Marian Thacher is a senior researcher at AIR. She currently works with the California Adult Literacy Professional Development Project (CALPRO), the statewide professional development system for adult education in California. She manages the development of communities of practice, online professional development courses, and webinars for adult educators. She is also ...
Paula Dias is a qualitative senior researcher at AIR with over 10 years of research experience in the development sector. She has extensive experience in qualitative methods, including ethnography and participatory methods. At AIR, she leads and contributes to a variety of mixed-methods evaluations on the topics of social protection, ...
Thomas de Hoop directs a research and evaluation portfolio with a focus on the impact, scalability, and cost-effectiveness of self-help groups, savings groups, and education innovations in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
Cecilia Xuning Zhang is an interdisciplinary researcher with years of mixed-methods research experience and a wide breadth of content knowledge in the areas of Early Childhood Education (ECE) and Technology-Based Learning Supports. She has rich technical expertise in collecting and analyzing extant data to inform enrollment trends and population estimates, leading user ...
Katie Rich is a senior researcher at AIR. She leads and supports a variety of projects related to mathematics and computer science education. She is currently serving as a coaching and technical assistance lead for the Engagement and Achievement through Computational Thinking (ENACT) partnership within the Regional Educational Laboratory Midwest, ...
Johannes M. (Hans) Bos is a senior vice president and Institute Fellow at AIR. Dr. Bos is a nationally recognized expert in the conduct of randomized control trials in education and other areas of social policy research. Since 1992 he has conducted numerous evaluations and policy studies in education, child ...
Jessica Heppen, a nationally recognized expert in education research, policy, and practice, is the president & CEO of AIR. Dr. Heppen been with AIR for 20 years and, in that time, has held several key roles during her tenure.
Averi Chakrabarti is an economist in the International Development Division at AIR. Dr. Chakrabarti specializes in using quantitative research methods to investigate issues related to social protection, health, nutrition, gender, and child well-being. She has published peer-reviewed journal articles and evaluation reports on topics such as the impacts of cash ...
Christine Kiecha is AIR’s managing director in Kenya. Her key responsibilities include acting as AIR’s point of contact for office management and business development in Kenya; working with AIR’s senior leadership to develop future business opportunities; and gathering data to provide information about social, demographic, economic and funding trends. She ...
Cheryl Harris is a senior technical assistance consultant at AIR. Her current work involves providing technical assistance for the Texas (TXCC) and Southeast (SECC) Comprehensive Centers, addressing state and local capacity building in school improvement and key content areas. This work includes assisting states and their statewide systems of support ...