Staff
The National Center for Rural Education Research Networks team is based at the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University. Our staff come from a variety of different backgrounds, including former district administrators, data experts, and education researchers.
Leadership
Chris Avery
Co-Principal Investigator
Christopher Avery is the Roy E. Larsen Professor of Public Policy and Management at the Harvard Kennedy School. He teaches analytic courses in microeconomics and statistics. He studies rating and selection mechanisms, focusing on the college admissions...
Thomas J. Kane
Principal Investigator
Thomas Kane is an economist, Walter H. Gale Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, member of the Yidan Prize Foundation Council of Luminaries, and faculty director of CEPR. Between 2009 and 2012, he directed the Measures of...
Doug Staiger
Co-Principal Investigator
Dr. Douglas Staiger is the John Sloan Dickey Third Century Professor in the Social Sciences at Dartmouth College. Before joining Dartmouth in 1998, he was a faculty member at Stanford and Harvard. Dr. Staiger is a member of the National Academy of...
Elise Swanson
Director, Research Initiatives for College and Career Success (RICCS)
Elise Swanson is the director of the Research Initiatives for College and Career Success (RICCS) portfolio at the Center for Education Policy Research, where she leads the analytic work for multiple projects. Prior to joining CEPR, Elise was a Senior...
Staff
Kristen Cummings
Postdoctoral Fellow
Kristen Cummings is a Postdoctoral Fellow for the National Center for Rural Education Research Networks at the Center for Education Policy Research. Kristen recently completed her doctorate in Higher Education from the University of Michigan, where she...
Soojin Lee
Research Program Associate
Soojin serves as the Research Program Associate for the National Center for Rural Education Research Networks (NCRERN) at the Center for Education Policy Research (CEPR). Before joining CEPR, she held the position of researcher at the Korean Educational...
Lisa Sanbonmatsu
Director of Research
Lisa Sanbonmatsu is Director of Research at CEPR overseeing multiple projects. Prior to joining CEPR, Lisa was a senior researcher on the Moving to Opportunity project at the National Bureau of Economic Research, where she evaluated large randomized...
Elise Swanson
Director, Research Initiatives for College and Career Success (RICCS)
Elise Swanson is the director of the Research Initiatives for College and Career Success (RICCS) portfolio at the Center for Education Policy Research, where she leads the analytic work for multiple projects. Prior to joining CEPR, Elise was a Senior...