CUES funds groundbreaking research in teaching and learning
The Center for University Education Scholarship advances research on teaching and learning, funding projects that utilize AI, learning models and more.
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The University of Arizona Center for University Education Scholarship plays a critical role in advancing educational research and practice, empowering educators and faculty to transform the university learning experience through innovative teaching and learning research.
CUES is a hub for the scholarship of teaching and learning, or SoTL, a well-established field of research that spans multiple disciplines and focuses on the study of educational practices to enhance learning outcomes. Across higher education, faculty engage in SoTL to investigate, refine and share innovative teaching approaches that improve student learning and success.
“We aim to advance and expand the mission of teaching and learning by providing a space dedicated to intellectual connection,” said Guada Lozano, director and endowed chair of CUES. “This allows our research at CUES to influence not just the University of Arizona but also to remain competitive at a national level.”
Founded in 2017 and funded by an anonymous donor, CUES provides researchers across disciplines with internal funding opportunities to explore innovative projects.
Bryan Carter (left), alongside CUES Fellows Cheri Lacasse and Vignesh Subbian.
Photo courtesy of CUES
“The ability to conduct interdisciplinary research is transformational,” Lozano said. “It creates opportunities for perspectives that are often overlooked in academia. Pushing these boundaries is essential for advancing teaching and learning.”
CUES invites each college to nominate up to two fellows annually in a highly competitive selection process. Twenty-nine Distinguished Fellows have already received funding to pursue projects. Projects within the CUES 2025 cohort focus on digital learning models, well-being practices, generative artificial intelligence and other topics. A number of CUES-funded projects focus on AI applications and serve to seed new extramural funding and innovation.
Bryan Carter, director of the Center for Digital Humanities and a tenured professor of Africana studies, was a 2019 CUES Distinguished Fellow. His work centers on experiential learning using augmented reality to simulate historical environments: he virtually recreated Harlem as it existed in the 1920s.
“It's about how we push the limits of immersive activities,” Carter said. “We can connect an experience to course content. That's experiential learning, and that’s how we enhance the teaching and learning process.”
Carter stressed the importance of CUES in jumpstarting not only his research but his career in academia as well.
Kathleen Kennedy, professor of practice in retailing and consumer science, giving a lecture.
Photo courtesy of CUES
“I was an associate professor when I got the CUES grant. That led to presentations, which led to publications, which led to becoming a full professor,” Carter said. “CUES not only provides funding, but access to a community where faculty can receive helpful feedback and establish new and interesting collaborations.”
Other CUES Distinguished Fellows also are advancing applications of new technology in an educational setting. Kathleen Kennedy, a professor of practice in retailing and consumer science, received funding in 2022 to identify and develop methods that enable the effective use of adaptive learning technology in teaching and learning.
“Through the support at CUES, I conducted an expansive study of AI customized and personalized instruction, including 22 faculty members and over 1,000 students.” Kennedy said. “The CUES fellowship gave me the room to grow and evolve this initiative to where it is today. With multiple publications, presentations, and interest from other funders, we are moving beyond the pilot project into broader implementation.”
Likewise, Janine Hinton, director of the Steele Innovative Learning Center and associate clinical professor in the College of Nursing, received her fellowship in 2021. With CUES, Hinton has advanced nursing education using AI to ethically simulate immersive, medical and clinical simulations.
Janine Hinton, director of the Steele Innovative Learning Center and associate clinical professor in the College of Nursing, speaking at a podium.
Photo courtesy of CUES
“The CUES fellowship has enabled a transformative, interdisciplinary collaboration that brought together undergraduate and graduate students in computer science and engineering. Together, we created immersive extended reality simulations integrated with custom conversational AI and biosensor feedback,” Hinton said. “This project has not only advanced simulation-based education but also provided invaluable real-world experience for student developers working at the intersection of technology and human health, and much of it is due to the early support we were able to receive from CUES.”
For more information about upcoming grant and fellowship opportunities, visit https://cues.arizona.edu/grants.