Jared Bowden (He/Him)

Senior Member of Technical Staff

Jared Bowden‘s academic research focused on understanding how the cellular networks of the brain change to support learning and memory. He has a PhD in neuroscience, a background in statistical modeling, and extensive experience building-and-deploying algorithmic products for business. Jared has worked at IC, senior, director, and VP level positions within the data science space, and currently serves as a Senior Member of Technical Staff at AMD where he conducts research to understand the performance of AI algorithms on a range of different hardware accelerators.

Jay Brown (she/her)

Director, Research-Insight-Analytics

Jay Brown has more than 20 years in PK-20 education working as a middle school teacher, professor, political staffer, and researcher. She currently leads internal research and research partnerships within Austin ISD.

DongMei Li (she/her)

Planning and Evaluation Coordinator

Dr. Dongmei Li is the planning and evaluation coordinator at Austin ISD where she conducts research and evaluation on grant-funded programs as well as supporting grant planning and development. DongMei holds undergraduate and master’s degrees from institutions of higher education in P.R. China and has earned degrees from the University of Texas at Austin (M.Ed., Ph.D.). Prior to joining AISD, she did her postdoc at Rice University and then worked as a researcher/senior research and evaluation associate for university-based research organizations (UT and UW) and taught graduate students in a private college.

Ian McEntee (He/Him)

Early Careers Advisor, NORAM

Ian McEntee is the Early Careers Advisory for North America with Aurora Energy Research. He is passionate about talent development and ensuring that candidates are set up for early success in their post-college roles. Ian is a 2019 UT alum who graduated from the College of Liberal Arts where he studied Humanities and Sociology. He is based in Austin and has lived here for the past 20 years but is still consistently on the hunt for the best coffee in the city.

Connor McMann (He/Him)

Consultant

Connor McMann is an alumnus of the LBJ School of Public Affairs (2023). For the last year, he has been working as a consultant for Aurora Energy Research, an energy markets analytics provider, to support energy development in ERCOT.

Lorena Moscardelli (She/Her)

Research Associate Professor

Dr. Lorena Moscardelli is a Research Associate Professor and leader of the State of Texas Advanced Resource Recovery (STARR) program at BEG. She received a degree in Geological Engineering from Central University of Venezuela (2000) and a PhD in Geological Sciences from The University of Texas at Austin (2007). She specializes in the study of deep-water deposits with emphasis on subaqueous landslides, deep-water mixed siliciclastic-carbonate systems and planetary geology. She started her career as an exploration geologist working for PDVSA (2000 – 2003). Prior to her current position at STARR, Dr. Moscardelli was a Principal Researcher at Equinor (2013 – 2021) where she performed a wide range of activities from research in the Americas to field development in the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Her BEG career includes the co-funding and co-direction of the Quantitative Clastic Laboratory (QCL) (2007-2013) and her actual involvement as leader of STARR. Most recently, Dr. Moscardelli has taken a strong interest in understanding the role of geoscience research as part of the ongoing energy transition while contributing to STARR’s main mission of conducting geologic research resulting in the increase of production and profitability of energy resources in the State of Texas.

Colin McNeece (He/Him)

Director, Field Engineering

Colin McNeece holds a doctorate in Geological Sciences. He currently works as a Director of Field Engineering at Cognite.

Lynn Cowles (She/Her)

Health and Food Justice Programs Manager

Lynn Cowles works to increase food security and access to affordable health care coverage for all Texans, regardless of income, immigration status, employment status, education, primary speaking languages, gender identity, or medical history. She is a Community Health Worker and a subject matter expert on the Affordable Care Act, Texas health programs and policies, health education, and health communications. After receiving her PhD in Humanities Research at UT Austin in 2015, Lynn managed a federally-certified health Navigator program and has been leading statewide advocacy efforts to protect consumer information, coordinating strategic health partnerships and coalitions, and initiating rural enrollment services programs.

Shannon Halbrook (He/Him)

Director, Invest in Texas

Shannon Halbrook is the director of Every Texan’s Invest in Texas team, overseeing the organization’s fiscal policy research and advocacy. He joined Every Texan in March 2023. Previously, he worked for the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts and the Department of Information Resources as a policy researcher and data analyst, where he gained unique insight into how we can more effectively advocate for state budget and tax policy that invests in the future of every Texan. He holds a master’s degree from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at UT Austin.

Jerica Bornstein (She/Her)

Qualitative UX Researcher

Jerica Bornstein holds a PhD in Human Development and Family Sciences from the University of Texas at Austin, where she researched the link between romantic relationships, health, and stress. With a strong background in quantitative research and expertise in analyzing dyadic data, she now works as a Qualitative UX Researcher at Expedia. In her current role, she leads usability studies, user interviews, and concept testing, shaping new features that enhance travel discovery experiences.

Cathy Malerba (She/Her)

Executive Director

Dr. Cathy Malerba is the Executive Director of Research and Evaluation. She has nearly 20 years of experience designing and leading large scale, longitudinal, mixed methods evaluations at the local, regional, and state level and for nonprofit organizations that serve public school students, teachers, and leaders. She typically takes a utilization-focused approach to her evaluation designs, in that all aspects of the work are guided by the intended uses of the results. She also has extensive experience with strategic planning, logic modeling, root cause analysis, developmental evaluation, and evaluation capacity building with school and district staff.

Gleb Furman (He/Him)

Senior Quantitative Researcher

Gleb Furman is a Senior Quantitative Research Scientist specializing in applied research, analytics, and study design within education. He leads the development and implementation of program evaluations and intervention trials for state and local education agencies, non-profits, and national technical assistance centers. He has expertise in designing and conducting large-scale evaluations, utilizing advanced methodologies and quasi-experimental designs to measure program impact. His work supports data-driven decision-making and helps organizations enhance their capacity to improve educational outcomes.

Allan Hong (he/him)

Staff Data Scientist

Allen Hong is a current student at the University of Texas at Austin, pursuing a master’s degree in Computer Science. He also serves as a Staff Data Scientist at Indeed, where he specializes in AI and machine learning to develop solutions that help job seekers find their ideal careers. Passionate about using data to solve real-world problems, Allen contributes to Indeed’s mission of optimizing the job search process, ensuring a better match for both employers and candidates.

Nathaniel Woodward (he/him)

Senior Product Scientist

Nathaniel Woodward attended UT for grad school from 2013 to 2018 before staying on as teaching faculty in the Department of Statistics and Data Science. After the pandemic, he decided he was ready for a change and currently works as a product-focused data scientist at Indeed.com.

Sahil Maherali (He/Him)

Recruiter

Sahil Maherali is a Recruiter at McKinsey & Company and Lecturer at UT Austin McCombs School of Business

Karen Hammons (she/her)

Principal Technical Program Manager

Karen Hammons is a military and tech veteran. She joined Microsoft 12 years ago and now leads a team rethinking engineering systems and processes to create efficiencies ensuring our engineers thrive in their daily work. Ensuring every day Azure Core focuses on Engineering, Customer, and Operational Excellence.

Courtney Webster (she/her)

Product Manager

As a Product Manager at Microsoft, Courtney Webster specializes in enhancing the Python development experience in VS Code and Visual Studio and incorporating AI tooling such as GitHub Copilot into our development tools. Her professional journey is fueled by a passion for creating products that resonate with and delight users.

UV Yadav (he/him)

Senior Data & Applied Scientist

UV Yadav is an applied scientist working with Microsoft since 2022, leading the ML research and development efforts within Azure E&P org. He has 10+years of experience in building and scaling AI applications in different domain including search & copilots, recommendation, NLP and time series modeling.

Ryan Will (He/Him)

Data Scientist

Ryan Will‘s PhD is in behavioral neuroscience. He has worked for 8.5 years as a data scientist professionally at 2 companies (NetSpend and Facebook/Meta).

Karissa Basse (she/her)

Cultural Resources Program Manager

Karissa Basse has a Ph.D. in anthropology from the UT Austin. For her graduate research, she studied material expressions of gender and identity in 19th century mortuary contexts and produced a seriation of burial container hardware. She currently leads an archaeology department at Pape-Dawson Engineers.

Dr. Nadine Miner (She/Her)

UT Campus Partnership Manager

Dr. Nadine Miner is Sandia’s Campus Partnership Manager for UT Austin where she is responsible for developing research partnerships and strengthening the student talent pipeline between Sandia and UT Austin. Dr. Miner’s 28-year Sandia career spans many areas of expertise including neuromorphic computing, machine learning, virtual and augmented reality, human computer interfaces, resilient energy systems, space sensor systems, human behavior modeling, systems and software engineering.

Lily Serach (She/Her)

Senior Technical Writer

Lily Serach is a Senior Technical Writer focused primarily on payments and tokenization API documentation at Visa.

Jacob Claussen (He/Him)

Sr. Director, Publishing Analytics and Machine Learning

In Jacob Claussen’s 8 years of industry experience in mobile gaming, his contributions in the fields of data science, analytics, and machine learning have reached multiple domains, including product, marketing, and publishing. Now, he leads teams of data scientists, analysts, and engineers that provide in-depth analyses, tools, and machine learning algorithms to drive decision-making across the company.

Jean Lauer (she/her/they)

Professor + Director of Short Film Programming

Jean Anne Lauer completed her Ph.D. in Radio-Television-Film at UT Austin. She is a professor in the Depts. of Philosophy, Religion, and Humanities and Radio-Television-Film at Austin Community College. Jean began working professionally in film festivals at the International Pitching Market for the Guanajuato International Film Festival (Gto, Mexico, 2004 through 2013) and was a programmer for and then director of Cine Las Americas International Film Festival (Austin, TX, 2008 to 2022). Currently Jean is Director of Short Film Programming at Fantastic Fest (Austin, TX) having worked in a variety of roles behind the scenes from 2013 to present.

Lee Reed Zarnikau (she/her)

Senior Editor + Author

Lee Reed Zarnikau has been working with words for over twenty years. Her editing and writing experience includes freelance work with a wide range of independent authors, businesses, and nonprofits, plus over twenty years’ experience in sustainability strategy and communications. She has a BA in English and an MBA in Sustainable Development from the University of Texas at Austin and a certificate in editing from the University of Washington. A lifelong Texan, Lee has travelled to twenty-six countries across five continents, but has only managed to live in Dallas, Houston, and Austin. Lee writes book club fiction, middle grade mysteries (Constellation Clues: The Cipher of the Seven Stars), and has self-published a picture book that she both wrote and illustrated.

Eric Lupfer (he/him)

Executive Director

Eric Lupfer became executive director of Humanities Texas in August 2019. He served as the organization’s director of grants and education from 2004–2019. Formerly a high school English teacher, Lupfer holds a PhD in English (2003) and an MS in information studies (2004) from The University of Texas at Austin and a BA with high honors in English from Bowdoin College (1991).

Melissa Huber (she/her)

Director of Programs and Communications

Melissa Huber joined Humanities Texas in December 2007. She holds a BA in art history from Arizona State University and an MS in historic preservation from The University of Texas at Austin. Prior to joining Humanities Texas, she worked at the Blanton Museum of Art and in UT’s Architectural Conservation Lab. Her combined focus on collections, exhibitions, and historic buildings developed in her previous role as conservation assistant for the Arizona State Museum Preservation Division at The University of Arizona in Tucson.

Stephen Jannise (he/him)

Director of Film Programming

Stephen Jannise is the Director of Film Programming & Content Strategy for the Paramount Theatre. He curates 100+ films every year for the annual Paramount Summer Classic Film Series, Panic at the Paramount horror series, and other year-round events, providing film notes and stage introductions for each film and managing box office reporting and print traffic. As Content Strategist, Stephen also manages the Paramount’s weekly email content and supports fundraising communications.

Tim Rogers (he/him)

Director of Education and Engagement

Tim Rogers is the Director of Education and Engagement for Texas Performing Arts at the University of Texas at Austin. Originally from the St. Louis area, Rogers has Bachelor of Music degrees in Music Composition and Music Theory from the University of Missouri at Columbia, a Masters Degree in Music Composition from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Masters Degree in Education Policy Studies from the University of Maryland at College Park. In his role at Texas Performing Arts, he combines his educational background in music and education policy to help create lasting learning experiences for students and community members of all ages.

Nat Miller (he/him)

Director of Youth Programs

Nat Miller has directed ZACH Theatre’s education programs for 12 years now. His professional experience in the field includes ten years of teaching a variety of acting classes for First Stage Children’s Theater, the second largest children’s theater education program in the country and three years as the Education and Outreach Director at Paramount and State Theatres in Austin, TX. Nat received his M.F.A. in Drama and Theatre for Youth at The University of Texas at Austin, and a B.F.A. in theatre from Southern Methodist University, one of the top ten theatre schools in the country.

April Kessler (she/her)

Research Analyst & Partner

April Kessler has been skillfully resolving complex research requests for clients at Bizologie since 2014. Before joining Bizologie, April was a research analyst for Austin Ventures and the Business Librarian at UT Libraries and McCombs School of Business. She also served as a researcher for Baker for Business at Harvard Business School and taught the Competitive Intelligence course at the UT School of Information. April earned her MS in Information Studies from UT Austin and her MBA from Wichita State University. In addition to her research practice, she also has a decade of experience in marketing and public relations.

Meagan Bennett

Senior Consultant

Meagan Bennett works in Government and Public Services at Deloitte Consulting where she serves as a Business Analyst to determine and meet client requirements with software solutions. Previously, she had an 18-year career in Intelligence for National Security related government agencies and in the Middle East.

Quinn Moorer

Campus Recruiting Specialist

Quinn is a Virginia native who has been in Austin for 4.5 years. She is passionate about access to education and connecting students with the best job opportunities. She has been a Campus Recruiting Specialist for 2 years and enjoys recruiting UT Austin Longhorns for positions in Deloitte’s Austin, TX office. In her free time she enjoys reading, walking, and trying new restaurants.

Sanjana Tripathi

User Experience Researcher II

Sanjana  graduated with a Master’s degree from The University of Texas at Austin in May 2021.

“The focus of my Master’s program was to work on my skillset, attitude and personality that would help me become an empathetic Qualitative UX Researcher.

I truly believe that empathy and actively listening/observing to people and environment makes me a better person and a better UXR every day. It is a practice I have developed over the years through meditation and mindfulness and continue to work on it daily. Being an introvert, listening and observing have been my superpowers, which particularly make me excited for one-on-one user interactions.”

Cathy Malerba

Executive Director, Research & Evaluation

Dr. Malerba is the Executive Director of Research & Evaluation for Gibson Consulting Group. In this role, she leads a thoughtful, creative team of researchers who share a passion supporting the work of K-12 educators and school leaders.

Gibson has a growing national presence providing evaluation services to school districts, long-standing partnerships with state education agencies, regional educational service centers, and other research firms. Through the business consulting side of the practice, Gibson is uniquely positioned to include program efficiency and effectiveness audits in our evaluations, helping clients better understand their systems, and providing a path forward for improved outcomes.

Stacia Long

Research Scientist

Dr. Stacia Long, a Qualitative Research Scientist at Gibson, has thirteen years of experience in education, including as a high school English teacher, a teacher educator, and a qualitative researcher.

Dr. Long’s expertise is in K-12 language and literacy education and qualitative research methodologies. During her time at Gibson, Dr. Long has served as a project manager and qualitative analyst for large-scale evaluation studies for school districts, including evaluations of transformative literacy initiatives, tutoring programs, as well as evaluations for pilot or newly implemented programs.

Semonti Basu 

Measurement & Evaluation Director

Semonti is responsible for conducting research and analysis to facilitate grant operations at the foundation. With a background in educational research and evaluation, Semonti has worked in the public education sector as a researcher, program evaluator and technical assistance facilitator. Prior to joining the foundation in 2011, she was with the Austin Independent School District, where she worked closely with program staff to implement a districtwide initiative to address behavioral and academic needs of all students.

Jacqueline Whearty

Policy Manager

Jacqueline (Jacque) Whearty is a Policy Manager at the Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center. In this role, she leads and the Economic and Family Supports team in conducting rigorous and comprehensive literature reviews, tracking important child and parent policies, and evaluating the state policy levers that promote equitable outcomes for families in this area. Jacque holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. in Human Development and Family Sciences from the University of Texas at Austin, as well as a B.A. in Applied Psychology and Human Development from Boston College.

Bita Razavi-Maleki 

Strategy & Innovation Associate

Dr. Bita Razavi-Maleki is a proud double alumna of UT Austin, having earned her Bachelor of Arts in Middle Eastern Studies and her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy from UT. With a robust academic foundation and a wealth of experience spanning social work, education, and research, she has honed her expertise in education policy. Currently, she serves as the Strategy and Innovation Associate at Texas Education Agency, where she creates new and innovative solutions to help districts consolidate their education technology and data platforms to better support Texas’s 5.5 million K-12 students and their educators.

Reyda Taylor

Strategic Advisor

Reyda Taylor is a Strategic Advisor at Travis County in Justice Planning. Reyda first joined Travis County in 2022 as a Fuse Corps Executive Fellow focusing on digital equity. Prior to her work supporting Travis County, Reyda led and co-led data ecosystem and participatory evaluation initiatives, as the Senior Consultant for Data and Evaluation at Mission. Reyda particularly loves the entrepreneurism of new initiatives, especially at the intersection of research and data, founding her own business PKE Insights, co-founding Capacity Catalyst, and co-founding the Texas Applied Anthropology Summit.