I am an assistant professor of education policy, organization, and leadership in the College of Education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. I use quantitative methods to study school finance, school choice, resource allocation in schools, and teacher quality. In addition to writing policy briefs and reports for policymakers and practitioners, I have published my research in a variety of peer-reviewed journals, including Review of Public Personnel Administration, Educational Administration Quarterly, Journal of Education Finance, American Educational Research Journal, and Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis.

I completed a PhD in urban education policy and a MA in economics at the University of Southern California. Prior to enrolling at USC I earned a MA in science and math education and BAs in philosophy and molecular biology from the University of California, Berkeley and taught middle school science in Oakland and Los Angeles, California.

I am currently the coordinator of the Educational Administration and Leadership programs in the Department of Education Policy, Organization & Leadership.

EPOL 542: Public School Finance (EdM)

EPOL 548: Human Resource Management at the School District Level (EdD)

EPOL 549: School District Financial Management (EdD)

ERAM 556: Program Evaluation

ERAM 560: Quantitative Policy Analysis (PhD)

ERAM 566: Quantitative Methods for Education Policy 2 (PhD)

Illinois State Board of Education (Co-PI, $405,000, 2024-2027): Illinois principal recruiment

National Science Foundation (PI, $499,012, 2023-2026): Collaborative research: Impacts of state policy on computer science participation and teacher preparation (Nos. 2317943 and 2317944)

UIUC College of Education Public Engagement Faculty Fellowship (PI, $6,308, 2023-2024): The operations and effectiveness of teacher hiring committees

Illinois State Board of Education (Co-PI, $146,740, 2022-2024): Illinois principal recruiment

UIUC Campus Research Board Research Support Award (PI, $29,182, 2021-2024): Hiring under constraint: How school administrators perceive and respond to centralized screening by the district (No. RB22001)

UIUC College of Education COVID-19 Seed Funding (PI, $10,000, 2020-2021): Teacher hiring before, during, and after a pandemic

Google Computer Science Education Research (CS-ER) Program (Co-PI, $125,000, 2020-2021): Equitable expansion of high school CS: Trends and trade-offs between and within states (No. 93661913)

Anonymous Reviewer of the Year Education Finance and Policy (2025) 

Outstanding Reviewer AERA Open (2025) 

Teachers Ranked Excellent by Their Students University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (x14 2020-2025)

Outstanding Reviewer ACM’s SIG on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE; 2024) 

Distinguished Research and Practice Fellow National Education Finance Academy (2023)

Journal of Education Finance Article of the Year National Education Finance Academy (2020)

Emerging Education Policy Scholar Thomas B. Fordham Institute (2019)

New Scholar Grant Association for Education Finance and Policy (2018)

David L. Clark Scholar University Council for Educational Administration (2018)

Rossier/Graduate School Ph.D. Fellow University of Southern California (2015-2019)

Teaching Effectiveness Award University of California, Berkeley (2009)

Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor University of California, Berkeley (2009)

California Flanders Fellow University of California, Berkeley (2007-2009)

Distinction in General Scholarship University of California, Berkeley (2004)

337 Education Building
1310 S. 6th St.
Champaign, IL 61820-6925