معرفی
Kalena E. Cortes is the Verlin and Howard Kruse '52 Founders Associate Professor in the Department of Public Service and Administration at Texas A&M University's Bush School of Government and Public Service, where she serves as inaugural Director of the Program in Education Policy (PEP). She holds affiliated positions as Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), and Mindset Scholar at the Student Experience Research Network (SERN).
Dr. Cortes earned her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley and completed postdoctoral work at Princeton University. Her research focuses on educational equity through three primary lenses: improving urban student outcomes, expanding postsecondary access, and enhancing immigrant educational attainment. She develops innovative interventions including text-based parenting programs like Texts4Teens (NSF-funded) and Math FUNdations (J-PAL funded) that promote social-emotional development and academic engagement.
Her scholarly publications demonstrate consistent focus on education policy mechanisms, with recent work examining automatic admissions systems, parenting interventions, and minority access in higher education. Research employs rigorous quantitative methods to evaluate policy impacts across diverse student populations.
Honors include:
- Texas A&M Presidential Impact Fellow (2020)
- Chancellor EDGES Fellow (2021)
- Richard Musgrave Prize (2014)
- Greater Texas Foundation Fellowship (2013-2016)
- Mindset Scholar designation
Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, Spencer Foundation, NIH, U.S. Department of Education, and J-PAL. She serves on editorial boards for Economics of Education Review and previously for AERA Open, and has held leadership roles in the American Economic Association's Committee on Minority Groups in Economics.
