Four from UW–Madison School of Education/WCER named 2025 AERA Fellows

WCER Directive Courtney Bell among honorees

March 7, 2025   |   By School of Education Communications

The American Educational Research Association (AERA) announced the selection of 29 exemplary scholars as 2025 AERA Fellows — including four who are faculty members with UW–Madison’s School of Education and members of the school's Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER).

The AERA Fellows Program honors scholars for their exceptional contributions to, and excellence in, education research. Nominated by their peers, the 2025 Fellows were selected by the Fellows Committee and approved by the AERA Council, the association’s elected governing body.

The four being honored from UW–Madison are:

• Aydin Bal, a professor of special education with the Department of Rehabilitation Psychology and Special Education, and the director of the School of Education’s Global Engagement Office. Bal’s research focuses on the interplay between culture, learning, and mental health across local and global education systems. 
• Courtney Bell, the director of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research and a professor of learning sciences with the Department of Educational Psychology. Bell’s interests center on understanding and improving teaching for historically underserved children. This interdisciplinary and collaborative work is situated at the intersection of research, policy, and practice.
• Sadhana Puntambekar, the Sears-Bascom professor in Educational Psychology. She directs the Interactive Design and Learning Lab and is a fellow of the International Society for the Learning Sciences. Puntambekar’s work on scaffolding students’ learning and design-based research are widely recognized.
• Xueli Wang, the Barbara and Glenn Thompson Endowed Professor in Educational Leadership. Often centering community and technical colleges, her research spans a range of topics, including: students’ success and mental health; transfer trajectories; faculty development; teaching and learning; and educational change and innovation.

“The 2025 AERA Fellows join a brilliant group of scholars, and they are most deserving of this honor,” AERA Executive Director Felice J. Levine said in a news release. “Their significant contributions to the education research field demonstrate the highest standards of academic excellence and scholarship.”

This year’s fellows will be honored and inducted during a ceremony at the 2025 Annual Meeting in Denver on April 24. With this cohort, there will be a total of 791 AERA Fellows.

AERA is the largest national interdisciplinary research association devoted to the scientific study of education and learning. Founded in 1916, AERA advances knowledge about education, encourages scholarly inquiry related to education, and promotes the use of research to improve education and serve the public good.

For more information about the 2025 AERA Fellows, check out this news release.