Education is the single biggest factor in transforming lives, and we’re preparing the next generation of teachers, leaders and counselors to change the world.
News
Oct. 28, 2026
Jaclyn Camden, the assistant director of the Center on Transition Innovations (CTI) and director of VCU’s inclusive postsecondary education program, ACE-IT in College, is one of three national leaders selected for the Inclusive Higher Education Accreditation Council’s Board of Directors.
Oct. 21, 2026
The School of Education doctoral graduate, who made history as the first Black woman to lead Alexandria City Public Schools, was celebrated among VCU’s most accomplished alumni.
Oct. 20, 2026
Kevin Sutherland, Ph.D., has been named a Commonwealth Professor, one of VCU’s most distinguished faculty titles. The honor recognizes his work helping teachers support children with challenging behaviors, and the research behind BEST in CLASS.
Research that moves the needle
Meet the doctoral faculty behind our STEM education research, and the students, teachers and communities who are partnering in their work.
How students learn science through talk
Christine Lee Bae, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Foundations of Education · Director, Discourse and Learning Lab
Lee Bae partners with middle school science teachers to connect science to students’ lives. Her latest IES-funded research-practice partnership brings science classroom conversations anchored in community life to Richmond, Virginia, and Columbia, Missouri.
$1.7M IES grant (PI, 2024–28) · $1M NSF CAREER award (PI, 2019–24) · 2024 VCU NIRA honoree · 2023 APA Division 15 Snow Award
Building STEM resilience and pathways to prepare students for the STEM workforce
John Fife, Ph.D.
Director, Center for Innovation in STEM Education
Fife leads the Center for Innovation in STEM Education, building a STEM learning ecosystem with K–12, higher education, industry and community partners that strengthens students’ STEM identity and prepares youth for the STEM workforce.
$300K NSF Mid-Career Award (PI, 2022–25) · $350K NSF BCSER award · 2024 SOE Outstanding Community Engaged Research Award
Connecting science classrooms to health careers
Elizabeth Edmondson, Ph.D.
Research Professor, Teaching and Learning
Edmondson helps middle and high school teachers bring health careers and real medical data into science class, and prepares new science and math teachers through the VCU Noyce Initiative.
$1.3M NIH PATHS grant · 2025 VAST Higher Education Award
Rethinking how students collaborate and problem-solve in math
Samuel Rhodes, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Teaching and Learning
Rhodes studies how students work together to solve math problems, and is helping five rural Virginia school divisions choose math curricula that fit their students.
$3M NSF CueCollab project · $1.46M VDOE Math Innovation Grant
Shaping STEM futures through human-AI mentoring
Chi-Ning (Nick) Chang, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Foundations of Education · Co-Director, Centroid Applied Machine Learning Lab
Chang develops hybrid human-AI mentoring models to support STEM education, graduate mentoring and career development.
2026 VCU Outstanding Early Career Faculty Award
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