Khirsten Scott and Angela Stewart won the 2024 Joint LRDC-School of Education Internal Award

Khirsten Scott and Angela Stewart are recipients of the 2024 Joint Learning Research and Development Center (LRDC)-School of Education Internal Award.

Scott, assistant professor in Pitt’s School of Education, will serve as principal investigator, and Stewart, assistant professor in the School of Computing and Information and LRDC Research Scientist, as the co-PI. Their project “Connectedness Through Social Technologies: Toward a Framework for Adolescent Black Girls in Informal Learning Settings” is dedicated to advancing youth well-being, with a specific emphasis on Black girls. The researchers will focus on connectedness to one’s past, present and future as a way of exploring Black girls’ experiences in informal learning settings.

This first-time collaboration for Scott and Stewart forges a cross-disciplinary approach to developing robust research outcomes, methodologies and theoretical frameworks that transcend traditional scientific boundaries. It underscores the authors’ commitment to examining informal learning spaces as pivotal environments for fostering well-being and thriving among Black girls.

Established in 2009, the LRDC Internal Awards Program is designed to support the development of new, innovative and interdisciplinary research by LRDC scientists. In 2023, to strengthen research collaborations with the School of Education (SOE), LRDC created the Inaugural Joint LRDC- SOE Faculty Research Awards. The program awards up to $150,000 in funding over two years for a maximum of $75,000 per year, but smaller-scale projects are also eligible for consideration. Research teams must have at least one researcher from both the School of Education and LRDC, entering into a new collaboration.

Calls for proposals for the next funding cycle will be make in early 2025.