Esmeralda Michel (she/her/they) is a Research Partnership Coordinator. 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 California’s education...
Erika brings over seven years of experience in communications, project management, relationship building, and sustainability to her role as Research Partnership Coordinator. 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 programs and managed partnerships between corporate employers and nonprofits to...
Patrick Robinson-Link (he/him) is a Postdoctoral Research Scholar with Innovations for Youth (i4Y) at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Robinson-Link earned his Ph.D. in School Psychology from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, where his research concentrated on the effective use of universal social, emotional, and behavioral screening assessments within school systems. His work critically examines measurement tools through psychometric methods, including factor analysis and latent profile analysis, with a strong emphasis on quantitative...
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 (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 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...
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...
Valerie B. Shapiro, PhD, is an associate professor jointly appointed in Social Welfare and Public Health, and the Co-Director of the Center for Prevention Research in Social Welfare at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Shapiro was recently selected as a William T. Grant Foundation Scholar. She is currently leading continuous improvement efforts for the FEMA/SAMHSA funded CalHope Student Support initiative.
Dr. Shapiro's research is in the prevention of mental, emotional, and behavioral problems in children and youth through the adoption, implementation, and sustainability...
