Biography:

Maithreyi Gopalan is an academic expert in education policy analysis with a particular focus on how policies can mitigate disparities in educational opportunities in schools and colleges. She can speak to policy issues at the intersections of education and society—specially, social and health policies that have several positive, spillover effects on education, civic engagement, and wellbeing. Her recent research focuses on using econometric and “big data” techniques to examine causal effects of policies and programs in health and education and using insights from social psychology (e.g., students’ sense of belonging, learning mindsets, and motivation) to bear on education policy and practice.

Recent Media:

• Students must find 'sense of belonging' on college campuses after DEI ban (Houston Chronicle, May 20, 2024)
• Study: extroverted students more likely to feel sense of belonging (Inside Higher Ed, March 19, 2024)
• Democracy Works: Does mandatory civic education increase voter turnout? (WPSU, Dec. 5, 2023)
• Education professor receives Civil Rights Data Science Impact Fellowship (Penn State University, Nov. 14, 2023)
• Civics tests don’t improve voter turnout, according to study (WISH-TV, Nov. 1, 2023)
• School shootings: the long-term financial fallout (Education Week, April 5, 2023)
• What researchers learned from analyzing decades of civil rights complaints against schools (Education Week, December 30, 2022)