developing Self-transcendence in a Data-art Inquiry Program"
  • Chair: "Beyond the Numbers: Youth Interpreting and Acting on Data for Social Change"
  • Chair: "Reimagining Rural Schools Worldwide: Policy, Community Engagement, and Student Development"
  • Chair: "AI in K-12 Education"
 Faculty Presentation Information
YueQiu Zhang
  • "Visual Artifacts as Scaffolds in Multilingual Third-grade Classrooms: How Do Visual Scaffolds Support Engineering and Translanguaging"
 Student Presentation Information
Zhehan Zheng
  • "Exploring CFL Teacher Identity through Podcasts: Positioning, Agency, and Social Justice in Cross-Cultural Contexts"
 Student Presentation Information
Minghui Zhu
  • "Theme 6: Gesturing Uncertainty in Introductory Physics Collaborative Learning"
 Student Presentation Information