Research

The Department of Educational Psychology is currently ranked seventh in the nation among public institutions by U.S. News & World Report. This ranking reflects the quality research conducted by our faculty and graduate students. Our department is home to several nationally recognized research centers and grant-funded initiatives and has consistently averaged research expenditures between $2-5 million per year. 

This success is due to the work of several research labs and facilities aimed at promoting and understanding learning, mental health, and school success. Research in our department is funded by the Institute of Educational Sciences, the National Institutes of Health, and many foundation and corporate funders. This page highlights some of the many research accomplishments and opportunities in our department.


Logo for the National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes

National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes

The NDC is a technical assistance and dissemination center that supports postsecondary outcomes for individuals who are deaf, deafblind, deafdisabled, hard of hearing, or late deafened. This center draws from evidence-based strategies to educate and engage with stakeholders across the nation. 
Logo for Leveraging Evidence and Advancing Practice for Youth Mental Health Services

Leveraging Evidence and Advancing Practice for Youth Mental Health Services

We examine the factors that promote and support the effective use of empirically supported mental health interventions for youth, evaluate the effectiveness and acceptability of interventions in low-resource settings, and emphasize research-practice partnerships.

Featured Researchers

A mother and child holding hands and talking to a doctor

Promoting Positive Behavior Through Positive Parenting

A new e-intervention might help close the accessibility gap for positive parenting techniques.

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Fighting the Effects of Colorism in Ghana and at UT

Student and faculty researchers investigate the effects of colorism which is discrimination based on skin color or skin shade.

Photo of Christopher McCarthy

How Teachers' Stress Affects Students: A Research Roundup

New research is helping to clarify how teachers become chronically stressed, and how it can affect their students’ well-being and achievement.

Labs and Research Areas

Center for Applied Psychometric Research

Dedicated to providing cutting edge statistical and psychometric research and evaluation services to further educational improvements at the K-12 and higher education levels and to inform educators, researchers, policymakers, and other stakeholders.

Coping and Stress in Education Research Team

Explores the intersection of health, psychology, and education by researching how to promote wellness and productivity in educational settings.

Culture, Identity, and Health Lab

Explores the effects of racism, discrimination, and health inequities on mental and behavioral health outcomes among diverse adolescent and emerging adult populations.

Happiness is a Latent Variable (HILV) Research Group

Focuses on the nature and measurement of intelligence, and researches the variables that affect learning outcomes in school settings.

Laboratory for Leveraging Evidence and Advancing Practice for Youth Mental Health Services (LEAP Lab)

Examines factors that promote and support effective use of empirically supported mental health interventions for youth, evaluates the effectiveness and acceptability of interventions in low-resource settings, and emphasizes research-practice partnerships.

National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes

Supports postsecondary outcomes for individuals who are deaf, deafblind, deafdisabled, hard of hearing, or late deafened by drawing on evidence-based strategies to educate and engage with stakeholders across the nation.

Pediatric Coping and Language Lab

Studies family, linguistic, and sociocultural influences on children’s adaptation to stress and their mental and physical health outcomes.

Psychological and Educational Assessment Center

Serves as a training center for the graduate programs in Counseling Psychology and School Psychology and a resource for people who are seeking assessment for possible learning difficulties or conditions that may affect learning.

Science of Learning and Metacognition Lab

Explores how people can be empowered to become motivated and effective self-regulated learners through the combination of the right mindset and the right toolset.

Social Psychological Approaches to East Asian and Asian American Education

Focuses on family and cultural factors that affect educational outcomes. Topics include the impact of: East Asian culture, including perfectionism and shame, immigrant status in the U.S. and Asia, and only-child and socioeconomic status.

The Media-based Inquiry Lab

Utilizes media and qualitative methods in psychology as forms of scholarship, public engagement, and social action.