The Data Designer role gives Mary Ann the opportunity to blend her interests in creative problem solving, collaborative team building, and building a community of practice with her knowledge of data systems, data governance, data policy, and data design. 

Prior to working at the Lab, Mary Ann spent 17 years as a specialist in the Institutional Research Office at Monroe Community College in Rochester, N.Y. Monroe was the first college in the nation to deliberately collect data on students’ marital and parental status, and Mary Ann was the first researcher to analyze that data. The result was a seminal study that demonstrated that campus-based child care helps student-parents with young children persist in and graduate from college. Following that and other studies on Monroe student-parents, Mary Ann helped Monroe apply for and receive the Education Design Lab’s Single Moms Success grant in 2019.

She is excited to join the Lab because she worked closely with it for four years on the Single Moms Success initiative. That experience allowed her to witness the transformational power of human-centered design.

HOMETOWN: Neptune, New Jersey

BACHELOR’S: Psychology, SUNY Potsdam

MASTER’S: Human Development and Family Studies, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

DOCTORATE: Human Development and Family Studies, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

FAVORITE QUOTE: “There will be a time when we must choose between what is easy and what is right”.  – Albus Dumbledore

WHEN I’M NOT AT WORK I’M… spending time with my husband and 8-year-old son.