Our Team - ASA Research

Sue Clery, Founding Partner

Research philosophy: Quick and effective assessment of client’s needs; provide actionable, strategic product.

Sue has 30 years of experience in postsecondary education research. Her work as a higher education researcher fulfills her passion for helping students and higher education staff through projects and studies focusing on student success, particularly to reduce barriers so students can be successful academically and, ultimately, in the workforce. She has technical expertise, knowledge and experience across a wide range of topics, with an emphasis on quantitative analysis and evaluation. She has worked with numerous institutions, systems, associations and foundations with the aim to support capacity building of leaders, faculty, and campus teams by arming them with the tools, resources, evidence and knowledge needed to make effective strategic transformation so that students can achieve their dreams. She has authored and co-authored numerous national statistical analyses, analytical reports, and evaluations, and has conducted a variety of conference sessions and workshops on strategic data use across higher education topics.

Prior to launching ASA, Sue was on the senior research team at JBL Associates, Inc. (JBLA), which was acquired by Coffey Consulting, where she served as the Senior Study Director and led the higher education team. She holds an MBA from University of Maryland and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Virginia Tech.

Abby Miller, Founding Partner

Research philosophy: Deep and unique insight into higher education and workforce data, taking into account multiple perspectives. Flexible and adaptable to client needs; adept at multiple methodologies.

Abby has 20 years’ experience conducting and directing research and evaluations related to postsecondary education access and success. Her areas of interest and expertise include low-income and first-generation students, nontraditional student pathways, financial aid, and the college-to-workforce transition. She has presented her research at national conferences including the Association for the Study of Higher Education and the American Educational Research Association. Abby previously worked in senior research positions for Coffey Consulting, JBL Associates, The Pell Institute, and the Institute of Higher Education Policy. She holds a master’s degree in education policy and leadership with a concentration in higher education from the University of Maryland, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Washington University in St. Louis.

Sung-Woo Cho, Ph.D., Partner

Research philosophy: Insight into higher education data and analytics
needs, with a focus on AI and quantitative evaluations.

Sung-Woo Cho, Ph.D., is a quantitative researcher focusing on higher education, workforce training, evaluation design, and artificial intelligence. He has served as an evaluator and technical expert on a variety of federal contracts and foundation-funded programs in higher education and workforce training, including the Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) program.

Sung-Woo promotes the culture of academic data use, as well as the use of artificial intelligence for predictive and generative purposes. He developed a data science training program to train researchers in data analysis and visualization. He has held positions as Associate Vice Provost for Academic Data Analytics at the University of Oregon, senior researcher at Abt Associates, and quantitative researcher at the Community College Research Center (CCRC) at Teachers College, Columbia University. He is the co-author of a widely cited paper on how developmental students move through different levels of coursework. Sung-Woo also teaches quantitative analysis to graduate students at the University of Maryland’s College of Education. Cho holds a B.A. in public policy and economics from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in economics and education from Columbia University.

Elif Bor, Senior Project Manager

Elif has over 10 years of experience in education research and program evaluation with an emphasis on student success and educational outcomes. She has led and collaborated on a broad range of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods research projects focused primarily on documenting and reporting student outcomes at either the program or institutional level, with a particular emphasis on underserved students. Elif holds a master’s degree in Applied Developmental Psychology from George Mason University and a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Ege University, Turkey. She is an alumnus of Institute for Educational Leadership’s Education Policy Fellowship Program.

Jim Hull, Research Analyst

Jim has nearly two decades of experience conducting and managing education policy research. Most recently he was Director of Impact at the Foundation for Excellence in Education (ExcelinEd). Prior to ExcelinEd, Jim was the senior policy analyst for the Center for Public Education (CPE) at the National School Boards Association where he analyzed data from the Common Core of Data, NCES’s High School Longitudinal Studies, and IPEDS. Prior to CPE, Jim was a data analyst at the Education Trust where he identified schools that successfully prepared low-income and minority students for postsecondary success. He was also an intern for the New York State Education Department where he assisted in developing the state’s implementation plan of the No Child Left Behind Act.

Nathan Greenstein, Senior AI Analyst

Nathan is an experienced data scientist, application programmer, and visualization designer. Focusing on the ethics and equity of artificial intelligence, Nathan’s work addresses how the fields of education and evaluation can use AI for good, and how organizations can embrace new technology while upholding their values of social sustainability. Most recently, Nathan served as Assistant Director of Machine Learning at the University of Oregon, where he created and implemented AI models that helped predict student persistence to reallocate advising resources, in close partnership with the Division of Undergraduate Education and Student Success. He has held positions at nonprofit, private-sector, and public organizations and often works in Python and Azure. Nathan holds a B.A. in Cognitive Science from Dartmouth College.

Grant Crider-Phillips, AI Analyst

Grant has experience as a machine learning analyst, previously at the University of Oregon. In his time there, Grant supported the University through his oversight of the Azure Machine Learning environment and application of probabilistic models, particularly in the field of text analytics. Grant has presented his work in both text analytics and predictive analytics at several conferences, including AIR, AERA, and AACRAO. Prior to his work as Machine Learning Analyst, Grant worked in projects and data analytics in the Office of the President. Grant holds a BS from Haverford College in mathematics with a minor in linguistics.

Sara Ji, Graduate Intern

Sara is a PhD student and presidential scholar at Harvard University, focusing on education policy and the economics of education. With a strong background in applied econometrics, Sara’s research primarily addresses inequality in education and the labor market. She is highly skilled in data analysis, working with large-scale administrative datasets to apply advanced econometric techniques and generate actionable insights. Sara regularly employs statistical tools such as Python, R and Stata to model and analyze complex data. Before her doctoral studies, Sara was a Pre-Doctoral Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a Research Associate at Harvard Business School. Sara holds a BS in applied mathematics, a BA in economics, and a minor in philosophy from Brandeis University.

Katharine Carter, Ph.D., Research Analyst

Katharine has over 15 years of experience managing and conducting research and evaluation projects on a wide variety of topics, including access to higher education, measures of student success, and factors associated with student safety and wellbeing. She has experience in conducting original research studies, developing surveys and analyzing statistical data. She has also conducted secondary data analysis using large datasets from federal agencies, including the Department of Education.

Katharine obtained her Ph.D. in social work from the Catholic University of America, with a specialized focus on school social work and policy. Her doctoral dissertation examined the effectiveness of school-based programs on student behaviors and academic outcomes.

Amy Topper, Ph.D., Consultant

Amy has over 15 years of higher education experience researching programs and policies aimed at improving student success and advising colleges regarding their student success initiatives. Currently the Assessment and Evaluation Specialist in the Office of Student Learning, Outcomes Assessment, and Accreditation at the University of Rhode Island, Amy has expertise in using quantitative and qualitative research methods to evaluate postsecondary student access, persistence, transfer, and success. Her doctoral dissertation, which examined student and faculty conceptualizations of student success to generate a more locally-relevant set of student success metrics, was awarded the American Educational Research Association’s Division J Postsecondary Education 2016 Outstanding Dissertation Award.

Belinda Huang, Ph.D., Consultant

Dr. Belinda Lee Huang has focused on diversity, equity and inclusion in postsecondary education for over twenty years. An experienced facilitator, she has led intergroup dialogues on race, gender, and religion.At the University of Maryland, she served as Senior Advisor for Diversity and Inclusion, consulting with faculty on creating an inclusive campus climate for under-represented students, and leading diversity trainings on implicit bias and gender equity to the campus community. Previously, Dr. Huang served as Executive Director of the National Postdoctoral Association (NPA), and college advisor for a TRIO program where she supported and led workshops for low income, first generation, underrepresented, and adult students and families. She has published on topics including organizational change, women of color leaders, Asian American senior leaders and faculty of color retention, and advancing postdoctoral women. In her faculty appointments at UC Berkeley, University of Pennsylvania, CSU East Bay, Loyola University, and George Washington University, she taught Higher Education Policy, Asian American Studies, Higher Education Administration and Educational Leadership. Dr. Huang holds a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration, Education Policy from the University of Maryland, a Master’s degree in Student Personnel Administration from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Humanities from UC Berkeley.

Paulina Perez Mejias, Ph.D., Consultant

Paulina has almost two decades of experience in designing and leading research studies, program evaluation, and policy analysis in education. She is highly proficient in the analysis and reporting of large-scale educational survey data using advanced statistical methods. Currently, she is an Adjunct Faculty Member at the College of Education at the University of Maryland, College Park. Previously, Paulina held diverse academic and administrative positions at prestigious universities in Chile, including Director of Academic Support Services at Diego Portales University and Chief of Staff to the President’s Office at University of Santiago. Paulina obtained a Ph.D. in Higher Education from the University of Maryland, College Park with the sponsorship of a Fulbright scholarship.

Dora Elías McAllister, Ph.D., Consultant

Dora has 20 years of postsecondary education experience, including 8 years of experience leading, managing, and supporting qualitative and quantitative research, assessment, and evaluation projects. She has a deep interest in removing barriers to success for first-generation, low-income, and students of color and has focused on these students and other underserved populations in most of her work. She also has extensive experience writing and editing publications focused on education topics such as costs and financing of health professions education, high school graduation requirements, and K–12 achievement gaps. Dora holds a doctoral degree in education policy with a concentration in higher education from the University of Maryland, College Park.