Mary Kay Dugan is a managing technical assistant consultant at AIR. She is passionate about identifying evidence-based promising practices and translating them into policies and effective programs focused on underserved populations including disadvantaged youth and young adults. Dugan has over 30 years of experience helping federal, state, and local governments ...
Michaela Gulemetova is a senior economist at AIR who specializes in methods for program evaluation in education research. With over 15 years of professional experience, Dr. Gulemetova possesses a wealth of expertise and deep knowledge of education evaluation studies. She has often served as principal investigator and senior technical lead ...
Jessica Heppen, a nationally recognized expert in education research, policy, and practice, is the president & CEO of AIR. Dr. Heppen been with AIR for 20 years and, in that time, has held several key roles during her tenure.
Robert Nathenson is a senior researcher at AIR. He has over 10 years of experience in the execution of rigorous econometric and behavioral science techniques to applied policy questions in the postsecondary education, pre-k-12 education, and health fields. Dr. Nathenson regularly conducts research using both experimental and quasi-experimental designs. His ...
Whitney Cade is a senior researcher at AIR. She currently supports multiple projects, including two Institute for Education Science grants and the Regional Education Laboratories Southwest. Her recent work focuses on understanding the impacts of 8th grade algebra on school trajectories and college readiness, evaluating UTeach teacher characteristics and program ...
Kelly Reese is a senior researcher at AIR with experience conducting mixed-methods research, leading teams of researchers, and providing analytic support to clients in content areas such as career and technical education systems and career pathways from K-12 to postsecondary with industry partnerships; college and career readiness initiatives, including programs ...
Thomas de Hoop directs a research and evaluation portfolio with a focus on the impact, scalability, and cost-effectiveness of self-help groups, savings groups, and education innovations in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
Rosa Castro-Zarzur is an economist in AIR’s International Development Division, with extensive training in experimental and quasi-experimental impact evaluations and more than seven years of experience conducting evaluations of social and agricultural programs in developing countries.
Her current work includes evaluating programs aimed at improving child wellbeing and reducing household ...
Bobbi Newman is a principal researcher and director of AIR’s practice area for standards and assessments. She has more than 15 years of experience in research and evaluation of school reform efforts. Dr. Newman has worked at every level of the education system, from the classroom to the state. As ...
Nicholas Sorensen is a principal researcher at AIR. His research is primarily focused on dropout prevention and helping struggling students succeed across the transition to high school. His work emphasizes the role of social psychological interventions, strategies to support success in algebra and mathematics, and use of early warning systems ...