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The Diana Natalicio Institute for Hispanic Student Success research team recently returned from the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting in Los Angeles inspired by all of the work being done in support of student success. It was a busy conference for us, with a number of paper presentations, panel discussions, and committee meetings. That was on top of all the great sessions, events, and opportunities to connect with collaborators and colleagues. This conference was also the year that I ended my three-year term as member-at-large on the Leadership Council for AERA, the world’s largest association of educational researchers. Serving in that capacity and attending this conference reinforced for me how powerful affirming professional communities can be, especially in challenging times.

Undoubtedly, our key takeaway from AERA 2026 is that meaningful change happens when we design educational and professional spaces around relationships, shared responsibility, and collective flourishing, rather than competition. We see this idea in the work we do with Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), where students and faculty model what it looks like to learn with and for one another, reshaping academic and professional spaces so that more people can participate fully and with dignity.

AERA 2026 panel discussion with Strada postdoctoral scholars. 

We kicked the conference off with a session featuring one of our postdoctoral scholars, Lauren Shook, Strada Education Foundation Vice President for Research Nichole Torpey-Saboe, and other fellow Strada Foundation-funded postdocs. The Strada Foundation has been a leader in advancing and supporting research designed to strengthen pathways to career opportunities, including the most effective strategies in work-based learning. This kind of research and discussion are key, given the increasing public scrutiny of higher education’s workplace outcomes and particularly important to our efforts to maximize workforce preparation for students at HSIs. We are fully invested in this area of research and excited about the Strada Foundation’s efforts to expand the field of work-based learning to include multidisciplinary and multiple methodological perspectives.

What came to the fore during the discussion is that, while colleges provide a range of career-focused experiences like internships, project-based learning, and campus employment designed to support students’ entry into the workforce, these opportunities are often not equally available to students from all backgrounds. Even at institutions that offer extensive co-op experiences, these are not evenly distributed across disciplinary fields and demographics. Furthermore, students may also underestimate their skills in certain fields like STEM disciplines, which can lead them to self-select out of these opportunities. Dr. Shook shared research done in collaboration with her Institute colleagues about how to design work-based learning to be more meaningful to populations that historically have had less access to these experiences, including Hispanics, first-generation students, and women.

Later, with a team of intergenerational scholars from around the nation, I had the opportunity to present some of the Institute’s research about the importance of understanding the diversity among the Latine population to better serve them. The work highlights the concept of convivencia, which focuses on convivial approaches to collective flourishing and future building. Drawing on this research, I illustrated what can be learned from HSIs to advance computing education in a way that challenges historically competitive, individualistic, and exclusionary norms in that field.

I discussed our research at an HSI where faculty and students have built what we described as communities of empowerment. At this school, departments have engaged students by re-designing curricular structures, investing in culturally sustaining pedagogy, and building co-curricular infrastructures such as student-led clubs, undergraduate research opportunities, and professional development conferences. Together, these experiences promote more integrated academic, social, cultural, financial, and career support systems.

One example was a professional conference designed by a student organization representing Hispanic and other minoritized students, including Black, low-income students, and women. In creating the conference, students identified learning needs, pooled expertise, invited speakers, and provided preparation spaces for interacting with employers. The conference drew over 300 participants from 7 campuses, as well as industry partners and public figures. The experience helped students uncover strategies for navigating competitive spaces and securing job and internship opportunities. Collectively, these students were able to re-make computing culture for their community, disrupt environments that too often pit students against one another, engage their multiple talents, and position HSIs as sites of ethical leadership and innovation in technology. Their work challenges the idea that innovation must come at the expense of humanizing approaches. Instead, it demonstrates that HSIs are already leading the way—preparing students not just to enter technological fields, but to transform them with leadership grounded in shared values and a deep commitment to one another.

From left: Anne-Marie Núñez, Edwin Perez, James Moore. 

Finally, I was asked to facilitate a policy session that featured a conversation with James Moore, Assistant Director of NSF’s Directorate for STEM Education. For decades, the Directorate has been a leading funder of research and development in K-12, undergraduate, and graduate education, as well as workforce and human resource development. We talked about the current priorities at NSF EDU and the importance of scholars continuing to submit proposals to NSF and discussing their ideas with program officers to explore alignment with program priorities.

The conversation also reinforced the importance of continuing to connect research, practice, and public impact in meaningful ways. I was grateful to moderate this discussion, as these questions remain deeply connected to the work we are doing at the Institute.

Celebrating my birthday at AERA with my Institute colleagues

All in all, AERA was a great event for our team and higher education as a whole. I even got to celebrate my birthday doing the work I am so passionate about. I look forward to more of this work coming to light and seeing how other AERA attendees build on all that we did together.

Additional reflections and insights emerging from these conversations will continue to be shared through the Institute’s Insights and News series.