Projects

At UB, our research is designed to make a measurable impact on the communities we serve, whether we’re helping to improve math skills for girls right here in Buffalo, or addressing achievement gaps nationwide. We invite you to learn more about the current research projects within the Graduate School of Education.

Active Projects

  • Learning Sciences Initiative
    12/8/23
    Focused on integrative learning sciences scholarship, the initiative will assemble a group of prominent faculty in the disciplines of learning sciences, human-computer partnerships, cognitive science and psychology, design, and learning environments.
  • Teacher Residency Program
    11/30/23
    The UB Teacher Residency is a 16-month, paid residency program that has been designed to prepare effective, learner-ready teachers for public schools in Buffalo and Western New York. During the residency, students will co-teach alongside a mentor teacher for an entire school year. With asynchronous coursework starting in the summer, students can now be considered for our grant-funded programs that are in partnership with four local school districts: Buffalo Public School District, Sweet Home Central School District, Amherst Central School District and Kenmore-Tonawanda School District.
  • Youth Alliance for Education
    2/6/24
    It is easy to feel powerless as a young person today. We are in the middle of a global pandemic which we can’t control. There was a presidential election, but you couldn’t vote. Nationwide protests about racism and inequality are held and you can’t attend. Inequality exists in your classrooms and in your schools and you are frustrated. While you may be young, your voice matters and you deserve to be heard. You are not powerless.
  • Mandarin Language & Chinese Culture Immersion Project
    4/2/24
    The purpose of this project is to contribute to the development and improvement of the study of modern foreign languages and area studies in the U.S. by providing opportunities for teachers, students and faculty to study in a foreign country to increase the Mandarin language capacity and culture knowledge of the participants. The project will implement a research-based integrated culture content and language immersion model. A research study will be integrated in the evaluation plan to determine the participants’ Mandarin language gains, increases in pre- and post-knowledge of Chinese culture and their perceptions of it, as well as professional transformative changes.
  • Faculty in Residence
    3/12/24
    This initiative places GSE faculty members inside a Western New York school, where they spend their time working directly with administrators, teachers and students. Schools benefit by gaining direct access to an experienced professional who can help address some pressing needs. Our faculty receive hands-on, practical experience that further enhances their ability to teach, conduct groundbreaking research, and publish their work in journals and textbooks.

Past Projects

  • Anatomy of Achievement Gaps
    1/22/24
    This project started with the premise that public education is central to solving many national and global challenges and that scientific research should inform educational policy decisions. Rapid social changes induced by a knowledge-based economy, globalization, immigration and technological advances make many of the current school reform efforts outdated and ineffective to meet tomorrow’s societal needs.
  • Mixed Methods Working Group
    1/4/23
    Over the past decade, research universities and funding agencies have vigorously encouraged research that works towards solving pressing and large-scale problems related to education in an increasingly diverse and unequal society. It is widely accepted that such research often demands broad-based research teams that are multi-disciplinary and employ a range of research methods from the social sciences. Constructing and actualizing such broad-based teams both within and across universities increasingly demands that scholars leverage institutional support to pursue external federal, state and/or private foundation funding and work across disciplinary and methodological boundaries to accomplish their goals.

Our Research in the News

  • Creating a sense of belonging for women in STEM education
    12/10/19
    Tiffany Karalis Noel, clinical assistant professor from the Department of Learning and Instruction, is exploring how to reduce gender bias against women in STEM education. “Despite progress with recruitment, as women in the United States continue to be underrepresented in STEM fields, it is imperative to understand the factors that may influence women’s feelings of belonging and motivation to remain in STEM fields,” Karalis Noel writes in a commentary article, “Exploring Non-Retention of Women in STEM,” for Teachers College Record.
  • Improving digital literacy in Canadian public libraries
    11/19/19
    Heidi Julien, professor from the Department of Information Science, and other colleagues from universities in Canada have been awarded a Partnership Development Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The grant will help fund a project exploring public library approaches to digital literacy.
  • GSE professor collaborates to start a museum in Bhutan
    10/22/19
    Sameer Honwad, assistant professor from the Department of Learning and Instruction, is working with partners from the Royal Thimpu College (RTC) in Bhutan to start a museum that focuses on highlighting socio-scientific issues such as environmental sustainability and climate change. This idea was derived from a collaborative project titled “Weaving Strands of Knowledge: Connecting Culture and Science to Climate Change” funded by the American Association of Museums. As part of this project, students from RTC and the University of New Hampshire (UNH) travelled to each other’s communities in the summer of 2017. During this time, they collected audio stories from locals who work with the land in New England and Bhutan.
  • Understanding information literacy at community colleges
    10/15/19
    Understanding the instructional practices of information literacy (IL) in community college libraries, as well as the perceptions of librarians and students regarding the IL needs of students, is a nationwide concern. Currently, community colleges account for over 50 percent of the institutions of higher education and these colleges educate nearly half of the post-secondary students.
  • Jacobson involved with two global projects
    10/8/19
    Stephen Jacobson, UB Distinguished Professor from the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy, has been all over the world teaching courses and participating in many different research projects. “Everyone wants to go visit a country that is excelling in education, but there is more to learn by going to places that are still evolving,” says Jacobson, who was brought to Albania to discuss education from an American perspective, and is involved with a large international research project in India to reduce gender-based violence with the use of prosocial computer games.
  • Say Yes Buffalo awarded $2.9 million grant
    9/24/19
    The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded Say Yes Buffalo and its partner institutions — including UB — a 22 month, $2.9 million grant to increase college completion rates for Buffalo Public School (BPS) graduates. Say Yes Buffalo, launched in 2012, is a community collaboration dedicated to increasing high school and postsecondary graduation rates. Say Yes Buffalo is also a college scholarship program for BPS students.
  • GSE professor conducts research across three countries
    8/27/19
    Amy VanScoy, associate professor from the Department of Information Science, was collecting data in the United States when she decided to turn her research on librarians into an international study. “Personally, I find it ethnocentric if I only conduct studies in the United States,” said VanScoy. “I want to do research in other countries because there has to be some differences that we can learn from.” She is leading a global project across Slovenia, South Africa and the United States examining different librarian approaches to reference and information services (RIS).
  • Socioemotional Learning Standards
    7/30/19
    A growing body of research suggests that children’s socioemotional well-being is fundamentally important to their healthy and productive development. This finding implies that college, career and civic readiness is tied to better socioemotional skills and well-being.
  • Rapidly changing technology impacts learning
    7/16/19
    Marc Isseks, a doctoral student from the Department of Learning and Instruction, wrote the book “Forward Fast: Making Sense of Education in an Era of Rapid Change,” which documents the changes that have occurred over the past two decades regarding education and technology. “When I first started teaching, I was making exams on a machine that was cranked by hand,” Isseks said. “Now, I watch teachers airdrop packets of information into their students’ iPads and it is just unbelievable.”
  • Fostering equitable math experiences for girls
    6/18/19
    Mathematical literacy is a necessity to be a functioning member of society. However, there are significant racial and gender gaps in math achievement in the United States. More than half of low socioeconomic status, Black and Hispanic students have demonstrated below average math skills, and women remain underrepresented in many STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields.
Our Faculty's Research Interests

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Which faculty members are doing the type of research that interests you?

> View our faculty directory

Research Centers, Institutes and Labs

At UB, you’ll find dedicated facilities and programs for a variety of interests. 

Student Research Symposium

The annual research symposium gives students an opportunity to explore their passion for research while strengthening their presentation skills.

Ongoing Projects and Programs

  • Anatomy of Achievement Gaps
    1/22/24
    This project started with the premise that public education is central to solving many national and global challenges and that scientific research should inform educational policy decisions. Rapid social changes induced by a knowledge-based economy, globalization, immigration and technological advances make many of the current school reform efforts outdated and ineffective to meet tomorrow’s societal needs.
  • Mandarin Language & Chinese Culture Immersion Project
    4/2/24
    The purpose of this project is to contribute to the development and improvement of the study of modern foreign languages and area studies in the U.S. by providing opportunities for teachers, students and faculty to study in a foreign country to increase the Mandarin language capacity and culture knowledge of the participants. The project will implement a research-based integrated culture content and language immersion model. A research study will be integrated in the evaluation plan to determine the participants’ Mandarin language gains, increases in pre- and post-knowledge of Chinese culture and their perceptions of it, as well as professional transformative changes.
  • Mixed Methods Working Group
    1/4/23
    Over the past decade, research universities and funding agencies have vigorously encouraged research that works towards solving pressing and large-scale problems related to education in an increasingly diverse and unequal society. It is widely accepted that such research often demands broad-based research teams that are multi-disciplinary and employ a range of research methods from the social sciences. Constructing and actualizing such broad-based teams both within and across universities increasingly demands that scholars leverage institutional support to pursue external federal, state and/or private foundation funding and work across disciplinary and methodological boundaries to accomplish their goals.