About NCER

Bio

Tom joined IES in 2013 as the Commissioner for NCER. Prior to joining IES, Tom served as director of the Young Adults and Postsecondary Education Division at MDRC. He led MDRC's higher education projects, which focused primarily on finding ways to increase academic achievement, persistence, and completion among low-income college students. Moreover, under the auspices of the IES-funded National Center for Postsecondary Research, Tom oversaw evaluations of learning communities and summer enrichment programs for students in need of developmental education. Tom also served in various other capacities at MDRC—including research associate, management associate, special assistant for operations and development, and senior research associate—leading and directing implementation research on welfare reform and anti-poverty programs. Before joining MDRC, Tom served as an evaluation officer at the Wallace Foundation, where he managed a portfolio of research and evaluation grants in education, youth services, and the arts, in addition to developing survey instruments and research protocols. Tom holds a B.A. in Anthropology from Pitzer College, a master's degree in Public Administration from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Social Welfare from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Bio

Building bridges between basic science and education practice motivates all of the research and dissemination activities that Liz is engaged with. She received her training in the behavioral and social sciences at the University of Chicago, with an emphasis on psychology, cognition, and communication, and was on the faculties of Whittier College and Wheaton College (Norton, MA). She joined IES in 2002 as an AAAS/SRCD Policy Fellow, and has served in several roles since then, including program officer, Acting Commissioner of Education Research, and in her current role as Associate Commissioner of the Teaching and Learning division within NCER.

Bio

Allen joined IES in 2007 and is the Associate Commissioner for Policy and Systems. He is also the Program Officer for the Evaluation of State and Local Education Programs and Policies topic and the Researcher–Practitioner Partnerships in Education topic. Before coming to IES, he was at the Center for the Social Organization of Schools at Johns Hopkins University, where his research focused on school improvement and science education reform in low-performing middle schools. He received his Ph.D. in policy analysis from the Rand Graduate School.

Bio

Corinne joined IES in 2012 and is a Program Officer for the Improving Education Systems Research topic, as well as the Postdoctoral Training Program. She also serves as the Program Officer for the National Center for Research on Gifted Education. Her prior research focused on adolescent engagement and achievement, with a particular focus on opportunities for career exploration and development. She received her Ph.D. in Education and Psychology from the University of Michigan.

Bio

James joined IES in 2012 and is a Program Officer for the Postsecondary and Adult Education topic, and the program officer for the Continuous Improvement Research in Education topic. His research has focused on the role of policy in promoting degree attainment for community college students, and the role of financial aid in promoting persistence and completion for low-income college students. He received his Ph.D. in Sociology, with a focus on the Sociology of Education, from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Bio

Vinita joined IES in 2011 and helps guide NCER’s dissemination activities, including creating and maintaining content for the IES website, preparing summaries and announcements on NCER research activities, and responding to public inquiries. She received her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Virginia.

Bio

Christina joined IES in 2006 and is the Program Officer for the Mathematics and Science Education Research topic. Her prior research focused on the role of self-efficacy beliefs in academic achievement, with a special interest in gender differences in mathematics and science achievement. She received her Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies from Pennsylvania State University.

Bio

Wai joined IES in 2012 and is the Program Officer for the Effective Teachers and Effective Teaching research topic. Her prior research and clinical work focused on the risk and protective factors of child mental health, with an emphasis on adolescents from ethnic minority and low socioeconomic status communities. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical and Community Psychology from Arizona State University.

Bio

Emily joined IES in 2008 and is the Program Officer for the Social and Behavioral Context for Academic Learning topic. Her prior research has focused on cognitive development and parent-child relationships during infancy and early childhood. She received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Chicago.

Bio

Karen joined IES in 2009 and is the Program Officer for the Reading for Understanding Research Initiative. Her prior work focused on reading, measurement, and evaluation with a special focus on improving the quality of assessment for all students. She received her Ph.D. in Statistics, Measurement, and Evaluation from the University of Maryland.

Bio

Caroline joined IES in 2002 and is the Program Officer for the Early Learning Programs and Policies research topic and the Early Learning Research Network. During her time at IES, Caroline has served as the Program Officer for the Preschool Curriculum Evaluation Research program and the National Center for Research on Early Childhood Education. Her prior research focused on social and academic predictors of children’s early school adjustment. She received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Cornell University.

Bio

Phill joined IES in 2011 as the Program Officer for the Statistical and Methodological Research in Education grants program. He has conducted research on methodological issues pertaining to structural equation modeling, multilevel modeling, and item response theory. He received his Ph.D. in Measurement, Statistics, and Evaluation from the University of Maryland–College Park.

Bio

Erin joined IES in 2013 and is the Program Officer for the Cognition and Student Learning Research topic. Erin’s prior research focused on understanding how different types of learning tasks affect what knowledge people acquire and retain. Additionally, before joining IES, Erin served as a Human Factors Engineer at TASC, Inc., consulting at the Research, Development, and Human Factors Laboratory of the Federal Aviation Administration. She received her Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Bio

Meredith joined IES in 2010 and is one of the Program Officers for the Postsecondary and Adult Education topic area and for the Postdoctoral Research Training Program in the Education Sciences program. Her prior research focused on implicit language learning and nonliteral language processing. She holds Master’s degrees in English and in Cognitive and Instructional Psychology from Northern Illinois University, and received her Ph.D. in Psycho-linguistics from Northwestern University.

Bio

Becky joined IES in 2011 and is the Program Officer for the Reading and Writing Education Research topic, as well as the two National Research and Development Centers on Knowledge Utilization. Her prior research focused on racial socialization from parents and peers, racial identity development, and interracial friendships among adolescents. She received her B.A. from Vassar College and her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Temple University.

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Ed leads the Small Business Innovation Research program at IES. In this role, Ed manages competitions and a portfolio of education technology projects, and specializes in working with industry leaders in the development of technology interventions, research to test implementation in schools, and on business models for the private sector commercialization of emerging forms of technology. Ed earned his Ph.D. in Human Development in 2003 from Catholic University, where he performed and published research on the impact of community service programs on high school students’ civic engagement. Ed is a former American Association for the Advance of Science and Society for Research in Child Development Executive Branch Fellow (2003–2004), a former Jesuit Volunteer Corps NW member (Yakima, WA, 1995–1996), and a graduate of Georgetown University (B.A., 1995).

Bio

Katina Stapleton has been an NCER Program Officer since 2005 and currently oversees grants in the areas of education leadership, education policy, and research training. In addition, Katina co-leads the IES Research social media campaign and provides guidance to IES on conveying research in language that can be easily understood by practitioners and policymakers. She received her Ph.D. in Political Science from Duke University, where she specialized in political communication and the politics of school reform.

Bio

Wendy joined IES in 2015 and is the Program Assistant for the National Center of Education Research and the National Center for Special Education Research. She recently graduated from Cornell University with a major in Human Development and a minor in Policy Analysis and Management. While at Cornell, she conducted research focusing on early child cognition and examined the effects of spatial language and play on children’s spatial skills.