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 ...
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, ...
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.
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 ...
Bobbi Newman is a principal researcher and director of AIR’s practice area for standards and assessments. She has more than 15 years of experience in research and evaluation of school reform efforts. Dr. Newman has worked at every level of the education system, from the classroom to the state. As ...
Veronica Tate is a managing director at AIR and serves as a senior leader on the management team that shapes the technical assistance delivery and supports effective collaboration across the comprehensive centers operated by AIR. She provides leadership, project management, and quality assurance supervision to ensure the effectiveness of services, ...
Jonathan Margolin is a principal researcher in the Human Services program at AIR. His primary responsibilities involve managing evaluations of K–12 education programs and systems related to K-16 STEM education, educational technology implementation, and civics. He has extensive experience with evaluating educational interventions in STEM programs, including educational simulations, apps ...
Jonathan A. Simonetta is Vice President, International Development at AIR. As Vice President, he mentors researchers, oversees projects, monitors overall project performance, and leads business development for our International Development Division.
Elizabeth (Lizzy) Stahl joined AIR as a Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Manager in 2021 to provide design, data collection and analysis, and technical assistance support to AIR’s range of programs and business development. Over the last decade, she has designed and conducted qualitative studies and has served on teams ...