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.
Dr. Tanvi Rao is an applied microeconomist with training and experience in quantitative research, econometric analysis, program evaluation and causal inference using experimental and quasi-experimental research methods.
Erika Kessler, Ph.D., is a researcher at AIR with expertise in climate change and environmental education and employing advanced statistical analysis techniques with large-scale, complex survey data.Dr. Kessler brings a breadth of work experience and expertise across a diverse array of topics to AIR. She has particular interest and experience in the ...
Juan Bonilla is a managing economist and project execution lead for the International Development Division at AIR. He conducts research in the fields of agricultural development, nutrition, social protection, and education policy in developing countries. Dr. Bonilla has more than 15 years of experience designing and leading research projects of ...
Douglas Fuchs is an Institute Fellow at AIR. He is also Professor of Special Education and Nicholas Hobbs Chair of Special Education and Human Development and Professor Pediatrics in the Vanderbilt University Medical School, Department of Special Education. At Vanderbilt, Fuchs has been principal investigator of 50 federally-sponsored research grants. ...
Jonathan Margolin is a principal researcher in the Human Services program at AIR. His primary responsibilities involve managing evaluations of K–12 education programs and systems related to K-16 STEM education, educational technology implementation, and civics. He has extensive experience with evaluating educational interventions in STEM programs, including educational simulations, apps ...
Abdullah Ferdous is a principal researcher/psychometrician in the International Development program at AIR. His primary responsibilities include managing and implementing technical assistance projects related to assessment, evaluation, and capacity building. He supports Ministries of Educations with designing and implementing national literacy and numeracy assessments and strengthening their systems through capacity-building ...
Lee Thompson is a principal TA consultant at AIR. Her primary responsibilities include leading health care research, technical assistance, and evaluation projects. Drawing on her 20 years of experience in the fields of health and aging, she has expertise conducting outreach to and engaging a variety of stakeholders, including healthcare ...
Eric S. Waters is a web development specialist at AIR. Waters has more than 16 years of experience as a database developer, with a particular focus on data tools and web applications serving internal and external education clients. In his present position, Waters creates and maintains both Drupal and FileMaker ...
Roddy Theobald is a managing researcher in the Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) at AIR. His primary responsibilities include overseeing eight externally-funded research projects related to the teacher labor market and its implications for student outcomes. He has extensive experience using large administrative datasets to ...