Research Team
Michelle Van Noy (Principal Investigator) 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.
Marilyn Barger (Co-Principal Investigator), is Director of FLATE, the Florida Advanced Technological Education Center of Excellence, previously funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and currently housed by FloridaMakes, the NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Center in Florida. FLATE’s mission is to support manufacturing workforce education in K-12, post-secondary and 2-year college programs with best practices in outreach and recruitment, curriculum development and reforms and professional development.
Dr. Barger will coordinate the project Advisory Board and work directly with college partner sites. She will also lead the dissemination efforts. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience about NSF and the ATE ATE projects and Centers to this research.
Dr. Barger earned her Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (Environmental) from the University of South Florida, where her research focused on membrane separation science and technologies for water purification. Dr. Barger serves on several national panels and advisory boards for technical programs, curriculum and workforce initiatives, including the National Association of Manufacturers Educators‘ Council. She is a Fellow of the American Society of Engineering Education, a member of Tau Beta Pi and Epsilon Pi Tau honor societies. She is a charter member of both the National Academy and the University of South Florida Academy of Inventors. Barger holds a licensed patent and is a licensed Professional Engineer in Florida.
William (Bill) Mabe (Co-Principal Investigator) has nearly 20 years of experience in using longitudinal administrative data to study the employment and economic effects of education and workforce development policies and programs. Much of his work has focused on evaluating the effectiveness policy initiatives and programs that support community colleges and the public workforce system. To deliver the results of his analyses, Bill has authored numerous studies and built practical tools for data visualization.
Andrew Weaver (Co-Principal Investigator), is an Assistant Professor in the School of Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research focuses on the impact of institutions on labor market outcomes, workforce-related public policy issues, and topics linking employment issues with economic productivity and growth. His current research measures industry skill demands and explores whether skill gaps exist in the American economy. He has conducted three nationally representative skill surveys in the manufacturing, computer/IT, and healthcare sectors. He will be conducting four regional surveys of manufacturers for the NSF Hidden Innovation Infrastructure project. Weaver earned his PhD at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Prior to academia, Weaver was Vice President at NCB Capital Impact.