Lara's research focuses on science communication, creating sustainable higher education journalism programs and building connections between academia and industry.
She and her research collaborator Dr. Christina Smith founded the term "news-academic partnerships," a now widely term used to define collaborations between academic institutions and news outlets to strengthen local news ecosystems. She studies such partnerships as sustainable business models for local news and as a hydration source for news deserts.
As a seasoned expert in teaching and learning pedagogy, she has built and strengthened writing, multimedia storytelling, media and health literacy, and journalism curriculum for K-12 and university-level programs.
Published Research
I. Perceptions of News-Academic Partnerships as a Sustainable Business Model