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OUR TEAM

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Rachel Rush-Marlowe

Founder & Executive Director

Rachel Rush-Marlowe is a passionate education policy professional with expertise in higher education topics such as federal student aid, student loan default, rural community college issues, college leadership, and postsecondary data collections. She has worked at a variety of education organizations such as the Association of Community College Trustees, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, New America, and at Quality Information Partners on contracts for the National Center for Education Statistics. In 2020, Rachel founded ResearchEd, and began providing research, advocacy, and data services to postsecondary institutions and affiliated organizations across the country. Rachel's passion for education policy and research comes from a deep commitment to students, something that she learned from her parents, who are both educators.

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Ayana Tapper

Policy Associate

Ayana Tapper is a recent graduate from Rutgers University with a B.A. in Political Science and History. During her time at Rutgers, she has worked at two internships sites and served two non-profits focused on fostering equity. Among her school accolades, she won a spot in a small cohort that studied politics and democracy for a year and a half, before becoming a class representative. Additionally, Ayana is one of only eight award winners sent from her University to Washington D.C. to participate in nonprofit work. Finally, her future plans include law school, to eventually use her degree to serve marginalized communities.

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Helena Okolicsanyi

Director of Communications
comms@research-ed.org

Helena Okolicsanyi joins ResearchEd with over eight years of marketing and communications experience in both journalism, legal marketing, B2B, and education technology. Helena's journalism work has been featured in Teen Vogue, Mic.com, the Huffington Post, Remodeling Magazine, and other publications. Helena brings her tenacious passion to supporting the communications and marketing strategy to expand the importance of education access for all. Helena is a graduate of George Mason University with a degree in Global Affairs. Helena lives in Washington, D.C. in the Bloomingdale neighborhood where she also serves as Vice President of the Crispus Attucks Development Corporation, a community organization dedicated maintaining Crispus Attucks Park a completely community-run park.

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Sahana Vivek

Intern

Sahana Vivek is a rising sophomore at Georgetown University, pursuing her studies in International Political Economy. She has a profound passion for education, having served as a teacher and mentor in debate and public speaking. Sahana's commitment to fostering knowledge and personal growth even led her to establish her own educational organization focused on local equity. Now, Sahana is eager to expand her skill set within the industry by joining the team at ResearchEd. She is interested in exploring the intersection of equity, education, and the economy and strives to make positive changes in those areas.

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Rob Watson

Contracts and Development Manager

Robert Watson brings over 30 years of expertise in change management and human relations to the team. Rob’s passion lies in creating positive organizational change, which goes back to 1974, when he worked as a human resources officer for the U.S. Coast Guard. There he led seminars on gender and racial discrimination awareness, and eventually created a Coast Guard-specific organizational development program. A life-long learner and teacher of organizational effectiveness, Rob joined forces with key researchers from Stanford University to create leadership programs based on principles that would ensure long-lasting behavioral change, which he has applied throughout his career and in his role at ResearchEd. At ResearchEd, Rob supports every aspect of business development from proactive outreach to prospective clients to contract development.

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Perrine Monnet

Research Fellow

Perrine Monnet is passionate about community engagement in policy specifically surrounding issues of community development, economic security, and housing. Her previous roles in civic engagement as a community organizer in her home state of Colorado led her to pursue research and policy work. She has previously worked as an analyst at the World Bank researching women's economic participation and a community organizer for various nonprofit organizations advocating for public lands and green energy. Perrine joined ResearchEd while pursuing her Master's of Public Policy at Georgetown University.

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Tarush Lall

Director of Operations

Tarush Lall is an expert in the creation and management of complex data systems, in both higher education and health care fields. He is also a talented project manager with experience in maintaining budgets and documentation for enterprise wide projects. His interest in education policy began during his graduate program where he had the opportunity to work in a variety of student support roles- as an academic coach, student advisor, orientation leader, and teaching assistant. With a background in computer science and mechanical engineering, Tarush brings a unique and valuable perspective to the team.

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Béatrice Leydier

Senior Research Fellow

Béatrice is interested in all things data - cleaning, analyzing, visualizing, interpreting and, generally, making it make sense. After completing a dual master's in Management at HEC Paris and in Public Policy at Georgetown University, she has been managing research projects aimed at measuring the impact of new policies, services or products in various developing countries, across a broad range of domains like urban poverty, primary education, road safety, financial inclusion, micro-entrepreneurship and social cohesion. From developing a research design to managing primary data collection and performing statistical analyses, she's led all stages of policy research. More recently, she's developed and co-taught courses on Research Fieldwork and Analysis and on Impact Evaluation at Georgetown University. At ResearchEd, she brings her data skills to develop user-friendly products that help institutions and other stakeholders of higher education use and make sense of their data.

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Pooja Ghadiali

Intern

Pooja Ghadiali a recent graduate of Rutgers University with a B.A. in Political Science. Throughout her college career, Pooja, a first-generation student, was a strong advocate for increasing federal student aid through the Rutgers Advocacy Corps. To deepen her understanding of policy and government, Pooja interned at various political offices and a law firm to gain insight into government operations. In addition to advocating for increased higher education funding, Pooja collaborated with local government officials this year to implement anti-vaping education for fifth and eighth graders, aiming to promote health awareness among the youth population. With a strong background in politics, Pooja is excited to contribute to ResearchEd's non-profit efforts and continue to learn and grow within the education sector.

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Dylan Mazelis

Project Manager

Dylan Mazelis is an educational researcher, program developer, and success coach. He has a robust higher education background with experience in educational technology, data assessment, and student support services at a range of institutions. As a first-generation college student, Dylan has dedicated his career to understanding equity challenges in postsecondary spaces while providing opportunities to improve outcomes on individual and systemic levels. He is particularly interested in areas of higher education such as leadership development, underserved student populations, community engagement, and disability services.

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Josette Souza 

Communications Associate

Josette is a Marketing & Communications Consultant who specializes in helping arts, culture, media, and mission-driven organizations start and grow audiences, develop expertise in marketing data analytics, increase revenue, and expand their impact. Past clients include Amtrak, Design Museum Everywhere, Bravely, and Tall Glass Media.

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