Congratulations to RISE director Sara Brownell, who was elected as a 2026 @ascbiology.bsky.social fellow--an award given to 15 researchers who demonstrate scientific excellence, leadership, and service to the cell biology community. Read more about Sara & the other fellows here: shorturl.at/z4rGD

For researchers: When we exclude nonbinary participants from quant papers because of small sample sizes, we're also excluding students with disabilities. It may be better to group nonbinary students with women, given that they likely have similar experiences with gender-based discrimination in STEM.

So, what do we do with this information? For instructors: Supporting LGBTQ+ students in your classrooms is also likely to benefit many students with disabilities. If you're looking for ideas, I recommend this paper by some of my co-authors (www.lifescied.org/doi/full/10....)

We also found that LGBTQ+ students with disabilities were less likely to use accommodations, less likely to disclose their disability to peers or instructors, and reported feeling less comfortable on campus as students with disabilities compared to non-LGBTQ+ students with disabilities.

Here are a couple of findings that really stood out: 🌈 Students with disabilities were 2.3× more likely to identify as LGBTQ+, with 50% of our sample identifying as LGBTQ+ 🏳️‍⚧️ They were also 30% more likely to identify as nonbinary.

We surveyed ~900 students with and without disabilities, and asked them to complete questions on their demographics, along with questions about their experiences in higher education

With the growing number of undergraduates with disabilities in STEM majors, we wanted to better understand the range of experiences within this group. Specifically, we asked: how does holding another marginalized identity alongside a disability shape students' experiences?

Thrilled that the first paper of my postdoc is out now! tl;dr: Do students with disabilities have universal experiences in STEM? Nope. Want more? a🧵on what we found. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Beyond disability: how being twice-marginalized shapes the experiences of STEM undergraduates with disabilities | Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education

Although research into the experiences of students with disabilities has expanded in the last decade (1, 2), most studies focus solely on disability status (3) and do not consider how students’ educat...

journals.asm.org

Excited to share our new article in Times Higher Education, written collaboratively with our RISE GenZ researchers, for their instructors. Read it here: www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/dear-...

Dear educators, Gen Z here. Could you please teach us like it’s 2026?

Learning has changed drastically in the past five years, but teaching practices haven’t caught up. From your students’ perspective, here’s how to adapt

timeshighereducation.com

A student with ADHD forgets to book a testing center appt. and loses their accommodation. A student's anxiety keeps them from sharing accommodations with profs. If using accommodations requires skills make inherently harder by their disability, is the system working? tinyurl.com/yymn8cne

Do students need accommodations for their accommodations?

Students with disabilities need accommodations so they can focus on learning. But when accessing those accommodations requires skills they don’t have, is the system really working?

tinyurl.com

🎓 Science instructors — we’d love your help with a research study. If you identify as having depression and teach a large undergraduate science course (50+ students), we’re looking for participants. Interested? Learn more and sign up here lnkd.in/gSa4TeZx Please share with your networks!

New research from our group brings encouraging news for future doctors: Disclosing mental health challenges, including bipolar disorder, does not negatively impact medical school applicant rankings, and can be viewed positively when used to explain lower academic performance. tinyurl.com/uspbtjt9

The RISE Center was lucky to get to have a conversation with Dr. Shirley Malcolm, who has been a national leader and advocate for inclusion for over 40 years, currently as Director of the SEA CHANGE initiative at @aaas.org. "Failure just means that we haven't succeeded... yet." 🧪🎓👩🏾‍🔬

RISE center #AAASmtg recap: RISE director Sara Brownell organized a session named “Bridging ideological divides in science” with speakers Joe Graves, @lizbarnes.bsky.social, and @docrowschaef.bsky.social highlighting the need for dialogue rather than deficit when discussing controversial topics.

RISE center director Dr. Sara Brownell is one of the top 50 voices to follow in Higher education! "Her research challenges assumptions, informs national teaching practices, and ensures that evidence-based innovation genuinely serves all students." Read more about Sara here: tinyurl.com/yu7dtfuf

50 top voices to follow in higher education for 2026

Meet the Top 50 Voices in Higher Education 2026. From educators and innovators driving insight, leadership, and global impact.

vevox.com

So proud of Molly Budhiraja and Aliya Hashim for representing the RISE Ambassadors at ASU's First Gen Zone 2026 conference last week. Plus, see some of the initiatives our RISE ambassadors are doing to increase connection among first generation students on campus.

RISE grad students joined the first-ever Future of Learning Community (FOLC) Fest at ASU! We presented on topics our labs have been working on, ranging from active learning for undergrads with depression to faculty views on providing disability accommodations.

Behind every successful scientist is a trail of rejected ideas, failed experiments, and self-doubt. We created 40 Fail-Safe Science videos to normalize the struggles scientists face during grad school. If you’ve wondered whether you belong in science, this is for you. risecenter.asu.edu/fail-safe

We just published a piece on the effectiveness of extended test time to accommodate students with disabilities. Check it out and share your thoughts: what accommodations have you seen (or used personally) that actually make a difference in your courses?

Dr. Riley Pizza@rileypizza.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Extra time on exams has become the default accommodation in higher ed—but evidence suggests it often doesn’t help anyone: not students “gaming the system,” and more concerningly, often not students with disabilities either. Read our opinion piece here: url-shortener.me/8R70

@fail-safe-science.bsky.social ASU's RISE Mental Health Div. is launching Fail-Safe Science, a project to normalize challenges in grad school. Check it out: risecenter.asu.edu/fail-safe Link to the trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3Ue... Link to the podcast: www.podbean.com/pw/pbblog-m5...

How are you teaching evolution? A study with a naturalistic design with multiple instructors across the U.S. shows that you need to show the potential compatibility between evolution and religion with conflict reducing practices. journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

Hey college science instructors: Why do you ask students to answer questions in front of the class? A new publication by former PhD student Erika Nadile explores reasons for why science instructors do- and do not- call on volunteers to answer questions! journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10....

Instructor-perceived benefits and costs of inviting students to voluntarily answer questions in large science courses | Advances in Physiology Education | American Physiological Society

In large undergraduate science courses, instructors often invite students to voluntarily answer questions (VANQ) in front of the class for a variety of pedagogical reasons. However, it is unclear what...

journals.physiology.org

Check out the posters from the RISE Center at SABER 2025! Thursday night poster session will feature Jynx Pigart presenting on "Undergraduates in STEM fields and women report worse mental health than non-STEM majors and men,"

⁉️🧬Do you teach evolutionary medicine? Any idea if your students understand the big ideas of evolutionary medicine? Use our freely available assessment to find out. academic.oup.com/emph/article...

The EvMed Assessment: A test for measuring student understanding of core concepts in evolutionary medicine

AbstractBackground and objectives. Universities throughout the USA increasingly offer undergraduate courses in evolutionary medicine (EvMed), which creates

academic.oup.com

@sabercommunity.bsky.social Webinar April 17th, 9 am PT/ 10 am MT Dr. Park, Dr. Travers, and Dr. Google will be discussing Black students, Religion, and STEM: Exploring the Intersections #SABER #STEM #BIOLOGY #education #students

🎙️ New APS Publications Podcast episode! Baylee A. Edwards & Dr. Sara Brownell discuss how sharing aggregated class demographic data in high-enrollment physiology courses boosts inclusivity and strengthens student-instructor relationships. t.co/5QEzMTRpwg

Straight from @Nature and @CooperBioEdLab: The largest survey of LGBTQ+ biologists finds that 40% of trans and gender-nonconforming and 20% of LGBQ researchers face hostility, intimidation, or offensive behavior at work. 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Trans researchers under attack: LGBTQ+ biologists face hostile work environment

Largest survey of LGBTQ+ biologists finds 40% of trans and gender-nonconforming, and 20% of lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer researchers, experience hostility, intimidation or offensive behaviour at w...

nature.com

Step into the conversation with Conversations Unfiltered! Now streaming on Spotify, Pandora, and iHeartRadio. open.spotify.com/episode/2yAk...

"Depressed, But Doing My Best: How Professors’ Openness can benefit students"

Conversations Unfiltered · Episode

open.spotify.com

NOW STREAMING 🤩 Conversations Unfiltered is LIVE! Check out our first episode: "Depressed, But Doing My Best: How Professors’ Openness can benefit students." ❓Is there an upside to revealing depression in a classroom? #depression #mentalhealth #highered #STEM media.rss.com/conversation...

🎙BIG ANNOUNCEMENT🎙 Season 1 of Conversations Unfiltered is here, and we’re calling it Mental Matters. Dropping Episode 1 this Sunday, we’re diving deep into the realities of mental health in academia. Stay tuned for Episode 1! #MentalMatters #ConversationsUnfiltered #HigherEd #MentalHealthInSTEM