Research Staff

Thomas Bailey

Thomas Bailey

Director

Thomas Bailey is the George and Abby O’Neill Professor of Economics and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. He is an economist with a PhD from MIT with specialties in education, labor economics, and econometrics. He is the director of the Community College Research Center, and he directed the National Center for Postsecondary Research from 2006 to 2012. Dr. Bailey also serves as the director and principal investigator of CAPSEE.

Email: ccrc@columbia.edu | View CV | Read CCRC bio

Peter Riley Bahr

Peter Riley Bahr

Associate Professor, University of Michigan

In his research, Peter Bahr seeks to deconstruct students’ pathways into, through, and out of community colleges and into the workforce or on to four-year postsecondary institutions. His latest work is focused particularly on students’ course-taking and enrollment patterns in the community college and their subsequent labor market outcomes, such as employment and earnings, as well as the impact of students’ varied patterns of course-taking and enrollment on the assessment of community college performance. He recently was awarded a research grant from the Institute of Education Sciences to study older students in Ohio’s community colleges with colleagues at the Scripps Gerontology Center, Miami University. In a separate line of inquiry, he is investigating students’ navigation of the STEM transfer curriculum in community colleges, with the objective of strengthening the pipeline into STEM baccalaureate programs. Dr. Bahr joined the faculty of the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education at the University of Michigan in 2009. He previously held a faculty appointment in the Department of Sociology at Wayne State University, and research appointments in the Chancellor’s Office of the California Community Colleges and the California Department of Education. He received his PhD from the University of California-Davis. Dr. Bahr co-leads the Michigan project and the California project.

Email: prbahr@umich.edu | View CV | Read University of Michigan bio

Clive Belfield

Clive Belfield

Professor, Queens College, City University of New York

Clive Belfield is a professor of economics at Queens College, the City University of New York. His current research focuses on the returns to community college and interventions to improve the high school graduation rate. Dr. Belfield co-leads the North Carolina project.

Email: clive.belfield@gmail.com | View CV | Read Queens College bio

Peter Bergman

Peter Bergman

Assistant Professor, Teachers College, Columbia University

Peter Bergman is an assistant professor of economics and education at Teachers College, Columbia University. His research focuses on field experiments designed to improve financial and educational outcomes for low-income families. His current interests in higher education include the studying the returns to STEM-related degrees, testing strategies to improve take-up of education-related tax-benefits, and assessing the effects of these benefits on student outcomes.

Email: psb2101@tc.columbia.edu | View CV | Read CCRC bio

Eric Bettinger

Eric Bettinger

Associate Professor, Stanford University

Eric Bettinger is an associate professor of education at Stanford University and a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His current research focuses on factors that improve students’ access to and success in college. Dr. Bettinger co-leads the Ohio project and the Working While Enrolled project.

Email: ebettinger@stanford.edu | View CV | Read Stanford University bio

Keith Brown

Keith Brown

Postsecondary Education Consultant

Keith Brown is a postsecondary education consultant, having retired from the North Carolina Community College System, where he served as the associate vice president for research and performance management. His primary responsibility was directing all research, accountability, and evaluation efforts. Dr. Brown oversees the development of the matched dataset for North Carolina and contributes to the state relationships and partnerships work at CAPSEE.

Email: brown.jkeith@gmail.com | View CV

David Deming

David Deming

Associate Professor, Harvard University

David Deming is a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His research focuses broadly on the economics of skill development, education, and the labor market. Recent projects include a study of the growing importance of social skills in the labor market, and the impacts of price and spending subsidies on U.S. postsecondary attainment. He is a William T. Grant Scholar, and he recently received the Early Career Award from the Association for Education Finance and Policy (AEFP). Dr. Deming co-leads the Role of the For-Profit Sector in Higher Education project.

Email: david_deming@gse.harvard.edu | View CV | Read Harvard University bio

Susan Dynarski

Susan Dynarski

Professor, University of Michigan

Susan M. Dynarski is a professor of economics, education, and public policy at the University of Michigan. She is also a faculty research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Her current research focuses on the effect of college preparatory curricula on achievement and attainment, charter schools, inequality in educational attainment, the price sensitivity of private school attendance, and the design and effects of state and federal student aid programs. Dr. Dynarski co-leads the Michigan project and the California project.

Email: dynarski@umich.edu | View CV | Read University of Michigan bio

Nikki Edgecombe

Nikki Edgecombe

Senior Research Associate, Community College Research Center

Nikki Edgecombe is a senior research scientist at CCRC. She holds a PhD in education from the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in urban studies–economics from Columbia University. An authority on developmental education, Dr. Edgecombe has studied the developmental education reform landscape nationwide and published multiple papers chronicling reform approaches and outcomes. Dr. Edgecombe leads the project on Minority-Serving Institutions.

Email: edgecombe@tc.edu | Read CCRC bio

Claudia Goldin

Claudia Goldin

Henry Lee Professor of Economics, Harvard University

Claudia Goldin is the Henry Lee Professor of Economics at Harvard University and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, where she serves as director of development of the American Economy Program. She has been an empirical researcher in the fields of labor, education, and economic history for many decades. Her most recent research concerns the role of the educational slowdown in the United States on labor markets and wage inequality. Dr. Goldin co-leads the Role of the For-Profit Sector in Higher Education project.

Email: cgoldin@fas.harvard.edu | View CV | Read Harvard University bio

Michelle Hodara

Michelle Hodara

Senior Researcher, Education Northwest

Michelle Hodara is a senior researcher at Education Northwest. She studies the high school to college transition and is the lead researcher for the Oregon College and Career Readiness Research Alliance. She holds a PhD in economics and education from Teachers College, Columbia University, where she worked at the Community College Research Center. She has published and presented widely on major issues affecting community colleges, including how to improve the assessment and placement process for incoming students and the effects of developmental education on student outcomes. Dr. Hodara leads the Improving College Math Readiness project.

Email: michelle.hodara@educationnorthwest.org | Read Education Northwest bio

Brian Jacob

Brian Jacob

Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Education Policy, University of Michigan

Brian A. Jacob is the Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Education Policy and co-director of the Education Policy Initiative at the University of Michigan. He is also a faculty research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and an executive committee member of the National Poverty Center. His current research focuses on urban school reform and teacher labor markets; other recent work examines school choice, education accountability programs, and housing vouchers. Dr. Jacob co-leads the Michigan project and the California project.

Email: bajacob@umich.edu | View CV | Read University of Michigan bio

Shanna Smith Jaggars

Shanna Smith Jaggars

Director of Student Success Research, Office of Distance Education and E-Learning, The Ohio State University

Shanna Smith Jaggars is director of student success research for the Office of Distance Education and E-Learning at The Ohio State University in Columbus, where her research focuses on improving student outcomes, including issues around technology-enabled learning, online and distance learning, online student support services, curricular and transfer pathways, and other topics related to access, affordability, and time to degree. Her previous work in Virginia, which includes both qualitative research and quantitative analysis using the statewide community college data system, has focused on online learning as well as on developmental education pedagogy, programming, and policy. Dr. Jaggars serves as CAPSEE’s research coordinator and leads the Virginia project.

Email: jaggars@tc.edu | View CV | Read CCRC bio

Davis Jenkins

Davis Jenkins

Senior Research Associate, Community College Research Center

Davis Jenkins is a senior research associate at CCRC. Dr. Jenkins conducts research and consults with states, colleges, workforce boards, and other groups on using data to align public resources for education, workforce, and economic development with the goals of supporting educational and career advancement for individuals and better addressing regional labor force needs. Dr. Jenkins leads the state relationships and partnerships work and contributes to CAPSEE’s labor market activities.

Email: davisjenkins@gmail.com | View CV | Read CCRC bio

Arne Kalleberg

Arne Kalleberg

Kenan Distinguished Professor of Sociology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Arne L. Kalleberg is a Kenan Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has published extensively on topics related to the sociology of work, organizations, occupations and industries, labor markets, and social stratification. He is the author of Good Jobs, Bad Jobs: The Rise of Polarized and Precarious Employment Systems in the United States, 1970s–2000s and is currently finishing a book that examines how people in six advanced industrial countries representing different welfare and employment regimes—Denmark, Germany, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States—differ in both their experience of precarious work and in outcomes of precarious work, such as job and economic insecurity, entry into the labor force, and subjective well-being. Other current projects include studies of the processes of mobility out of low-wage jobs and historical patterns of precarious work in the United States. Dr. Kalleberg co-leads the North Carolina project.

Email: arne_kalleberg@unc.edu | View CV | Read University of North Carolina bio

Lawrence Katz

Lawrence Katz

Elisabeth Allison Professor of Economics, Harvard University

Lawrence Katz is the Elisabeth Allison Professor of Economics at Harvard University, the editor for the Quarterly Journal of Economics, and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He has research experience spanning a wide range of current and historical topics in labor economics and the economics of education. Dr. Katz co-leads the Role of the For-Profit Sector in Higher Education project.

Email: katz2@fas.harvard.edu | View CV | Read Harvard University bio

Michal Kurlaender

Michal Kurlaender

Associate Professor, University of California, Davis

Michal Kurlaender is professor of education policy at the University of California, Davis. Her research focuses on students’ educational pathways, in particular K-12 and postsecondary alignment, and access to and success in college. Dr. Kurlaender works closely with all of California’s public K-12 and higher education sectors. She has recently launched an IES-funded partnership with the California Department of Education to explore college and career readiness in the era of Common Core State Standards. She serves as a co-director of PACE (Policy Analysis for California Education), and is affiliated with the UC Davis Center for Poverty Research, Wheelhouse: The Center for Community College Leadership and Research, and the Center for the Analysis of Postsecondary Readiness at Teachers College, Columbia University. She received her doctorate in education from Harvard University in 2005. Her work has been published in various academic and policy outlets. Dr. Kurlaender leads CAPSEE’s research on community college pathways, workforce development, and labor market outcomes in California.

Email: mkurlaender@ucdavis.edu | View CV | Read UC Davis bio

Bridget Terry Long

Bridget Terry Long

Saris Professor of Education and Economics, Harvard Graduate School of Education

Bridget Terry Long is the Saris Professor of Education and Economics at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Dr. Long is an economist who studies the transition from high school to higher education and beyond. Her research focuses on college student access, choice, and success, and current projects examine the effects of information interventions on student decisions, the impact of financial aid policies, and the influence of support programs on student outcomes. Dr. Long is a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research; member of the Board of Directors for MDRC; and the former chair of the National Board for Education Sciences, the advisory panel of the Institute of Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education. She has testified multiple times before congressional committees on education issues and been awarded numerous research grants, including major awards from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, and the National Science Foundation. Dr. Long received her PhD and MA from the Harvard University Department of Economics and her AB from Princeton University. Dr. Long co-leads the Ohio and Working While Enrolled projects.

Email: longbr@gse.harvard.edu | View CV | Read Harvard University bio

Valerie Lundy-Wagner

Valerie Lundy-Wagner

Associate Research Director, Jobs for the Future

Valerie Lundy-Wagner is an associate research director at Jobs for the Future. She holds a PhD in higher education from the University of Pennsylvania, a master’s in education from Stanford University, and a bachelor’s degree in civil and environmental engineering from UCLA. Dr. Lundy-Wagner’s work has focused largely on demography, institution type, and enrollment in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields on postsecondary student outcomes. Her research for CAPSEE focuses on minority-serving institutions, STEM pathways, and labor market outcomes.

Email: vlundywagner@jff.org | View CV | Read Jobs for the Future bio

Lauren Schudde

Lauren Schudde

Assistant Professor, The University of Texas at Austin

Lauren Schudde is an assistant professor in the College of Education at The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Schudde holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She studies processes that contribute to socioeconomic inequalities in postsecondary degree attainment and labor market outcomes. Her research for CAPSEE focuses on financial aid policy and the labor market returns associated with different college pathways and student experiences.

Email: schudde@austin.utexas.edu | View CV | Read UT Austin bio

Marc Scott

Marc Scott

Associate Professor, New York University

Marc Scott is an associate professor of applied statistics at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development and co-director of the Center for the Promotion of Research Involving Innovative Statistical Methodology. His research primarily involves the development of statistical models for repeated measures data. The evaluation of pathways to educational and economic attainment has also been an important part of Dr. Scott’s research. Dr. Scott is working to develop methods for characterizing and classifying educational pathways.

Email: marc.scott@nyu.edu | View CV | Read NYU bio

Judith Scott-Clayton

Judith Scott-Clayton

Associate Professor, Teachers College, Columbia University

Judith Scott-Clayton is an associate professor of economics and education at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she teaches labor economics and quantitative methods for causal inference. She is also a senior research associate at CCRC. Her research has examined the complexity in financial aid application and eligibility rules, financial incentives for college achievement, and the causes and consequences of student employment. She has conducted studies of merit-based financial aid and Federal Work-Study assistance using administrative postsecondary and employment data from West Virginia. Dr. Scott-Clayton leads the Education and Interstate Mobility, Federal Work-Study, and Financial Aid for Community College Students projects.

Email: scott-clayton@tc.edu | View CV | Read CCRC bio

Michelle Van Noy

Michelle Van Noy

Associate Director, Education and Employment Center, Rutgers University

Michelle Van Noy is associate director of the Education and Employment Research Center at Rutgers University. She conducts research on the role of higher education, particularly community colleges, in workforce development. Her research focuses on how colleges organize their programs to prepare students for the workforce, how students make choices about majors and careers, and how employers engage with education and use credentials in the hiring process. She leads CAPSEE’s One-Stop Career Centers in North Carolina project.

Email: mvannoy@rutgers.edu | Read Rutgers University bio

Di Xu

Di Xu

Assistant Professor, University of California, Irvine

Di Xu is an assistant professor at the School of Education at the University of California, Irvine, and a research affiliate at the Community College Research Center. She has a PhD in economics and education with expertise in higher education. Her research uses experimental and quasi-experimental designs to test teaching practices, course delivery format, and educational interventions and policies aimed at improving college students’ educational outcomes, with a particular focus on students from low-income and underrepresented groups. Dr. Xu has participated in several large-scale, multi-site studies using college administrative data and is currently co-leading two five-year National Science Foundation–funded projects at UC Irvine to investigate virtual learning environments and the effects of targeted scholarships and strategies to improve persistence and success of students in physics.

Email: dix3@uci.edu | View CV | Read CCRC bio