March 1, 2026
Three LRDC affiliates have been included in a ranking of the 50 most productive researchers in the field of educational psychology: current Pitt faculty member Christian Schunn and LRDC alumni Matthew Bernacki and Gale Sinatra.
Christian Schunn is an LRDC Senior Scientist and Professor, Psychology; Learning Science and Policy; and Intelligent Systems. Matthew Bernacki is the Donald & Justeen Tarbet Distinguished Scholar; Program Coordinator, Learning Sciences and Psychological Studies; and Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Bernacki was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at LRDC from 2013- 2020. Gale M. Sinatra is the Stephen H. Crocker Chair; Professor of Education and Psychology; and Associate Dean for Research, University of Southern California, Rossier School of Education. Sinatra was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at LRDC from 1989 to 1991.
The ranking was conducted by an international team of researchers that reported their findings in the Educational Psychology article, "Who Are the 50 Most Productive Researchers in Top-Tier Educational Psychology Journals From 2017 to 2022? A New Perspective with a Focus on Publication Trends and Diversity."
To create the ranking, the researchers analyzed the number of published articles in top-tier, topic-general educational psychology journals between 2017 and 2022 and used three different scoring methods: count-based, point-based, and average. They also performed an online survey to discover and highlight the common characteristics of highly productive researchers, focusing on research topics, open science practices, collaboration, and internationalization of research.
Using the average method, Schunn was ranked 35th; Bernacki was ranked 9th; Sinatra was ranked 42nd.
Written by Amber Eschrich