As part of a Tier One public research institution, our faculty in the UH College of Education engage in innovative scholarship on society’s most pressing issues in education and health. Collaboration is valued — across disciplines, with students and with community partners. Our researchers have received funding from a variety of agencies, including the U.S. Department of Education, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health and private foundations.

Research Clusters

• Childhood development
• College access and success
• Curriculum and instruction
• Education policy
• Families and relationships
• Health disparities
• K-12 education
• Mental health
• School leadership
• Special education

Research Labs

Faculty research labs often offer opportunities for students to work as researchers; please contact the lab director if interested.

• BOUNCE (Behavior Opportunities Uniting Nutrition, Coaching & Exercise)
  • Director: Norma Olvera
  • BOUNCE is a community outreach and research initiative dedicated to reducing obesity-related diseases among underserved communities in Houston.

• CORE Research Team (COping & REsilience)
  • Director: Nathan Grant Smith
  • The research team focuses on lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer health disparities.

• I AM Lab (Identity & Academic Motivation)
  • Director: Allison Master
  • The team’s research focuses on how students’ identity affects their motivation in school, with an emphasis on STEM subjects.

• Mindfulness, Well-Being and Spirituality Lab 
  • Director: Brad Smith
  • The research team studies ways to make mindfulness an integral part of the educational and social culture of diverse educational communities.

• NCRED (National Center for Research on Educator Diversity)  
  • Director: Conra Gist 
  • The center serves as a research hub committed to dismantling inequity in teacher development systems through supporting the academic and professional advancement of diverse educators.  

• PASS Research Team (Promoting Academic Skills Success)  
  • Director: Milena Keller-Margulis 
  • The team’s research focuses on the use of curriculum-based measurement (CBM) to support students at-risk for poor academic outcomes.

• Parent-Child Interaction Lab 
  • Director: Leslie Frankel
  • The lab’s work focuses on parent-child relationships and the ways in which those relationships and interactions affect early child development.

• Social Development Lab
  • Director: Julie Dunsmore
  • The team’s research focuses on how emotion socialization processes are embedded within, shaped by, and convey meaning for multilayered socio-cultural contexts.  

• ACES in STEM Education Fellowship
  • Co-Principal Investigator: April Peters-Hawkins
  • This two-year training program for postdoctoral students focuses on research-practice partnerships to address challenges in STEM education.

The information above is not a comprehensive list of research activity in the College.