Three members of the UW–Madison School of Education community have received 2026 awards for mentoring undergraduates in research, scholarly, and creative activities.
The honorees are Brendan Eagan, scientist in the Wisconsin Center for Education Research; Valerie Hammer, graduate student in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction; and Shamya Karumbaiah, assistant professor in the Department of Educational Psychology.
The awards are offered by the Office of the Provost and Division for Teaching and Learning to recognize the important role mentors play in fostering undergraduates’ intellectual, personal, and professional growth through participation in high-impact practices including research, scholarly and creative endeavors. Awardees were recognized at the annual Undergraduate Symposium on April 17.
According to the awards website, Eagan’s mentoring focuses on helping students define and maintain high standards for their professional practice. Through a distributed mentorship model, he builds a reflective community rooted in care and mutual support and prepares undergraduate researchers to serve as peer mentors.
Hammer, a doctoral candidate in curriculum and instruction, mentors preservice teachers in the Elementary Education Program. Her mentoring philosophy is rooted in compassion, humility, and curiosity, and centers on supporting preservice teachers as they develop their own paths in the profession.
Karumbaiah directs The Responsible AI for Learning (TRAIL) Lab in the Department of Educational Psychology. As a mentor, she brings her training in learning sciences to foster an inclusive and equitable learning environment and works one-on-one with mentees to support them in becoming independent researchers. Together with her mentees, she has co-authored 15 peer-reviewed articles.
Learn more about the 2026 awardees.