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 ...
Montrischa Williams is a senior researcher with more than 10 years’ experience in educational research and technical assistance. Dr. Williams specializes in equity in higher education, STEM persistence, as well as the postsecondary pathways and transitions from high school to college of underserved students. Her methodological work is qualitative driven, ...
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 ...
Veronica Tate is a managing director at AIR and serves as a senior leader on the management team that shapes the technical assistance delivery and supports effective collaboration across the comprehensive centers operated by AIR. She provides leadership, project management, and quality assurance supervision to ensure the effectiveness of services, ...
Beth Howard-Brown is a principal technical assistance consultant at AIR. She is currently supporting the early warning and intervention and monitoring system project and the AIR social and emotional learning solutions group. Dr. Howard-Brown has over 25 years of experience leading and managing local, state and federal initiatives. She served ...
Alise Crossland (Brann) is a senior researcher at AIR with more than 13 years of experience identifying and assessing digital learning technologies for both general and special education. Her work focuses on providing technical assistance and professional development to educators at the local, state, and national level on the use ...
Tia Clinton is an education researcher who’s work spans equity, K-12 school and program improvement, student belonging, and evaluation. Dr. Clinton has extensive experience in school level and nonprofit level interventions to increase achievement outcomes for students of color both on the K-12 and higher education levels. Her professional career ...
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 ...
Niu Gao is a principal researcher at AIR specializing in K-12 education policy. Her current work focuses on COVID-19 and education, and she is leading multiple projects to examine the impact of the pandemic on K-12 education and identify effective strategies to help students recover—and recover equitably. Her other areas ...
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.