Grants and Awards

Externally funded research grants and awards, ordered from most recent to earliest. More than $10M in total funding across sponsors including the National Science Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Arnold Ventures, the Spencer Foundation, Ascendium Education Group, the Joyce Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Education.

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JET Propulsion? A Quasi-Experimental Evaluation of Texas's Jobs & Education for Texans (JET) Grant Program (2025–2028), PI. Arnold Ventures, Award #25-15729, $394,245. With Madison E. Andrews (Co-PI) and Brian A. Jacob (Co-PI).

Impacts of an AI-Enhanced Teacher Professional Learning Program on Math Instruction and Performance (2025–2029), Co-PI. National Science Foundation, Award #2509858, $3,669,969. With David Yeager (PI), William H. Schmidt (Co-PI), Mary Murphy (Co-PI), and Elizabeth Tipton (Co-PI).

Dual-Enrollment Dosage Design (D3) Project (2024–2027), PI. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, $922,049.

Mobile-Enabled Learning Supports in Co-Requisite Courses in Louisiana (2024–2027), PI. Ascendium Education Group, $1,865,805. With Angela Boatman (Co-PI) and Maggie Fay (Co-PI).

Admission, Tuition, and Housing: The Relative Effects of Different Guarantees in the College Outcomes of High-Ability, Low-SES Students (2024–2026), PI. Spencer Foundation (Large Grant), $499,035. With Brian Dixon (Co-PI), Stella Flores (Co-PI), and Richard Murphy (Co-PI).

Measuring and Changing STEM Teacher Stress to Promote Effectiveness and Retention (2023–2026), Co-PI. National Science Foundation, $999,998. With David S. Yeager (PI), Jeremy Jamieson (Co-PI), Catherine Riegle-Crumb (Co-PI), and Michael Marder (Co-PI). NSF award record

Incubating Infrastructure for Experimentation on Inclusive STEM Teaching Practices (2023–2026), Co-PI. National Science Foundation, $499,393. With David S. Yeager (PI), Mary Murphy (Co-PI), Beth Tipton (Co-PI), and Jared Murray (Co-PI). NSF award record

Beyond the ABCs of IBCs: The Longitudinal Outcomes of Earning Industry-Based Certifications in High School (2023–2025), PI. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, $731,924.

A Mixed-Methods Study of Industry-Recognized Certifications in Indiana and Illinois (2023–2025), PI. Joyce Foundation, $250,000.

Can Recommended Course Sequence Reforms Facilitate Transfer Student Success? (2022–2024), PI. Greater Texas Foundation, $406,476. With Lauren Schudde (Co-PI).

Teacher Mindsets and Student Outcomes in Bangladesh (2022–2023), Co-PI. World Bank, $20,000. With David S. Yeager (PI) and Nick Medrano (Co-PI).

Texas Mindset Initiative (2020–2022), Co-I. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, $1,500,000. With David Yeager (PI), Carol Dweck (Co-PI), Mary Murphy (Co-PI), and Jennifer Porter (Co-I).

Certified Skills? The Role of Industry-Based Certifications in Shaping Students' Postsecondary Education and Labor Market Outcomes (2020–2021), PI. Thomas B. Fordham Institute, $30,000.

Early Leading Indicators of Student Success (2017–2020), Co-I. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Great Lakes Foundation, $67,469. With Paul Attewell (PI), City University of New York.

Third-Party Evaluation of "Building Developmental Success through Analytics-based Mobile Applications" (2015–2019), PI. First in the World, Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, U.S. Department of Education, $159,985.

Statewide Approaches to Regional Needs: How the Relationship between Career and Technical Education and Postsecondary Outcomes Varies Across Regions in Texas (2018), PI. American Enterprise Institute, $30,000.

Degrees When Due (2017–2018), Co-I. Institute for Higher Education Policy, via The University of Utah. With Jason L. Taylor. Part of the Degrees When Due research agenda estimating the impact of receiving an associate's degree through reverse credit transfer on students' university and labor market outcomes.

Bridging Reverse Transfer Research to a Broader Transfer Research Agenda (2015–2017), Co-PI. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. With Debra Bragg (PI), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Jason Taylor (Co-PI), University of Utah.

Dissertation Grant Recipient (2013–2014). Association for Institutional Research, supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Center for Education Statistics, and the National Postsecondary Education Cooperative. "Engines of inequality or vehicles for social mobility? The influence of socioeconomic status on the college-to-career pathways of high-achieving, low-income students." Proposal (PDF)