Project Team

Principal Investigator

Michelle Van Noy

is Director of the Education and Employment Research Center at the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers. She has extensive experience conducting research on STEM education and workforce development and leading large-scale research projects. She is PI on Pathways to Technician Careers an ATE-targeted research project examining student decision-making about programs and careers in information technology, and co-PI on an NSF project, Pathways to Science and Engineering Professions: Persistence and Career Choice for Bachelor’s and Master’s Graduates, Who Goes on? Who Doesn’t? and Why? She has conducted research on higher education labor market responsiveness, community college workforce education programs in a range of sectors, community college student outcomes, and employer perceptions of associate degrees for IT technicians. She served on the National Academy of Science’s committee on Barriers and Opportunities for 2-year and 4-year STEM degrees.

Co-Principal Investigator

Mark D’Amico

is a Professor of Higher Education, University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Mark’s research centers on community college student success and workforce education, including the development of a noncredit typology that has been applied to multiple states and scholarly projects. Mark was a participant of the 2020 IPEDS Technical Review Panel on noncredit data, and published a recent paper on noncredit outcomes in partnership with the Iowa Department of Education. Prior to his current role, Mark served in senior leadership with a multi-campus college and a state technical college system.

Peter Riley Bahr

is Vice President and Managing Research Director of the Strada Institute for the Future of Work, is a nationally recognized scholar and expert on postsecondary education, student outcomes, and economic mobility. The central aim of his research is ensuring that a high-quality college education, stable employment, and a family-sustaining wage are within reach of everyone.

Dr. Bahr focuses specifically on the role of public postsecondary institutions — especially community and technical colleges — in creating and advancing educational and economic opportunities for socioeconomically disadvantaged students, adult-age students beginning in or returning to college, individuals returning to the community after incarceration, and other disadvantaged groups. Working closely with policymakers and institutional leaders, his research directly informs policy and practice aimed at reducing inequality, achieving educational attainment goals, improving workforce opportunities, and strengthening state economic vitality and growth. Before joining Strada, Dr. Bahr served as a tenured associate professor in the University of Michigan’s Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education, where he built a multimillion dollar research program focused on educational pathways and workforce outcomes, as well as taught graduate-level classes in applied statistics.

Paula Nissen

is Director of the Institutional Research Collaborative, representing North Iowa Area, Iowa Lakes and Iowa Central Community Colleges. With over 25 years of leadership experience in Iowa’s education, research, government, community, and workforce sectors, Paula Nissen is a seasoned professional dedicated to driving collaborative initiatives and fostering innovation. As the Director of the Institutional Collaborative, she orchestrates interdisciplinary teams comprising education, research, and technology experts to advance knowledge, consistency, and collaboration across the state. Paula is renowned for her pioneering work in developing innovative research methodologies that integrate diverse data sources, both public and proprietary, to address common goals and priorities shared by stakeholders. Her expertise lies in harnessing data to drive actionable insights and facilitate evidence-based decision-making. Paula’s impactful contributions extend beyond the borders of Iowa through her work in aligning education to regional/state labor market data and the State Noncredit Data Project (SNDP). Through her visionary leadership and dedication to bridging education and workforce development, Paula continues to shape the landscape of community college education and empower individuals to thrive in today’s dynamic economy.

Di Xu

is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at UC, Irvine, and the faculty director of UCI’s Postsecondary Education Research & Implementation Institute. She is also a research affiliate at the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research uses mixed research methods in assessing students’ educational pathways, success, and transition into the labor market, with a particular focus on students enrolled in community colleges.

Vladimir Bassis

serves as an Administrative Consultant for Community College Management Information System (CC MIS) within the Iowa Department of Education. In this role, he works with community college data specialists, institutional researchers, and relevant subject matters specialists to ensure that all data exchange, archiving, maintenance, and further data processing projects are conducted in timely and ergonomic manner. Vladimir leads a team that is actively involved in a number of CC MIS-related research designs and research implementations, resulting in products reflecting a variety of community college-based educational and organizational processes. Such products include federally or locally mandated accountability reports (such as Perkins Act, Condition of Community Colleges, etc.); program quality improvement efforts; educational statistics; information for legislators; requests for research data, and other reports and data compilations. Vladimir achieved his B.A. and M.A. in English in 1985 from Odessa State University (Ukraine) and M.P.A. from Iowa State University in 2005. He taught international culture in Iowa public schools, coordinated international exchanges in Iowa Recourse for International Services (IRIS, inc.), and has been working for the State of Iowa in the Department of Human Services and the Department of Education for the past 20 years.

Rachel Boon

serves as the Chief Academic Officer for the Iowa Board of Regents. She has expertise in higher education governance, state and federal education policy, accreditation, institutional research and university administration. She previously worked in student success and strategic planning at Ivy Tech Community College, and prior to that held roles at the Higher Education Data Sharing Consortium, Drake University, Indiana University-Bloomington and Waukee Community Schools. She also taught at both the high school and college level. Rachel currently serves as Vice Chair of the Postsecondary Employment Outcomes Coalition (PSEOC), a growing coalition of 37 states and the US Census Bureau. She earned her Ph.D. in Education Policy Studies from Indiana University, and her M.S. in Education Leadership and B.S. in secondary education from Drake University.

Amy Cable

is the Chief Student Affairs Officer at the Louisiana Community and Technical College System. Amy is an experienced leader in Education and Training, Enrollment Management and Financial Aid. Under Amy’s guidance, she successfully implemented multiple financial aid initiatives that uses state dollars to increase enrollment for adult students, managed the creation and implementation of an Enrollment Management Support team and was instrumental in the implementation of an integrated student information system that encompasses both credit and non-credit students. She is a Certified Financial Aid Administrator (FAAC). Amy holds a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice, a Master of Public Administration, and a Doctor of Education from the University of Memphis.

Corey Moss-Pech

is an assistant professor of sociology at Florida State University. His research examines how individuals navigate educational organizations and labor market institutions to better understand stratification and social mobility outcomes, with particular emphasis on gender inequality. His research agenda is motivated by changes to the economy that make jobs and careers less stable while simultaneously increasing the cost of higher education.

Corey’s work has appeared in several notable outlets, including Social Forces, the Sociology of Education, The Review of Higher Education, and the Washington Post. His first book, Major Trade-offs: The Surprising Truths about College Majors and Entry-level Jobs, is out now with the University of Chicago Press.

Melissa Quaal

is Senior Program Administrator for the Education and Employment Research Center. She obtained her Master’s in Public Policy with a concentration in Community Development at the Bloustein School at Rutgers University and her B.A. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Economics and Social Work. As an administrator with a background in research on workforce development as well as the impact of poverty, Melissa is dedicated to uncovering the ways in which educational institutions can ameliorate poverty and develop pathways to greater equality.

Nicole Sandelier Boyd

is a Research Project Manager at the Education and Employment Research Center at Rutgers University. She conducts mixed-methods research focused on the interconnections between education and work, with an emphasis on policy-relevant findings. Nicole’s work primarily focuses on workforce development and career pathways, including registered apprenticeship, work-based learning, noncredit, and non-degree credentials.

Prior to joining the Rutgers community, Nicole was the Director of Economic Policy Research at the New Jersey Business & Industry Association and the Executive Director of Focus NJ- The Center for Economic Research & Workforce Solutions. She holds a BA in Political Science and MA in Public Policy from Monmouth University as well as a Ph.D. in Education (defended, conferral October 2026) from Rutgers University.

Justin Vinton

is a faculty Research Project Manager at the Education and Employment Research Center at the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. He studies labor and employment relations with a primary focus on worker voice and representation, skill provision and credentials, labor-management collaboration, and workforce and economic development. His current work examines the role of community colleges and other postsecondary training providers in economic development, and their growing coordination with employers, students, and other stakeholders to improve program implementation and data collection (both degree and non-degree). His other work focuses on the voice and complex roles of labor-management partnership stakeholders in US public education and healthcare.

Denise Zieske

is the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Workforce Development for the State University of New York (SUNY). She develops and implements workforce programs and related initiatives for SUNY’s 64 colleges and supports SUNY’s workforce efforts at the state and national level. Denise oversees state and federal funding of over $75 million and serves as the System Implementation Lead for SUNY’s Non-Credit Student Information Management initiative which will create a unified system to facilitate learner-centered enrollment in non-credit programs and allow for comprehensive learner reporting.

Prior to joining SUNY, Denise served as the Vice President for Workforce Development and Community Education at SUNY Schenectady County Community College. Her career has included work in many aspects of economic and workforce development. Denise holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Drew University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University at Albany.