Ansari receives Ohio State’s 2025 Early Career Distinguished Scholar Award

Crane faculty associate Dr. Arya Ansari has been announced as a recipient of The Ohio State University’s 2025 Early Career Distinguished Scholar Award. The award is presented by the university’s Enterprise for Research, Innovation and Knowledge (ERIK) unit, which fosters Ohio State’s research environment and community.

Ansari, an associate professor of Human Development and Family Science in the College of Education and Human Ecology, is a nationally recognized expert on the factors that influence the academic and social-emotional development of children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The topics of his wide-ranging research include the teacher-student bond, parenting and parental interactions with a child’s educators, school absenteeism, and the long-term effects of early education.

He is the principal investigator of the current Crane project Reducing Chronic Absenteeism in Columbus City Schools, a partnership with Ohio’s largest public school system that aims to improve school attendance, which research has shown to be one of the best predictors of long-term life success.

The Early Career Distinguished Scholar Award is among the highest annual honors awarded at Ohio State, going to only three or four faculty members each year. Included with the award is a research grant to be used over the next three years.