Directory | Youth Policy Lab

Showing 1 - 30 of 51 results

Catherine Asher

Assistant Research Scientist

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Catherine Armstrong Asher is an Assistant Research Scientist at the Youth Policy Lab at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research. Her research, at the intersection of experimental design, quantitative methods, and education, investi...

Jonah Botkin

Student Research Assistant

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Jonah Botkin is a rising senior at the University of Michigan, studying Information Analysis. He is passionate about applying his analytical skills to inform policy and improve community outcomes. Alongside his work at the Youth Policy Lab, Jonah is ...

Stacey Brockman

Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Wayne State University

Stacey L. Brockman, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy studies at Wayne State University. Dr. Brockman spent a significant portion of her career as a high school teacher, teacher educator, and intervention specialist...

Milagros Chocce

Project Manager

Milagros holds a master of public policy degree from the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Economics from Universidad del Pacifico in Lima, Peru. Prior to joining the Youth Polic...

Sarah Cohodes

Associate Professor of Public Policy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy

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Sarah Cohodes is an Associate Professor of Public Policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. She holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy from Harvard University. She is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Ec...

Giuliana Cusumano

Student Research Assistant

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Giuliana Cusumano is an MS in Information (User Experience Research and Design) student at the University of Michigan School of Information. Prior to graduate school, she worked in project coordination at Arbor Research Collaborative for Health, UM C...

Anna Erickson

Senior Project Manager

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Anna Hart Erickson is a senior project manager for the Youth Policy Lab, focusing on education and early childhood research. Prior to joining the Lab, Anna taught high school social studies and was an account manager for a marketing firm. She holds a...

Anna Foster

Research Associate

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Anna Foster ("Foster") holds a PhD in Educational Studies (Policy & Leadership), an MA in Educational Studies (Policy, Leadership, and Innovation), and a BFA, all from the University of Michigan. She has research experience in project management, dat...

Megan Foster Friedman

Managing Director

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Megan Foster Friedman is the Managing Director of the Youth Policy Lab. In this role, Megan provides global project oversight, manages YPL’s internal operations and systems, and provides day-to-day leadership and staff supervision. Megan joined YPL a...

Sam Hallman

ASPIRE Curriculum Lead

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Sam Hallman is the Curriculum Lead for the ASPIRE Program in the Youth Policy Lab at the University of Michigan. A proud first-generation college student, she received her joint Ph.D. in Social Work and Psychology in 2015 from the University of Michi...

Carrie Hammerman

Director of Strategic Partnerships

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Carrie Hammerman joined the Youth Policy Lab in 2024 as its new Director of Strategic Partnerships. In this role, she seeks to increase YPL’s visibility and policy impact while ensuring funding sustainability to support ongoing research and project d...

Justin Heinze

Associate Professor, Health Behavior and Health Equity
Associate Professor, Combined Program in Education and Psychology

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Dr. Heinze's research investigates how schools influence disparities in violence and other risk outcomes from an ecological perspective that includes individual, interpersonal, and contextual influences on development. He is particularly interested i...

Sara Heller

Assistant Professor of Economics, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts and Faculty Associate, Population Studies Center, Institute for Social Research

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Sara Heller is an assistant professor of economics at the University of Michigan and studies interventions to reduce crime and improve other life outcomes among disadvantaged youth. She uses large-scale experiments to isolate the causal effects of a ...

Kenneth Hofmeister

Research Assistant

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Kenny Hofmeister is a PhD student in Economics at the University of Michigan. His research interests span the economics of education, labor economics, industrial organization, and econometrics. Prior to starting at Michigan, he worked as a research a...

Deb Hubbard

Project Manager

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Deb has a BS in Computer Science from MSU and a MA in Education Studies from UM with certification in secondary education math. She has an interest in work that improves the educational experience of young people, particularly in middle school math. ...

Brian Jacob

Faculty Co-Director & Founder

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Brian A. Jacob is the Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Education Policy and professor of economics at the Ford School, and is co-director of the Youth Policy Lab. He is also a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Brian came...

Robin T. Jacob

Faculty Co-Director & Founder

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Robin Jacob is a Research Professor at the Survey Research Center at Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan and a faculty Co-Director of the Youth Policy Lab. She has 15 years of experience conducting randomized trials and quasi-...

Megan Jagolinzer

Project Manager

Megan Jagolinzer is a project manager at the Youth Policy Lab. Her work focuses on school-based interventions to improve behavioral health and academic outcomes for youth. She has extensive experience collaborating with school staff to inform researc...

Zaiyi Jiang

Project Manager

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Zaiyi holds a Master of Public Policy degree from Harvard Kennedy School and an MA in International Journalism and Communication from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. During her time in the States before joining the lab, she had been actively i...

Triana Kazaleh Sirdenis

she/her, Project Manager, Sr.

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A seasoned researcher and organizer, Triana’s expertise is grounded in collaborative program design, participatory research, evaluation, structural public health practice, group processes, and health communication. Triana spent five years working wit...

Alice Kinney

Student Research Assistant

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Alice Kinney, a former federal employee and Peace Corps Volunteer from southwest Michigan, returned to graduate school after eight years of public service to strengthen her skills in state and local policy leadership. Prior to beginning her MPP at th...

Hien Le

Student Research Assistant

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Hien Le is a PhD student in Sociology at the University of Michigan, where her research focuses on family formation and life-course decision-making in comparative and global contexts. She is particularly interested in how structural constraints – suc...

Stephanie Leiser

Lecturer in Public Policy

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Stephanie Leiser is a lecturer at the Ford School and leads the Michigan Local Government Fiscal Health Project at the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP). Her general area of interest is in public finance, budgeting, and financial man...

Annelise Loveless

Research Assistant

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Annelise Loveless is a second year MPP student at the Ford School. Prior to graduate school, she worked at the Urban Institute, where she used mixed methods to evaluate the impact and implementation of child welfare programs across the country. She i...

Aklesia Maereg

Research Assistant

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Aklesia Maereg (she/they) grew up all around the suburbs of Northern Virginia and graduated with their degree in Public Policy and Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Post-graduation, they worked at a policy organi...

Lynn Meissner

Project Manager

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Lynn Meissner is a project manager at the Youth Policy Lab. She has a doctorate in Human Development and Social Policy from the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University and a BA in Psychology from UC Santa Cruz. Her research f...

Rukmini Nallamothu

Student Research Assistant

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Rukmini is a rising senior majoring in Public Policy at the University of Michigan’s Ford School. Her work centers on the intersection of education and health policy, with a focus on promoting equity for underserved communities. She is currently a re...

Shiyu Nitsos

Administrative Specialist

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Shiyu Nitsos joined the Youth Policy Lab in September of 2021. Before YPL, she provided extensive administrative support for the Graduate Career Service & Alumni Relations Office at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Shiyu grew up in China a...

Sophie Ordway

Policy Fellow - Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity

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Sophie is a Data & Policy Fellow for the Youth Policy Lab. She holds a MSW with a focus on Policy and Program Evaluation from the University of Michigan and a BA in English and Women’s Studies from Marist College. Prior to joining YPL, Sophie was a r...

Sarah Ostyn

Research Associate

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Sarah Ostyn is a Research Associate at the Youth Policy Lab. In this role, Sarah supports research and data analysis projects focused on improving outcomes for children, families, and communities. Sarah previously served as an inaugural Data & Policy...