U.S. Department of Education Awards NYU $4.2 Million for Training in Education Sciences

By Timothy Farrell

The U.S. Department of Education’s Institute for Education Sciences (IES) has awarded NYU a $4.2 million grant to fund a fellowship program designed to train doctoral students of diverse backgrounds to become outstanding researchers in the education sciences. The grant is administered through NYU’s Institute of Human Development and Social Change, a cross-school collaboration involving the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, and the Graduate School of Arts and Science, and which is directed by Cybele Raver.
    Over the course of five years, IHDSC will train and certify 28 doctoral candidates from six departments within the three schools by awarding two- and four-year fellowships. Through dedicated affiliate faculty serving as advisors and mentors, students will complete a quantitative core curriculum. This will ensure students are well trained in statistical methods. Fellows will develop expertise in designing and conducting rigorous studies of academic achievement, social and behavioral contexts of learning, and education policy. Research apprenticeships will further prepare fellows for postdoctoral work in their field of study.
    IES was formed in 2002 with the mission to stimulate rigorous evidence on which to base education policy and practice.
    “NYU’s ability to collaborate on complex interdisciplinary social science initiatives is possible through research institutes such as IHDSC,” says Larry Aber, professor of applied psychology and public policy and program director of the IES grant. He notes that the IES grant represents “a quantum leap forward in NYU’s ability to attract and train top doctoral students who can make significant contributions to society through rigorous research in education.”
    The 2008-09 IES fellows are Daisy Jackson and Karen McFadden (Steinhardt), Melissa Velez and Doreet Preiss (GSAS), and Jacob Leos-Urbel (Wagner).