Current Students

MPES 4 Cohort 1 (2020)


Shanté Elliot
Learning Sciences

B.A., English Language & Literature, Fayetteville State University
B.A., Communication, Fayetteville State University
M.Ed., Cultural & Educational Policy, Loyola University Chicago

Research Interests:

Annually in the United States, 26,000 youth transition from foster care, and only 800 of these youth will earn a college degree or credential (Children’s Bureau). How can schools better support the remaining 97 percent of foster youth who transition from care with no bridge to the other side of graduation? I am interested in understanding how educational trauma influences learning pathways, in particular post-secondary, for foster care-involved learners in high school. I want to understand how schools can be designed as spaces of healing and how curriculum can achieve equitable educational outcomes for this population of learners.

Fun Fact:

I’m from the state and city where Babe Ruth hit his first home run, Fayetteville, North Carolina!


Nicole (Nikki) Guarino
Human Development and Social Policy

B.A., Mathematics and English, University of Iowa, 2007
Ed.M., International Education Policy, Harvard Graduate School of Education, 2013

Research Interests:

I study identity and motivation in late adolescence to early adulthood using quantitative and causal methods. Specifically, I am interested in the ways that socioeconomic identity affects motivation around four-year college-going as well as the employment and workplace consequences of college graduates who undergo socioeconomic mobility.

Fun Fact:

I love the Beatles and have visited John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s childhood homes in Liverpool.


Julia Honoroff (she/hers) 
Human Development and Social Policy

B.A., Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2015

Research Interests:

I am interested in addressing issues of access and equity in early childhood and family policy. With a strong focus on developmental science and social policy analysis, I seek to address questions related to how the early care and education space can contribute to the larger ecosystem of family support systems, and can better address individual and community needs. Before joining Northwestern, I worked on projects at New York University related to the city’s Pre-K for All Initiative and a large-scale RCT integrated into pediatric primary care.

Fun Fact:

I love the arts! I was a dancer for over 15 years and worked in the non-profit art world before pursuing a career in research. Tap is my favorite.


Sarah Larison
Learning Sciences

B.A., Sociology, University of Iowa, 2010
MSEd, Elementary Teaching, Northwestern University, 2013

Research Interests:

I’m interested in how elementary teachers see and make sense of classroom interactions. In particular, I’m interested in how teachers see and understand their role in developing and sustaining classroom cultures that value all students’ varied ways of knowing, being, and feeling.

Fun Fact:

I share my pillow with my Great Dane at night.


Leah Ouellet
Human Development and Social Policy

B.A., Public Policy, University of Michigan, 2013
M.S., Criminal Justice, Wayne State University, 2017

Research Interests:

I study issues related to punishment and the carceral state, with a specific interest in the treatment of adolescents and young adults across policy domains and how research and practice informs sentencing policy. Most of my research interests are informed by the perspectives I learned while writing poetry with men who are incarcerated, which I’ve done for the past 9 years in various writing workshops in prisons.

Katarzyna (Kasia) Pomian Bogdanov
Learning Sciences

B.S., Physics, Loyola University Chicago, 2016
B.A., Spanish Language and Literature, Loyola University Chicago, 2016
M.S., Physics, DePaul University, 2018
M.Ed., Secondary Education Physics, DePaul University, 2019

Research Interests: 

I am interested in reimagining science education. In particular, I am interested in designing science high school curriculums that create equitable opportunities for all students to pursue science in ways that are authentic to individuals and the discipline. I am currently working with an Open Science Education design team consisting of teachers and designers. I am studying the tensions that arise during this process; particularly, tensions at the intersections of science education, gender, and race.

Fun Fact: 

I love plants! I have many plants at home, and every year I plant a fruit and vegetable garden on my patio.


MPES 4 Cohort 2 (2021)


Lara Altman
Human Development and Social Policy

BA, Economics, University of Pennsylvania, 2006
MPH, Washington University in St. Louis, 2013
MSW, Washington University in St. Louis, 2013

Research Interests:

My research centers on trauma, chronic stress, and education policy, with a focus on the spread, scale, and institutionalization of trauma-informed approaches. This includes understanding how trauma and chronic stress influence child and adolescent development; how schools can respond to trauma and promote thriving; and the benefits and constraints of a trauma-informed approach in the current education policy climate. Prior to starting my doctoral degree I led a state-wide collaborative focused on trauma-informed change, and I also managed sexual health initiatives for Chicago Public Schools.

Fun Fact:

My family lives on six continents.


Forrest Bruce
Learning Sciences

B.S. in Social Policy from Northwestern University

Research Interests:

He is broadly interested in land and water-based education and the design of community-based learning environments that support Indigenous ways of knowing and being. His current research focuses on Indigenous water education and how our movement in and around water shapes our thinking about and relations with water.

Fun fact:

He has two cats, one that looks like a snow lynx and another who has half a tail.


Varun Devakonda
Human Development and Social Policy

B.A., Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
M.S., Education, John’s Hopkins University

Research Interests:

I’m currently involved in the Culture, Brain, and Development Lab, and my research interests are centered around topics related to educational neuroscience; more specifically, exploring how neuroscience can be applied within academic contexts to improve instructional practices, school policies, and educational outcomes within underserved communities.

Fun fact:

I taught middle-school math for two years and was involved in a music program called Guitars Over Guns.


Charles Logan
Learning Sciences

BA., English Literature and Teacher Education, Middlebury College, 2006
MFA, Fiction, Brooklyn College, 2012
MA, Educational Technology, Michigan State University, 2018

Research Interests: 

My research interests include critical digital pedagogy, how educators and students develop technoskepticism, and designing learning experiences to support educational dignity. Prior to beginning my doctoral studies, I taught high school English teacher and then worked as a university educational technologist.

Fun Fact:

My children and I build incredible pillow forts.


Zina Noel
Human Development and Social Policy

B.A., International Affairs  Lewis and Clark College (2013)
M.Ed, International Education Policy, Harvard Graduate School of Education (2019)
Post-Bac, Early Childhood Policy, University of Minnesota (2020)

Research Interests:

I study the intersection of early childhood and civic society, particularly the impacts of public and social institutions on young children, their families, and their communities.  Drawing from my background in international development policy and early childhood education, my research focuses on how marginalized children, parents, and early educators impact and are impacted by the US family and child policy environment. I am also interested in interdisciplinary collaborations and research-practice partnerships that seek to bridge emergent developmental science, family and child policy, and the day-to-day of raising a young child in America.

Fun fact:

My last position working with children was as a nanny for a pop star on a world tour.


Karla Thomas
Human Development and Social Policy

B.S Mechanical Engineering – University of Mississippi
MBA – Management and International Business – Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

Research Interests:

My research focuses on parents and their use of informal paths outside PTAs and school boards – predominantly social movements – to influence school policy, particularly in ways that impact racial equity.

Fun Fact: 

I used to be a competitive flower arranger – yes it is actually a thing.


Melanie West
Learning Sciences

B.A. Rutgers University- Independent Major, Music & Electrical Engineering
M.A. New York University, Tisch School of the Arts- Interactive Telecommunication

Research Interests: 

Broadly speaking, I am interested in the ways music supports pedagogical design and epistemology for BIPOC youth in out-of-school spaces.

Fun Fact:

I love trees and am a certified urban forester.


MPES 4 Cohort 3 (2022)


Bradley Davey
Learning Sciences

B.A. University of Nevada, Las Vegas – Chemistry
B.A. University of Nevada, Las Vegas German Studies
M.A. Loyola Marymount University, Urban Education Policy and Administration

Research Interests: 

Humans have systematically investigated nature since the beginning of time, yet leading images of science advance the laboratory as the sole site of scientific knowledge production. How have images of laboratory science become mainstream, what might we miss about the wider world of scientific activity, and what implications do these alternative images have for the teaching, learning, and doing of science? One way to answer these questions is to investigate the people, practices, and cultures of scientific activity found outside of the laboratory. My current work is a ethnography of professional coffee roasters and their use of science and technology to produce one of America’s most cherished goods. In the future I will translate learnings from such images of science into teaching and learning opportunities for K-12 science education.

Fun Fact: 

I was the 1993 Texas State BMX Champion.


Sarah Ethridge
Clinical Psychology
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Research Interests: 

My research interests pertain to the relationship between speech, pragmatic language, and reading skills in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). I am curious about different ways special education policy can be improved upon and implemented to support stronger educational achievement, particularly in literacy, in children with ASD.

Fun Fact: 

My favorite weekend pastime is singing karaoke with friends! You can always find me rocking out with pals.


Kayla Garner
Personality, Development, and Health Psychology

BA in Psychology from California State University, Channel Islands
MA in Psychology from California State University, Fullerton

Research Interests: 

I am broadly interested in geographical psychology, psychometrics, and social and psychological effects of educational policy as well as individual differences in personality, motivation, cognition, and interest. I study the simultaneous and transactional relationship between people and their environments. I am interested in exploring how regional differences in educational policy relate to regional aggregation of individual differences.

Fun Fact: 

I love traveling and going on long walks and hikes in my free time.


Melanie Muskin
Human Development and Social Policy

BA in Cognitive Science from Vassar College
MA in Organization and Leadership from Teachers College, Columbia University

Research Interests:

I am interested in issues of professional dignity and sustainability for PK-12 public school teachers.

Fun Fact: 

Prior to Northwestern, I worked in New York City schools for over a decade as a teacher and school administrator.


Alejandra Reinoso
Communication Sciences and Disorders

B.A., Psychology, State University of New York at Purchase, 2020

Research Interests: 

I am interested in understanding how early language experiences in the home and school environments of Latinx dual language learners affect their bilingual language development, and the implications this has for their school readiness. I am also interested in how this may inform early childhood education policy for multilingual children, including those with language and communication disabilities.

Fun Fact:

I love Spain! I’ve been to the Basque Country and Barcelona. I hope to visit and explore all the autonomous communities one day.


Andrew Stein
Human Development and Social Policy

Yale University, BA/MA in History

Research Interests: 

I am interested in (1) tracing and developing conceptions of school quality and student success that shift attention beyond academic assessment toward warm, playful climates and equitable, interdependent communities, and (2) intersections between educational leadership & administration, queer theory, and critical policy analysis.

Fun Fact: 

I play competitive dodgeball across the country.


Lillian Thompson Brown
Communication Sciences and Disorders

BS, Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Central Florida
MS, Communication Sciences and Disorders, Howard University

Research Interests: 

I am interested in the development and implementation of culturally responsive autism assessment and intervention as well as diagnostic experiences of Black caregivers of autistic toddlers.

Fun Fact: 

I love to travel and have been to 6 of the 7 continents!


Nancy Vegas
Human Development and Social Policy

BA in International Relations with a focus on East Asia from Boston University
M.Ed. in Development, Education, and International Cooperation with a focus on Educational Leadership from Finland’s University of Jyväskyla

Research Interests:

I am interested in Identity, Agency, Gender, Leadership, Intersectionality, and Education Policy

Fun Fact: 

I love learning languages and doing pilates


Tre Wells
Human Development and Social Policy

B.S. in Mathematics from Morehouse College
M.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia

Research Interests:

I am interested in the Economics of Education, School Choice and  Capital Investments in HBCUs

Fun Fact:

I love playing pick-up basketball!