Discipline-Based Education Research (DBER) Associates

Eligibility

Associate Professors or Professors

Amount

Each DBER associate will receive $1,000 in professional development funds; each disciplinary cohort
member will receive $500 in professional development funds.

Submission

Online Application

Deadline

TBA

Purpose and Description

DBER is an acronym that emerged in the 1980s and 1990s and popularized by the National Research
Council’s 2012 publication known informally as the DBER Report¹. The report provides a set of
compelling arguments for the value of disciplinary experts engaged in the study of teaching and learning
within their respective disciplines.

There are scholarly journals and sections within journals devoted to DBER across disciplines. DBER is
yielding high-quality evidence- and theory-based products that are not frequently being methodically
applied to the classroom.

DBER Associates will support tenured, research-active faculty in improving their instruction and student
learning outcomes guided by research on teaching and learning in their disciplines.

The community will facilitate the scholarly translation and adoption of DBER to Miami courses to increase
the frequency and quality of evidence-based teaching practices at Miami University. DBER Associates will
lead small disciplinary cohorts comprised of other senior faculty to make the most of the scholarly and
creative practices and disciplinary expertise of each member as they plan and carry out the strategic
implementation of knowledge produced through DBER communities from the represented disciplines in
the FLC.

Each DBER Associate will lead a disciplinary cohort that includes two members. Please note that
prospective DBER Associates must apply to join the FLC. Disciplinary cohort members are elected by each
DBER Associate.

¹National Research Council. (2012). Discipline-Based Education Research: Understanding and Improving
Learning in Undergraduate Science and Engineering. S.R. Singer, N.R. Nielsen, and H.A. Schweingruber,
Editors. Committee on the Status, Contributions, and Future Directions of Discipline-Based Education
Research. Board on Science Education, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education.
Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

Activities

• DBER Associates will be immersed in the consumption of their discipline’s education research with the
  aim of identifying discipline-specific research products that align with their courses and those of two
  tenured colleagues.
• Sessions introducing DBER Associates to the literature and helping them to access and decode resources
  will be facilitated by Ellen Yezierski, CTE Director. The group of DBER Associates will meet each month
  with Yezierski and focus on domain-general strategies to access, decode, and apply educational research.
• DBER Associates will each form a disciplinary cohort with their two colleagues, meet monthly, translate
  discipline-specific research to strategies to improve teaching and learning in their courses, and consume
  and adopt research-based practices to implement in their teaching.

Testimonials

• “The DBER Associates program reshaped the way I think about teaching in technical disciplines…
  implemented team-based and gamified projects… validated their effectiveness using eye-tracking
  experiments… tie pedagogical theory directly to cognitive evidence… the launch of a new research
  direction.” - DBER Associate, 2025
• “I had never encountered any discipline specific research on education in my own field… Almost
  everything I encountered was anecdotal… The DBER FLC was extremely well designed… developing a set
  of experiential assignments… development of a plan to test… engage collegially across disciplines to talk
  about pedagogy was a significant and positive experience…” - DBER Associate, 2022
• “The meetings ‘forced’ us to set aside the time… allowed us to put our guards down, be vulnerable…
  created an environment for exploration, consideration, and learning… dive into research that we normally
  would not see… The energy of this group was positive, encouraging, and engaging…” - DBER Associate,
  2022
• “This gave me an opportunity to step back and really consider learning theory in the context of my
  students and discipline… Having someone knowledgeable to help identify appropriate theories was
  extremely helpful… learning from the others in the group.” - DBER Associate, 2019

Members

2026-2027

• Ellen Yezierski, Center for Teaching Excellence, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Facilitator

2024-2025

• Cathy Almquist, Chemical, Paper, and Bioengineering, DBER Associate
• Jason Berberich, Chemical, Paper, and Bioengineering, Member
• Doug Coffin, Chemical, Paper, and Bioengineering, Member
• Hakam Alomari, Computer Science and Engineering, DBER Associate
• Christopher Vendome, Computer Science and Engineering, Member
• TBA, Computer Science and Engineering, Member
• Kevin Bush, Educational Psychology/Family Science and Social Work, DBER Associate
• Darrel Davis, Educational Psychology, Member
• Joel Malin, Educational Leadership, Member
• Claire McLeod, Geology and Environmental Earth Science, DBER Associate
• Mike Brudzinski, Geology and Environmental Earth Science, Member
• Jason Rech, Geology and Environmental Earth Science, Member
• Amy Roberts, Family Science and Social Work, DBER Associate
• Veronica Barrios, Family Science and Social Work/Teaching, Curriculum, & Educational Inquiry, Member
• Sherrill Sellers, Associate Dean of the College of Education, Health, and Society/Family Science and Social Work, Member
• Siok Lian Tan, Music, DBER Associate
• Frank Huang, Music, Member
• Andrea Ridilla, Music, Member
• Ellen Yezierski, Center for Teaching Excellence, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Facilitator

2021-2022

• Mark Peterson, Anthropology, DBER Associate
• James Bielo, Anthropology, member
• Homayun Sidky, Anthropolgy, member
• Brody Ruihley, Sports Leadership and Management, DBER Associate
• Melissa Chase, Sports Leadership and Management, member
• Robin Vealey, Sports Leadership and Management, member
• Zara Torlone, French, Italian, and Classical Studies, DBER Associate
• Denise McCoskey, French, Italian and Classical Studies, member
• Nicole Thesz, German, Russian, Asian and Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures, member
• Karthik Vishwanath, Physics, DBER Associate
• Samir Bali, Physics, member
• Paul Urayama, Physics, member
• Ellen Yezierski, Center for Teaching Excellence, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Facilitator

2019 Calendar Year

• Ricardo Averbach, Music, DBER associate
• Susan Brehm, Speech Pathology and Audiology, member
• Alan Cady, Biological Sciences, DBER associate
• Kate de Medeiros, Sociology and Gerontology, DBER associate
• Thomas Fisher, Statistics, member
• Amber Franklin, Speech Pathology and Audiology, DBER associate
• Carolyn Keiffer, Biological Sciences, member
• Jennifer Kinney, Sociology and Gerontology, member
• Jaime Morales-Matos, Music, member
• Andrea Ridilla, Music, member
• Ann Rypstra, Biological Sciences, member
• Donna Scarborough, Speech Pathology and Audiology, member
• Bryan Smucker, Statistics, DBER associate
• Ellen Yezierski, Center for Teaching Excellence; Chemistry and Biochemistry, Facilitator
• Jing Zhang, Statistics, member