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School of Education

Research and Outreach

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Research Events

 

Faculty and students within the UAB School of Education conduct research to understand and seek solutions to current and emerging educational, health, and mental health challenges. This research contributes to the knowledge base and advances our understanding of effective practices. Faculty and staff within the School of Education provide outreach to professionals across a variety of fields, community members, and policymakers to support efforts to improve the quality of and access to services. Individual faculty and staff members provide some of this outreach, and programs and centers within the School of Education provide some of this outreach.

Research

Faculty and students within the UAB School of Education conduct research to understand and seek solutions to current and emerging educational, health, and mental health challenges.

Areas of Funding and Scholarship

In addition to contributing to scientific knowledge, this research actively informs outreach efforts to address the targeted challenges. Outreach activities allow faculty and students within the School of Education to improve the quality of education, health, and mental health locally, across Alabama, and beyond. As part of its outreach initiatives, the School of Education is fortunate to engage in a number of mutually beneficial partnerships within the communities it serves.

Responsive Workforce Development

Faculty and students in the School of Education engage in scholarship to improve the training and performance of professionals working in education (pre-k through higher education) and health-related fields (counseling, exercise science, community health, human services). Faculty engage in research regarding best practices in various disciplines and effective teaching strategies for preparing the workforce.

  • Pre-K
  • EL/DL learners
  • STEM
  • Reading
  • Special Education (transdisciplinary, multi-tiered systems, early intervention, EBD, Autism)
  • Urban and minority education
  • Students who have experienced adverse childhood experiences
  • School and higher ed leaders
  • Family-school engagement

Promoting Equity and Social Justice

Faculty and students in the School of Education engage in scholarship to document: (a) the nature and sources of disparities in access to, and the quality of, education and healthcare; and (b) the implementation of solutions to such disparities.

  • Lessons from social/historical foundations of education
  • Lessons from social/historical foundations of education
  • Identifying and addressing social determinants of health and health disparities

Improving Health and Performance through Exercise

Faculty and students in the School of Education engage in research that promotes health, physical fitness, and functional or occupational performance through exercise and biomechanics.

  • Integrating novel modes of exercise with diet to facilitate health outcomes with different disease and injury groups
  • Benefits and mechanisms of adaptive PE with autism
  • Strength and conditioning
  • Sports nutrition and hydration
  • Ergonomics and fitness

Promoting Health and Mental Health

Faculty and students in the School of Education engage in research investigating social and biosocial determinants of health and mental health of individuals across the lifespan. Researchers also study practices that are intended to promote wellness, prevent health and mental health problems, and intervene to address health/mental health challenges with at-risk populations in schools, colleges, and community settings.

  • Social determinants of health
  • College mental health
  • Trauma-informed practices
  • Counseling sexual minority youth
  • Family systems theory

Global Perspectives on Education, Health, and Wellness

Faculty and students in the School of Education engage in scholarship with international collaborators to provide a global perspective regarding preK-12 education, personnel preparation, health education and promotion, kinesiology, social justice, and administration in schools and higher education.

  • International perspectives on K-12 education and teacher training
  • Global movements in higher education

Office of Research, Grants, and Faculty Development

The Office of Research, Grants, and Faculty Development provides support to faculty and students within the UAB School of Education to facilitate: (a) the visibility and impact of scholarship, (b) the pursuit of grants to support research and training, and (c) the development and mentoring of scholars within the School of Education. 

  • Personnel

    Scott Snyder, PhD, Associate Dean for Research (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

    Lawrence Moose, Program Director II (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

               
  • Services Available
    Funding sources, proposal development, and grant submissions.

    Funding Opportunities
    The Office of Research, Grants and Faculty Development provides support to faculty searching for grants to fund research and workforce development goals. In addition, UAB offers faculty access to several useful resources.
    • PIVOT (a system for grant searches)
    • Dimensions (a system for grant searches and tracking impact)
    • SMARTS (a system for grant searches)

    Proposal Development, Support and Policies
    The Office of Research, Grants and Faculty Development provides support to faculty with searching for funding opportunities, sharing examples of funded proposals, reviewing proposals, assisting with budgets, and submitting proposals. Faculty have options as to which support services they access. The submission process is guided by policies and requires the timely submission of required forms and documents.
    Support to increase the visibility and impact of faculty and student research
    The Office of Research, Grants and Faculty Development coordinates with the Director of Communications for the School of Education to facilitate dissemination and impact of faculty and student research using a variety of resources. The offices collaborate to increase the awareness of faculty and administrators about mechanisms for increasing the visibility and impact of scholarship conducted within the School of Education. One tool that is used to monitor visibility and impact of SOE scholarship is Altmetrics Explorer.

    Technical consultation in research methods, measurement, and analysis
    The Office of Research, Grants and Faculty Development provides technical consultation and training to faculty regarding research design, measurement, and analysis. SOE faculty interested in such support should reach out to the Associate Dean of Research (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

    Faculty career development support
    The Director of Faculty Development provides consultation and support regarding career development to early- and mid-career faculty in areas of scholarship, teaching and service. Faculty are invited to access the School of Education Canvas course for faculty professional development. eResources will be added to the shell on an on-going basis. The link to the faculty LibGuide can also be found in the Canvas course. On-ground workshops or discussions will be announced as they are scheduled. Interested faculty should reach out to Dr. Menear (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

    Faculty mentor development
    The Director of Faculty Development provides guidance to faculty who serve as mentors to other faculty.
  • Grant Proposal Support

    Pre-Award

    This office can support faculty with the identification of relevant funding solicitations and the preparation and submission of proposals and forms.

    UAB Resources

    External Resources

    Funding Sources

    • Grants.gov: Provides a common website for federal agencies to post funding opportunities and for grantees to find and apply to them. Grants.gov can be searched by government agency, date, funding activity category, funding instrument type, and funding agency.
    • Federal Grants Wire: A free resource that includes current information on federal grants and loans. Opportunities can be searched by applicant type, subject, government agency, or assistance type.
    • The Hunt for the Lesser-Known Funding Source

    Writing a Grant Proposal

    Peer Review Process

  • Resources, Programs, and Highlights
    UAB UWIRC Centers


Outreach

Faculty, staff, and students within the UAB School of Education invest their time, talents, and expertise to serve the community, state, and region.  Through volunteerism, providing professional development, working as board members, and serving as consultants, professionals within the School of Education provide support and guidance. Student organizations work to address challenges relating to education, health and fitness, and mental health. The Community Counseling Clinic provides low-cost mental health counseling to members of the community. Several university centers operate out of the School of Education to provide technical assistance and professional development for teachers and educational leaders.

  • Center for Urban Education
    The mission of the Center for Urban Education (CUE) is to promote quality education for socially and economically disenfranchised groups residing in urban areas. Specifically, the CUE prepares high-quality teachers and administrators to work in urban school districts.
  • Community Counseling Clinic
    The UAB Community Counseling Clinic provides affordable mental health counseling services to residents of Jefferson County, while also providing an innovative training experience for graduate counseling students. The clinic strives to be an exemplar to the counseling profession through innovations in research, practice, teaching, and clinical training.
  • UAB Children's Creative Learning Center
    Serving children from all over the Birmingham area, the enrichment program seeks to encourage children to select their daily plan of study, work at their own pace, and enhance their academic development. Whether it is a science experiment with everyday food items or writing and publishing a newspaper, children discover how exciting learning can be.
  • UAB Regional Inservice Center
    The UAB Regional Inservice Center (UABRIC), operated through the UAB School of Education, provides free training, resources, and services for teachers and administrators in eight Jefferson County, Alabama school districts. The UABRIC is one of 11 regional in-service centers established by the Alabama Legislature in 1984 to enhance the training opportunities for public school personnel in critical need areas.


Research News  

  • Research on Student-Generated Questions in the Early Childhood Setting Reveals Promising Results
    A researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, School of Education recently partnered with a researcher at Birmingham Southern College to study the effects of using the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) on the number and quality of student-generated questions in 5-8-year-olds.
  • UAB Researcher Discovers New Data on Telehealth and Mental Health Care During the Pandemic
    UAB mental health researcher Yusen Zhai, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the UAB School of Education's counseling program and director of the UAB Community Counseling Clinic, recently conducted a first-of-its-kind research study in the counseling field published in the Journal of Counseling & Development.
  • 2022 School of Education Ed-Chievement Magazine
    In 2021, the UAB School of Education changed the name of its annual report to "ed-chievement." The term "ed-chievement" is a word we coined to celebrate the many achievements happening in the school of education from faculty, staff, and students. We use this term to celebrate our many accomplishments, so we changed the name of our annual report to ed-chievement to ensure that all the good things and hard work happening in the school are celebrated every year.
  • Voltz and Corcoran Awarded $1.14 Million Grant from U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs
    The UAB School of Education Receives a $1.14 Million grant to recruit, train, and retain special education teachers and school psychometrists in Birmingham Metro Area Schools.
  • Ennis to Lead Multi-Tiered Training Grant with Alabama State Department of Education
    The Alabama State Department of Education has recently launched a $600,000 grant project focusing on developing Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) for school districts in Alabama over the next two years, with experts from UAB leading the charge.