Her research takes a critical perspective on agency, identity, and power among African American families and adolescents. Dr. Lewis Ellison was the recipient of the following awards: the 2017 UGA Early Career Faculty Research Award; 2016 Early Career Achievement Award recipient from the Literacy Research Association; the 2015-16 National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow, the National Council of Teachers of English’s Promising Researcher Award; the J Michael Parker Award; and a finalist of the International Literacy Association Outstanding Dissertation Award. Her work has appeared in the selected peer reviewed journals: Reading Research Quarterly, Journal of Literacy Research, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, Urban Education, and Journal of Education.