Emily Emick is a PhD student in the Department of Economics at Brown. Her research interests include labor and education economics. One of her current projects examines the effect of student debt on family formation and fertility. Another assesses the educational and health impacts of school gun violence. She has previously researched early childhood education, with a focus on experimental lottery evidence. Emily has experience in development economics, particularly educational access in sub-Saharan Africa. She is affiliated with the Population Studies and Training Center at Brown University. Prior to Brown, Emily graduated from Lafayette College and worked as a research analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.

Ellen Bryer is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Annenberg Institute at Brown University. A trained sociologist, her research uses qualitative and quantitative methods to examine the relationship between economic inequality and young adults’ educational experiences. Her current research investigates graduate students’ educational pathways and decision making and their implications for social stratification. Ellen holds a Ph.D. in sociology, with a certificate in education sciences, from the University of Pennsylvania, and a BA in sociology from Smith College. Before beginning her doctoral research, Ellen was a research assistant at a research and evaluation firm and was an Americorps college and career counselor at a Philadelphia high school.

Dr. Elizabeth Bettini is an associate professor in the Special Education program at BU Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. Dr. Bettini’s research examines factors shaping the special education teacher workforce, particularly how working conditions contribute to the shortage of special education teachers and to inequities in access to skilled, committed special education teachers, based on students’ disability, race/ethnicity, or socioeconomic status. Her current work is focused on identifying potential interventions to improve working conditions, to eliminate these inequities. She previously taught students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) in self-contained and inclusive settings in Arizona and Connecticut.

Edom Tesfa is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Annenberg Institute at Brown University, where she is also affiliated with the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America. Using participatory and ethnographic methods, her research investigates how K-12 schools and community organizations can promote healthy holistic development for immigrant youth and families. Her community-engaged research has been funded by the National Academy of Education, the Spencer Foundation, the Weatherhead Institute for International Affairs, and the Immigration Initiative at Harvard University. Edom is especially interested in international and comparative research on educational policies and practices that support immigrant children. She has presented her work to scholarly and practitioner audiences across the U.S., Canada, Chile, Ireland, and Australia. Edom speaks English, Amharic, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese. Edom holds a Ph.D. and A.M. in education from Harvard University and a B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.

DreJean Cummings is the Assistant Director for Strategic Communications at the Annenberg Institute. With extensive experience in project management, stakeholder engagement, and organizational strategy, she leverages her expertise to support the Institute's programs. 

Throughout her career, she has sought opportunities to effect change and progress in education, taking on roles that allow her to influence policy, strategy, and systems-level impact. Previously, DreJean served as the Manager of Strategic Initiatives at the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission, where she played a key role in developing the Commission’s strategic priorities through cross-functional collaboration and process optimization. She has held multiple leadership roles at the Tennessee Department of Education, including positions in the Office of the Commissioner, as Chief of Staff for the Office of Strategy, and as Research Manager for the Research and Evaluation team.

 DreJean remains deeply committed to fostering collaboration, driving innovation, and creating structures that allow organizations to thrive. DreJean holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rhodes College and a Master of Public Policy from Vanderbilt University. 

Diana Quintero is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Annenberg Institute at Brown University and a member of the Educational Opportunity in Massachusetts team. She draws on the economics of education to examine how education policies address or exacerbate inequalities in K–12 schools. Using experimental and quasi-experimental methods, her research identifies policies and practices that are effective in bolstering the success of vulnerable students, particularly Latino/Hispanic students and multilingual learners. Through her role at Annenberg, she aims to inform and advance policy conversations on educational equity. 

Diana’s research has been published in Economics of Education Review and the Handbook of Teachers of Color and Indigenous Teachers, and she is a recipient of the AERA/NSF Dissertation Grant. 

Prior to her doctoral studies, Diana worked as a senior research analyst at the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution, where she co-authored research on the diversity of the teacher workforce, inequalities in teacher compensation, and student achievement gaps.

Diana holds a Ph.D. in Education Policy from Vanderbilt University, an M.A. and a B.A. in Economics from Universidad de los Andes, and an M.S. in Social Policy from the University of Pennsylvania.

Diana is the Institute Coordinator, where she supports daily operations and projects. She was drawn to the Annenberg Institute by its mission to advance more equitable educational opportunities, inspired by her dedication to creating systemic change for underserved communities.  

Before joining Annenberg, Diana supported fundraising and daily operations at Providence Student Union, a local non-profit helping students advocate for equitable education policy and safe schools in Providence.  

She holds a B.A. in Sociology from Providence College, where her research and work focused on education and helping low-income first-generation students access higher education. When she is not at work, she enjoys playing tennis or walking her dog and adventuring around the different state parks around Rhode Island.

Dev Patel is an Assistant Professor of Economics and Environment & Society at Brown University. His work in education includes research on psychometrics and measurement, student beliefs, school choice, and pedagogy, often in low- and middle-income countries. 

Derron O. Wallace is an Associate Professor of Education Policy and Africana Studies. Prior to joining Brown, he served as the Jacob S. Potofsky Associate Professor of Sociology and Associate Professor of Education at Brandeis University. An award-winning sociologist of race, ethnicity, and education, Dr. Wallace examines the relationship between social policies, political power, and young people, nationally and internationally.

Dr. Wallace is the author of the widely celebrated book, The Culture Trap: Ethnic Expectations and Unequal Schooling for Black Youth (Oxford University Press). The Culture Trap received a dozen awards and finalist distinctions, including the Pierre Bourdieu Award for the Best Book in Sociology of Education, the Oliver Cromwell Cox Book Award for Anti-Racist Scholarship, Honorable Mention for Best Book in the Sociology of Children and Youth from the American Sociological Association, the Ida B. Wells-Barnett Outstanding Book Award from the Association of Black Sociologists, among other prizes. The Culture Trap was also finalist for the coveted C. Wright Mills Book Award from the Society for the Study of Social Problems, and the Best Book of the Year Award from the British Educational Research Association. 

Dr. Wallace’s scholarship has been published in leading journals, including Harvard Educational Review, Comparative Education Review, British Journal of Sociology of Education, International Studies in Sociology of Education, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, Ethnic & Racial Studies, Race, Ethnicity & Education, and Sociology – the flagship journal of the British Sociological Association.

For his research, teaching and service, Dr. Wallace has received five distinguished early career awards from various sections of the American Sociological Association, the American Educational Research Association and the Comparative and International Education Society. 

Wallace holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge, where he was a Marshall Scholar and a Gates Cambridge Scholar. He is a Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude graduate of Wheaton College (Massachusetts), where he earned a BA in Sociology and African Diaspora Studies with distinction. His research has been supported by several grants from the Fulbright Commission, the Institute for Citizens & Scholars, the National Academy of Education, the Spencer Foundation, and the Stuart Hall Foundation.

A former community organizer, Dr. Wallace's work on youth safety, immigrant rights, fair housing, and public education has been featured by BBC News, BBC Radio, the Guardian, ITV, and NBC News.

Dr. David Sobel received his BA in Psychology and Computer Science from Swarthmore College and his MA and Ph.D in Psychology from UC Berkeley. He has been on faculty at Brown University since 2001. His research centers on children's causal reasoning and developing social cognition. Over the last fifteen years, he has partnered with children's museums and other informal learning institutions around the country to study how children's exploration and parent-child interaction intersect to support STEM learning and engagement with STEM activities. He has also written extensively about the relation between children's basic reasoning capacities and early science education in and out of the classroom.