Ramy Abbady is a doctoral student in the Sociology of Education program. They were awarded a three-year fellowship in 2021. Ramy's research interests center on how student loans and tuition policies connect to wealth inequality, with a specific focus on the racial wealth gap. Prior to starting their PhD, Ramy received a B.A. in educational studies from Vassar College and M.A. in higher education and student affairs from the University of San Francisco. Ramy worked in higher education for four years in the areas of residential life, academic advising, and STEM administration.
Berta Bartoli is a doctoral student at NYU's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. She received a four-year IES-PIRT fellowship in 2021. She is interested in studying educational policies; how they can be gamed by students, parents, and even educators; and how policy gaming can affect student outcomes, like learning and motivation, in the short- and long-term. Her interests are inspired by her experiences growing up in Venezuela and her research endeavors studying the Ghanaian education system. Prior to joining the program, she worked as a research assistant for professors Sharon Wolf and Michael Nakkula on projects related to parental engagement in Ghana and curricular reform in Nicaragua, and a data analyst at Steppingstone Scholars in Philadelphia. She has a B.A. in Economics and International Affairs from Northeastern University and an M.S.Ed. in Statistics, Measurement, and Assessment from the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education.
Sohini Das is a doctoral student and IES-PIRT fellow in the Psychology and Social Intervention program. She sees research as a tool to support the development and sustainability of critically caring, anti-racist, anti-oppressive educational spaces with and for Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and API youth. Her research focuses on 1. exploring how youth of color negotiate, and particularly resist, intersectional stereotypes within their families, peers, schools, and beyond and 2. Developing, evaluating, and refining sustainable anti-racist, anti-oppressive change in schools by employing abolitionist pedagogy, healing justice, and transformative justice in partnership with youth, families, community organizers, and educators.
Emily Franchett is a doctoral student in the Psychology and Social Intervention program at NYU Steinhardt. She is interested in designing and evaluating interventions, including multigenerational approaches, to promote early childhood development and reduce inequities in human development across the life course. Prior to joining NYU, Emily worked in community-based health, education, and youth development programming with Peace Corps Albania and supported evaluations of early childhood and youth development programs in Rwanda and Pakistan. She received her BA in Political Science from the University of Michigan and SM in Global Health and Population Studies from the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health.
Silvana Freire is a first-year doctoral student at NYU's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. She received a four-year IES-PIRT fellowship in 2022. Silvana is interested in studying early childhood development and family engagement with a special focus on promoting quality interactions among Latinx and immigrant communities. Before joining the Psychology and Social Intervention (PSI) program, Silvana worked as an early childhood and education consultant at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington D.C. and as a research analyst at the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. She holds a B.A. in psychology from the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru and an M.A. in international education policy analysis from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education.
Lissete Gimenez is a doctoral student in the Developmental Psychology program. She received a B.A. and M.A. in Forensic Psychology from John Jay College. Her previous research examined language access in bilinguals utilizing ERP. Her current research interests include identifying how individual and societal factors affect the cognitive and linguistic functioning of bilinguals.
Jo King is a doctoral student at the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service and received a 4-year IES-PIRT fellowship in 2021. Jo’s research interests lie at the intersection of education, crime, and inequality, with their recent work focusing on the undesirable impacts of layoff events on disciplinary incidence in middle high schools and the efficacy of unemployment insurance in mitigating these impacts. Jo is also interested in evaluating policies and interventions that best support academic achievement and equity for K-12 LGBTQ+ students. Jo graduated with a BA in Economics from Western Washington University in 2020, followed by an MA in Economics from Miami University’s Farmer School of Business in 2021.
Kristy Lai (she/her) is a first-year doctoral student in the Developmental Psychology program. In graduate school, she aims to explore how sociocultural variables and early life experiences influence development and learning from birth through early childhood across domains (social, emotional, language, cognition), especially among dual language learners. She is particularly interested in developing and validating culturally sensitive methodologies that examine the dynamics of processes involved in children’s learning and development. Kristy received her B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Education from UC Berkeley. Prior to attending NYU, she worked as a researcher at WestEd, an education non-profit, where she supported several local and state projects in California on improving programs and policies for children, youth, and their families.
Ben Le (he/him/his) is a doctoral student in the Sociology of Education program. He was awarded a four-year fellowship in 2021. Ben's research interests center on the intersection of race/ethnicity and language in public schools in the United States. With a desire to also look into multilingual programs in schools from a raciolinguistic lens, Ben is interested in how schools teach and treat different languages, and how students' abilities and aptitude are perceived differently based on their race/ethnicity and the languages they speak, including variations within the language. Before starting his PhD program, Ben received a B.A. in Sociology and Hispanic Studies at Pepperdine University. Then, he received a Fulbright Fellowship as a teaching assistant in Madrid, Spain, where he primarily taught English at a school for elementary, middle, and high school students.
Emily Myers is a first-year doctoral student in the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies program in the Department of Administration, Leadership, & Technology. She received a four-year IES-PIRT Fellowship in 2022. Emily is interested in studying the experience of elementary-aged students in urban public schools, specifically as it relates to their development of positive racial identities and a critical historical consciousness. In her work, she will examine both school- and district-level policies and will measure and evaluate their long-term impact on student outcomes. Emily’s interests are inspired by her years of experience working in New York City and Philadelphia public schools in various capacities, including teacher, principal, and district-level consultant. Emily received her B.A. in History and German from the University of Rochester, her M.S. in Teaching from Fordham University, and her K-12 Principal Certification from the Relay Graduate School of Education. She most recently lived in Germany, where she observed and taught in local schools and served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Heidelberg.
Kaitlyn O’Hagan is a doctoral student at the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service. Kaitlyn’s broad interests are education finance and policy, and her current work focuses on: (1) how policy differentially impacts students with disabilities and (2) the determinants and impacts of school infrastructure investments. Her research advisor is Leanna Stiefel. Prior to attending NYU, Kaitlyn was a Senior Financial Analyst at the New York City Council, where she was responsible for analyzing and reporting on the City’s $33 billion Department of Education expense budget and the $50 billion citywide capital budget. Kaitlyn earned her MPA from the Marxe School of Public and International Affairs at CUNY Baruch and her BA in History from the Macaulay Honors College at CUNY Hunter. For more information about Kaitlyn, visit her personal website: www.kaitlynohagan.com.
Christine Park is a doctoral student and IES-PIRT fellow in the Psychology and Social Intervention program at the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. She is interested in 1) studying social emotional development across diverse cultures/contexts and 2) developing school-based interventions that sustain diverse cultural identities and facilitate intercultural relationships. Prior to joining the program, Christine worked as a research coordinator for Stephanie Jones on projects related to improving the implementation and accessibility of social emotional learning programs in US-based elementary schools. She received a B.A. in Psychology from Boston College, and an M.Ed. in Human Development and Psychology from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Aashna Poddar is a doctoral student in the Cognition and Perception program at the NYU Graduate School of Arts and Science. She is interested in understanding how gender stereotypes and status differences affect children’s academic and career interests. She is also interested in cultural socialization and intersectionality. Prior to joining NYU, Aashna graduated from Singapore Management University with a B.A. in Marketing and Psychology and from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education with an M.Ed. in Human Development and Psychology. She worked at the Harvard Ecological Approaches to Social Emotional Learning Lab to examine the role of teachers in students' social and emotional development.
Lindsay Romano is a doctoral student in the Teaching and Learning program, where she studies the intersecting issues of dis/ability, race, and educational inequity using mindfulness- and compassion-based practices as tools for social justice. She is particularly interested in the link between the cultivation of cognitive and emotional capacities (e.g. attention regulation, mindfulness, compassion) and positive social change in educational settings (e.g. changes in beliefs, attitudes and behaviors that address issues such as bias, dis/ability and racial injustice). Lindsay is a former high school Special Education teacher, instructional coach, curriculum writer, and professional development facilitator.
Jenna Shaw is a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology at NYU GSAS. Her research interests are in environmental sociology and how human and environment interactions are shaped by existing social and power structures. Having received her B.A. in the School of Public and International Affairs from Princeton University in 2020, she is also interested in how research surrounding environmental justice issues can inform policy on and public perception of these issues.
Hsin-Ta (Andre) Tsai is a 1st-year doctoral student at NYU's Wagner School and received a 4-year IES-PIRT fellowship in 2022. Andre is developing skills with an initial goal to specialize in the economics of education policy. While still narrowing down the focus of his research, his research interests broadly include social issues and education policies impacting marginalized communities in the U.S. and abroad. Research projects he's currently working on include public opinions on same-sex marriage support in Taiwan and college international student peer effects in the U.S. Andre received his B.A. in both economics and education studies with a full-ride from Berea College, his MSc in Comparative and International Education from the University of Oxford, and his MA in International Development and Policy from the University of Chicago.
