Actionable research

Together with our partners, we are asking the hard questions and sharing promising solutions.

Strada’s research is human-centered and action-oriented. Understanding what learners need to realize their career goals and what employers need to identify and develop talent are the first steps in making education-to-employment pathways more equitable.

Where we focus

Strada’s five focus areas each represent an important dimension of the support, collaboration, and alignment needed to connect education to opportunity. Our research in these five areas supports efforts to:

Lift up new approaches to career coaching and work-based learning.
Strengthen data systems that enable students to make informed choices about where and what to study.
Engage with employers to ensure alignment with education providers.
Bring stakeholders to the table to make postsecondary education more affordable.

Our research reports

The goal of Strada research is to help answer hard questions about postsecondary success and economic opportunity. We seek a better understanding of what students need to realize their career goals, and what employers need to build a robust talent pipeline.

Institute for the Future of Work‍

Research from Strada Institute for the Future of Work provides actionable insights on how to strengthen the educational pathways that lead to economic opportunity for individuals and respond to the talent needs of employers. Its research focuses on the future of work, the future of postsecondary education and training, and talent-driven economic development.

How we use our research

Strada’s research is at the heart of our work. We test and provide evidence about promising solutions and support the work of our education and employer partners. The research we do and support is helping us:

Inform our strategic priorities and guide our mission-aligned investments and grantmaking.
Advocate for policy solutions that are nonpartisan and evidence-based.
Build evidence for education and employment pathways that are better connected and affordable for all current and future students.

State Opportunity Index

Designed to guide state progress in five focus areas, the State Opportunity Index helps states assess how well they are leveraging education pathways — including degrees, certificates, and other credentials — to strengthen workforce competitiveness and pathways to opportunity.

Talent Disrupted

Using a combination of online career histories of tens of millions of graduates, as well as census microdata for millions of graduates, the report offers a comprehensive picture of how college graduates fare in the job market over their first decade of employment after college.

Building Better Internships

Strada’s report, Building Better Internships, looks at the latest findings from the National Survey of College Internships (NSCI), a survey developed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions.

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Our team

Ernest J. Newborn II

Chairman of the board, Strada

Makola M. Abdullah, Ph.D.

President, Virginia State University

Akua Amankwah-Ayeh

Research associate

Roslyn Clark Artis

President, Benedict College

Michael Austin

Executive vice president and chief financial officer

Lara Bach

Director, work-based learning

Peter Bahr

Vice president of employer engagement and managing research director of the Strada Institute for the Future of Work

Alicia Baird

Director, grants programs

Kyle Baltuch

Vice president, employer alignment

Beth Bean

Jason Bearce

Vice president, Midwest state government relations

Rev. E. William Beauchamp, C.S.C.

Emeritus trustee

Dana Brandt

Vice president, state data system advancement, clear outcomes

Aminta H. Breaux, Ph.D.

President, Bowie State University

Stephanie Breen

Director, research

Courtney Brown

Alexis Calvin

Project manager

Lori J. Carrell, Ph.D.

Chancellor, University of Minnesota Rochester

Laurie Casey

Executive assistant, policy and advocacy

Summer Casillas

Director, research

Michele Chang

Chief strategy officer

Sureel A. Choksi

President and chief executive officer, Vantage Data Centers

Dave Clayton, Ph.D.

Senior vice president, research

Beth Cobert

President, affiliates and strategic partnerships

Crystal Collins

Vice president, state affordability initiatives

Aristide Collins Jr., Ed.D.

Executive vice president, chief administrative officer, and chief of staff

Andrea Contreras

Executive assistant, clear outcomes

Marlene V. Coulis

President (retired), Coulis Consulting

Holly Custard

Senior director, data ecosystem partnerships and innovation, clear outcomes

Thomas Dawson

President, Strada Collaborative

Stacy Delapenha

Vice president, apprenticeship and employer engagement

Justin Draeger

Senior vice president, affordability

Victoria Dunn

Director, quality coaching, innovation and impact

Wade T. Dyke, Ph.D.

Former president, American Public University System

Carol D’Amico

Chantée Eldridge, Ed.D.

Chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer

Sue Ellspermann, Ph.D.

President, Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana

Thomas Ertel

Senior vice president and chief accounting officer

Mike Flores, Ph.D.

Chancellor, Alamo Colleges District

Jon Furr

Senior vice president and chief data ecosystem officer

Alicia Garceau

Sowmya Ghosh

Clark Gilbert

Gabriella Gómez

Executive vice president, policy, advocacy, and communications

Daryl Graham

Senior vice president, HBCU and engagement

Marshall Grigsby

Emeritus trustee; former president, Benedict College

Kevin Grubb

Vice president, work-based learning

Leonard Gurin

Senior vice president, cash and investments

Michael Hanagan

Investment associate, strategic investments

Andrew Hanson

Senior director, employer alignment

Leonard Haynes

Former U.S. assistant secretary for postsecondary education, Former Acting President Grambling State University

Jessica Hinkle

Senior vice president, strategic investments

Terry Holloway

Senior vice president and chief human resources officer

Tamara Ita

Senior program manager, clear outcomes

Natasha Jankowski

Nicole Thorne Jenkins, Ph.D.

John A. Griffin Dean of the McIntire School of Commerce, University of Virginia

Kimberly Johnson

Vice provost of undergraduate education and student success, University of Oregon

Doris Juarez

Project manager, postsecondary education

Emily Kinard

Director, federal government relations

Michael D. King

Vice president and general manager, global education industry (retired), IBM

Marcus Kolb

Director, quality coaching, educational and career pathways

Melissa Leavitt

Vice president, quality coaching, postsecondary education

Elaine W. Leigh

Adena Williams Loston

President, St. Philip's College

Laura Love

Senior vice president, work-based learning

Larry Lutz

Executive vice president, corporate development

Thomas B. Mangas

Founder and chief executive officer, Centerfire Capital

Courtney H. McBeth

Heather McKay

Senior vice president of employer engagement and executive director of the Strada Institute for the Future of Work

Mo McKenna

Christopher Meyer

Senior vice president, strategy and innovation

Erik I. Moreno

Executive vice president, corporate development and M&A, Sony Pictures Entertainment

Stephen Moret

President and chief executive officer

Ilene Nagel, Ph.D.

Emeritus trustee

William R. Neale, Esq.

Emeritus trustee

Laura McCoolidge Nguyen

Vice president, strategic investments

Rev. Gerard (Gerry) J. Olinger, C.S.C.

Vice president for student affairs, University of Notre Dame

Damien E. Padilla

Senior manager, HBCU partnerships and outcomes

Stephen Payne

Senior director, institutional affordability initiatives

Rhonda Powell

Executive vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary

April Prak

Director of data science, clear outcomes

Kathy Qu

Seth Reichlin

Travis Reindl

Senior vice president and chief communications officer

Mark Rigdon

Senior vice president, state government relations

Lydia Riley

Director of academic affairs, University of Texas System

Craig Robinson

Senior vice president, quality coaching

Quinton T. Ross Jr.

President, Alabama State University

Yustina Saleh

Allison Salisbury

Janet Salm

Edward R. Schmidt, Esq.

Emeritus trustee

Grant Schroll

Platform manager, strategic investments

Amy Wimmer Schwarb

Director of content

Rob Sentz

Adam Shopshire

Chief information officer

Kimberly Sluis

Vice president and chief of staff, postsecondary education

Kathleen Smith

Senior vice president, federal government relations

Melissa Smith

Vice president, public policy, talent, and workforce development

Miriam (Mimi) Wolfe Strouse

Private equity investor

Related insights

The invisible barrier: how restrictions on majors influence career paths

How a student chooses a college major is often the result of personal factors, such as interests, strengths, or education and career guidance.

Preparing college students for career success

Strada is extending an invitation for each institution to participate in the State Opportunity Index survey and to receive confidential and benchmarked results, free of cost.

With internships, the issue is supply, not demand

Even though internships impart a strong labor market advantage that tends to persist after graduation, the nation’s supply of internships has not kept up with demand. A new report provides insights.

Quality Coaching Report

Strada’s report, Quality Coaching, looks at students’ experiences across three elements of quality coaching and we examine the experiences of recent graduates. The report also offers insights to leaders, practitioners, and others seeking to improve students’ career outcomes.

Connect with us

Let us know about opportunities to collaborate, if you have questions about the data, or if you would like us to brief your team on our research.

You also can email us directly at stradaresearch@stradaeducation.org.