People

Esmeralda Michel, Research Partnership Coordinator

Esmeralda Michel (she/her/they) is a Research Partnership Coordinator on the CalHOPE team. She has previously worked in Oakland Unified School District, where she supported district-wide student leadership initiatives and student-led campaigns on well-being & civic engagement. She has also worked with the National Education Association and the National Center for Youth Law in research and policy-oriented capacities. Esmeralda is passionate about collaborative research to policy initiatives that uplift student and teacher voices and she is eager to continue supporting...

Megan Mitchell, Research Partnership Director

Megan Mitchell (she/her) brings over a decade of experience in the social sector to the Research Partnership Director role. She began her career as a Biology teacher in Memphis, Tennessee, prioritizing inclusive, data-driven instruction, drawing from her own experiences as a student in a low-performing public school. With an M.S. in Community Development from UC Davis, Megan gained critical tools for addressing systemic change and conducting community-based research. She has gone on to spearhead evaluation and research for a national school health and...

Kamryn S. Morris, Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Kamryn S. Morris (she/her) is a Postdoctoral Research Scholar with Innovations for Youth (i4Y) at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Morris earned her Ph.D. in Family and Human Development, where she was a National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) T32 Predoctoral Fellow with training in prevention, dissemination, and implementation science. Her research seeks to promote thriving among Black youth through supporting school belonging and improving school climate. Using qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods, her program of research examines social (e.g., teacher-...

Ashley N. Metzger, Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Ashley N. Metzger (she/her), Ph.D., is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow for Innovations for Youth (i4Y) at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Metzger studies the behavioral health of neurodivergent children and youth in schools and the processes of school transformation to promote wellbeing. As a Fellow, she works on the research and evaluation team for CalHOPE Student Support, an effort to build statewide infrastructure to promote thriving in California schools. Dr. Metzger recently received a William T. Grant Foundation Officers' Research Grant, to help understand...

Addison Duane, Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Addison M. Duane (she/her), Ph.D. is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with Innovations for Youth (i4Y) at the University of California, Berkeley. As a former elementary school teacher, Dr. Duane uses community-engaged and participatory approaches to investigate trauma in schools. Specifically, her program of research simultaneously illuminates and amplifies children’s cultural strengths while also investigating the cascading impacts of racial trauma on children’s learning and development. Through her research and teaching, she partners with children and educators to identify ways...

Erika Hansen, Research Partnership Coordinator

Erika brings over seven years of experience in communications, project management, relationship building, and sustainability to her role as Research Partnership Coordinator at the Innovations for Youth research hub at the University of California, Berkeley. In her most recent role, Erika managed two virtual communities, built out the tech stack and LMS for an online course and community of practice, and developed data and brand visualizations to support client work. Previously, she worked alongside Pre-K through 12th grade teams to implement on site garden-based education...

Luyi Jian

portrait of Luyi Jian

Education PhD (2024 Expected)

University of California, Berkeley, School of Social Welfare

Areas of Focus: Intervention for At-Risk and Justice-Involved Youth

Policy Evaluation in Juvenile and Criminal Legal Systems

Graduate Certificate in Applied Data Science, awarded by the School of Information, UC Berkeley

M.S.W. (2019)

Washington University in St....

Dr. Venetta Campbell, BASW'78, MSW'80 - DAAB Co-Chair

Dr. Venetta Campbell is an interdisciplinary educator, executive and leader. She holds a PsyD in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University, and double degrees from U.C. Berkeley (BS, MSW). Her academic and professional experiences in social work and psychology provide a rich foundation for management, system analysis, program development, and policy formulation practice.

Dr. Campbell was the former Associate Director, Department of Social Work, University of California San Francisco Medical Center. In that executive capacity, she oversaw administrative, clinical, and program...

Graham Norwood, MSW'22

Coming soon ...

Beclee Wilson MSW'90

Beclee Wilson is a longtime supporter of the School of Social Welfare, having committed one of the largest planned gifts in the school’s history to promote social justice in the school and at UC Berkeley. Both Beclee and her husband John Wilson have fought for social and racial justice throughout their long careers and deep involvement at UC Berkeley.

Beclee has long been involved in social justice issues regarding women’s rights. She served eleven years as a National Vice President for Church Women United, was a member of a special women’s delegation to Eastern Europe, was sent to...