The American Educational Research Association has named Vanderbilt University's Laurie Cutting, Patricia and Rodes Hart Professor of Neuroscience in the Department of Special Education, a 2026 AERA Fellow, an honor recognizing the nation's top researchers in education and learning. She and the class of 2026 Fellows will be inducted on April 9 during AERA's annual meeting in Los Angeles.
The AERA Fellows Program honors scholars whose excellence in research enriches and advances the education field. Cutting, a pioneer in the cognitive neuroscience of learning, is widely recognized for her discipline-crossing studies on how the brain processes reading and language. She joins 15 other Peabody faculty members who have previously been named AERA Fellows.
"I am thrilled to congratulate Laurie Cutting on this well-deserved recognition," said Camilla Benbow, Patricia and Rodes Hart Dean of Education and Human Development and herself an AERA Fellow. "Since joining us at Peabody, Laurie has worked to uncover the neuroscience behind learning and continues to break barriers in our field."
Cutting joined the faculty at Peabody College of education and human development in 2009 to continue her pursuit of understanding the neuroscience of reading, language and executive functioning. Notably, she uses fMRI technology to map the brains of children with learning disabilities.
She has demonstrated that white matter is different in the brains of children with dyslexia and is building a growing body of research that shows brain plasticity in these learners. Cutting has also identified the neurobiological profile of a lesser-known reading disorder, in which children can decode words but struggle with comprehension.
Adept at bridging disciplines, today Cutting holds multiple appointments across Vanderbilt University in the departments of pediatrics, psychology, radiology, and electrical and computer engineering. Additionally, she helps lead a major trans-institutional institute at Vanderbilt as the associate director of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, along with being the director of the Education and Brain Sciences Research Lab at Peabody.
Cutting is an advisor to the Roberts Academy and Center for Dyslexia at Vanderbilt, and she was honored last year with the SEC Faculty Achievement Award.
She wears many hats, but at the core of her work is a focus on mentoring students who are engaged in research that helps children with learning disabilities thrive. As she prepares to be inducted as an AERA Fellow, we asked Cutting what inspires and continues to excite her in educational neuroscience research.
- What inspired your passion to understand reading disabilities?
My journey toward reading disabilities research began early in my life. I had always enjoyed working with children, and during my college years I worked in an elementary school and helped in first-grade classrooms. I saw how transformative that year was for children as they learned to read, and how their self-esteem rapidly dwindled if they struggled to read. That set me on my journey to a Ph.D.
- How did you realize you could bridge education with brain sciences?
During my graduate work, I completed several formative pre-doctoral internships, including at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine/Kennedy Krieger Institute, Yale's Center for Learning and Attention, and placements at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
"Any finding only matters in so much that it can be used, which is where policy comes into play."
These experiences exposed me to cutting-edge research at the intersection of education, neurobiology and policy and allowed me to think more deeply about why many children struggle to learn to read. This question has been driving my work for nearly three decades, particularly the recognition that reading disabilities are heterogeneous and require multidisciplinary approaches combining cognition, neurobiology and behavior-and that ultimately, any finding only matters in so much that it can be used, which is where policy comes into play.
- How has brain imaging changed the way we think about reading challenges in children?
Brain imaging has been transformative. When I began my postdoctoral work at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine/Kennedy Krieger Institute in 1997, neuroimaging was still novel in developmental cognitive neuroscience. Over the past 25+ years, functional and structural MRIs have fundamentally shifted our understanding from viewing reading disabilities as purely an educational issue to recognizing that they are reflective of distinct neurobiological profiles; critically, these profiles are malleable, reflecting how teachers are changing children's brains each day in the classroom. This has moved us from asking what's wrong to asking, "What's different about how this brain is organized, and how can we leverage that understanding to predict and improve outcomes?"
- What do you hope comes from your work in the education field?
My ultimate goal is for the field of educational neuroscience findings to not only provide theoretical and mechanistic insight into child development but also into practical, evidence-based interventions that reach children who need them most, particularly those from underserved and vulnerable populations. We also want to provide critical information to policymakers to effect change.
- What project are you currently most excited about working on?
Overall, the work that excites me most is when we can move beyond describing brain differences and on to predicting outcomes and improving them. Ongoing studies in my lab are looking at issues such as whether dyslexia interventions that have an executive function component may boost academic success. I'm also excited about work we are doing with novel AI-driven measurements and approaches to tracking word and comprehension skills; these approaches will provide teachers with new ways to capture reading growth.
- What advice would you give to students interested in combining neuroscience with education in the way you have?
Embrace the messiness of real-world problems-innovation often happens at interdisciplinary intersections. Start by building genuine interdisciplinary expertise in both neuroscience and education. My training in communication disorders, education and cognitive neuroscience has been invaluable. Along those lines, understanding enough about multiple methodologies-even if you can master only one-can be priceless in grasping a full picture and being able to work with colleagues with all kinds of expertise.
"If you're genuinely committed to improving outcomes for children, it's a hugely rewarding career path."
To that end, I'd urge students to learn from practitioners, whether in classrooms, clinics or schools, to understand what problems exist outside of a research setting. This allows researchers to focus on the populations and problems that matter in the real world. My work on learning disabilities in underserved populations has been far more meaningful than any purely basic science I've done.
Finally, find mentors. Seek advisors who model translating research to practice and who value both rigor and relevance, and most all, who deeply care about you and your development. Also remember that persistence is important. Moving findings from the lab to education takes years. But if you're genuinely committed to improving outcomes for children, it's a hugely rewarding career path.
