Postdoctoral Scholars Win New Fellowship
School of Education and Social Policy postdoctoral scholars Karla Thomas (PhD26) and briana rodríguez were named winners of the 2026 National Academy of Education /Spencer Research Fellowship.
The new and distinctive fellowship, designed to help with career pivots, provides recent doctoral graduates with one year of support to advance their research and career searches amid a disrupted academic job market.
The 12 fellows were drawn from the recent NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellows, scholars whose promise the Academy has already recognized. They'll each receive $100,000 in research support over the coming year, along with dedicated mentorship from senior members of the field and the professional community of the Academy itself.
About rodríguez:
Briana k. n. rodríguez (Maya Ch'orti' and Nawa-Pipil) studies questions such as, "What is the purpose of learning?" and "What is the purpose of mathematics learning?"
Rodríguez’s research challenges the notion of math as a universal language by asking, who's universe or worldview? Who's values? Rodríguez collaborates and organizes learning spaces with Maya and Nawa-Pipil communities in Los Angles and in El Salvador focused on stewarding community knowledge. Rodriguez received a National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation fellowship in 2024, while pursuing her PhD at the University of Pittsburgh.
About Thomas:
Thomas recently completed her PhD in Human Development and Social Policy with certificates in Black Studies and the Multidisciplinary Program in Education Sciences.
Her dissertation, Smuggling Black Truths: BlackCrit Sensemaking and Fugitivity in Service of Black Educational Futures, was also supported by a National Academy of Education /Spencer Dissertation Fellowship.
Thomas’s research, published in the April issue of the Peabody Journal of Education, focuses on how parents, teachers and communities resist and refuse education policies that harm Black and LGBTQ+ students and how they work to create better educational opportunities despite those policies. Her dissertation examined how Black parents and educators understood and responded in the wake of Florida's anti-Black Stop W.O.K.E education laws while also finding ways to expand opportunities for Black students.