Brownell studies biology education: how biology students learn and how biology educators can develop more effective and inclusive ways to teach.[5][6] She was appointed an assistant professor at Arizona State University in 2014. She was promoted to associate professor in 2018, full Professor in 2021, and President's Professor in 2023. In 2020, she founded the university's Research for Inclusive STEM Education Center where her research focuses on concealable stigmatized identities in science.[7]
Brownell has investigated the origins of the gender gaps in science, with a specific focus on achievement and participation in biology.[8] Her research has shown that male students are more self-confident than their female counterparts in their science classes.[9][10] These differences in self-perception can impact motivation and participation.[9] She identified that undergraduates who experience a positive lab environment are considerably more likely to complete a degree in STEM.[11] She has investigated how students from marginalized groups experience active learning, and why educators from underrepresented groups may disclose their identities to students.[12][13] In particular, Brownell showed that active learning forces students to interact with one another, which can make LGBTQ+ students feel like they have to "come out".[14][15]
Brownell identified that there is a cultural disconnect between secular college educators and often more religious college students.[16][17][18] Together with PhD student Elizabeth Barnes, Brownell developed strategies to help educators reduce any conflicts between the teaching of evolution and holding of religious beliefs.[16] Barnes and Brownell showed that it was possible to acknowledge that theological questions being with "why", whilst science attempts to answer "how".[16]
Carly Busch, Katelyn Cooper, Sara Brownell (20 July 2023) "Women drive efforts to highlight concealable stigmatized identities in U.S. academic science and engineering" PLOS One
