Passionate about research that matters for education and employment
EdPolicyResearch.org
“We work closely with policymakers and institutional leaders to answer pressing questions about how to strengthen education and employment opportunities for individuals facing the greatest obstacles.”
— DR. PETER RILEY BAHR, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
Our Team
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Peter Riley Bahr, Ph.D.
Dr. Bahr is a nationally recognized scholar and expert on community colleges, student outcomes, and economic mobility. His research focuses on the role of public postsecondary institutions in creating and advancing educational and economic opportunities for socioeconomically disadvantaged students, older/adult-age students, and marginalized students. The goals of his work are to improve college completion rates for these students and maximize the economic value of the credentials that they earn. A distinguishing feature of his work is close collaboration with state policymakers and institutional leaders to ensure that the work is directly informing policy development aimed at reducing inequality, achieving educational attainment goals, improving workforce opportunities, and strengthening state economic vitality and growth.
MANAGING RESEARCHER, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Jennifer May-Trifiletti, Ph.D.
Dr. May-Trifiletti is the Managing Researcher for Dr. Peter Riley Bahr’s research team in the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education. Presently, Jennifer leads projects on stackable credential pathways, short-term course-taking (skills-building), and transitions between adult education and postsecondary degree programs. She also manages the team’s projects examining the educational and labor market outcomes of students in postsecondary career and technical education, noncredit education, and the experiences of adult learners in community colleges. Jennifer holds a PhD in higher education from the Louise McBee Institute of Higher Education at the University of Georgia, where her dissertation examined mission change in community colleges and its implications. She also holds an MA in higher education from Boston College, a BA in secondary education and history from Boston College, and a graduate certificate in institutional research from Pennsylvania State University.
RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS LEAD, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Amanda Holdsworth, Ed.D.
Dr. Holdsworth is the team’s Research Communications Lead. She has worked in educational communications for 25 years and has earned dozens of industry awards for her work in promoting and advocating for education. Amanda earned a B.S.B.A. in Communications Management/Honors International Studies from Robert Morris University, and both a Master of Arts in Strategic Public Relations and a Doctor of Education in Organizational Change and Leadership from the University of Southern California.
RESEARCH PROJECT LEAD, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Lori Durako Fisher, Ph.D.
Dr. Lori Durako Fisher (she/her) serves as a Research Project Lead within Dr. Peter Bahr’s research team. Her current research portfolio centers on access and completion, in particular for minoritized students, related to adult education and multiple measures of assessment and placement for students within community and technical colleges. She holds her doctorate in Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development from North Carolina State University, where her dissertation explored the role of dispositional hope and race in college student demonstrative activist engagement using QuantCrit methodologies. She earned her M.A. in Leadership in Student Affairs from the University of Saint Thomas, and a B.A. in Sociology from Purdue University. Prior to becoming a researcher, Lori worked directly with students for almost a decade in residence life, service learning, and leadership development.
DOCTORAL STUDENT RESEARCH ASSISTANT, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Yiran Chen
Yiran Chen is a doctoral candidate at the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education. His research focuses on the dynamics of students selecting colleges, strategies for promoting student success in higher education, and innovative methods for gauging postsecondary outcomes. Much of his research addresses the challenges encountered by marginalized students in community colleges. Before pursuing academia, Yiran worked for four years as a project manager in a marketing agency. In the realm of higher education administration, he has served as an institutional researcher across diverse educational settings. He has contributed at two-year colleges like Manchester Community College, four-year institutions such as Boston College, and now at the graduate level with the Rackham Graduate School at the University of Michigan. Yiran holds a master’s degree in public policy from the Ford School at the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree in public administration from Shanghai University.
DOCTORAL STUDENT RESEARCH ASSISTANT, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Rooney Columbus
Rooney Columbus is a Ph.D. candidate and Graduate Student Research Assistant at the University of Michigan’s Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education. His research uses quasi-experimental methods and large administrative datasets to study issues of policy and practice where postsecondary education and employment commonly intersect. More specifically, he studies topics such as community colleges and other providers of sub-baccalaureate career and technical education (CTE) as well as higher education finance. Prior to his doctoral studies, he was the program manager for Domestic Policy Studies and a research associate in the Center on Higher Education Reform at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. He has a B.A. in Philosophy, Politics, Economics, and Law from the University of Richmond. Rooney is concurrently a Postsecondary CTE Research Fellow with North Carolina State University and the ECMC Foundation.
DOCTORAL STUDENT RESEARCH ASSISTANT, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
Cody L. Christensen
Cody L. Christensen is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations at Vanderbilt University. His research interests include higher education finance, college access and completion, and federal financial aid programs. His research has appeared in Brookings, AEI, EducationNext, and other outlets. Prior to Vanderbilt, Cody worked as a research associate at the American Enterprise Institute’s Center on Higher Education Reform. In this role, he researched federal financial aid programs, student loan repayment, intergenerational mobility of college students, and institutional responses to COVID-19. Cody received his bachelor’s degree in Economics and Political Science from the University of Kansas and is a native of Topeka, Kansas.
DATA SCIENCE LEAD, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Ying Sun
Ying Sun is a data science specialist with a passion for applying computational methods to understand educational challenges. She holds a bachelor's degree in statistics and computer science from Michigan State University.
Email — LinkedIn
DOCTORAL STUDENT RESEARCH ASSISTANT, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Chenjun Yu
Chenjun Yu is a Ph.D. student and graduate student research assistant at the Center for Studies of Higher and Postsecondary Education, University of Michigan. Her research interests include student employment, career and technical education, workforce development, international education evaluation, and inequalities in labor market outcomes. Her work has appeared in national conferences and national student aid and adult education policy reports. Prior to UMich, she worked professionally in academic advising projects at Tsinghua University and technical education programmes at UNESCO education sector. Chenjun holds an MA in Education Economics and Management and a BA in Japanese Language and Literature from Tsinghua University, Beijing, and grew up in a small town in southeastern China.
Email — LinkedIn
INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH ANALYST, WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY
Yining Li
Yining Li is a master’s student at the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education at the University of Michigan. Her research interests include labor market outcomes and STEM education. Yining received her BS in Mathematical Sciences and Economics from the University of Michigan. She also works as a Research Associate Intern at the American Institutes for Research.
Email — LinkedIn
RESEARCH ASSISTANT, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Elior Waskow
Elior Waskow is a senior at the University of Michigan in the Program for Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. He recently completed his senior thesis on the relationship between income and religious behavior. He is now focused on applying his quantitative skills from development economics to the intersection of education and labor.
Email — LinkedIn