Liz Farley-Ripple
Liz co-directs the Center for Research Use in Education, is Professor of Education at UD’s School of Education, and is the Director of the Partnership for Public Education. She holds a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Pennsylvania and has more than 20 years of experience in education research, where she has worked collaboratively with educators, policymakers, and scholars to address system-wide capacity for educational improvement and equity. She has worked on a range of educational and social policy issues, including research use at all levels of the system, administrator mobility, school and teachers’ use of data, teacher quality and effects, and issues of equity in a variety of student outcomes. She served as co-PI on the Research4Schools project and PI of CREATEd, and works with colleagues across multiple institutions in two projects funded by NSF and the Wallace Foundation. She can be reached at enfr@udel.edu.
Henry May
Henry May, Ph.D. is the director of the Center for Research in Education and Social Policy (CRESP) and associate professor in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Delaware. He was a co-PI of an IES-funded Research for Schools project which assessed research utilization in schools. Prior to joining the UD faculty in 2012, Dr. May spent 14 years as a policy researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, including 10 years as a senior researcher and statistician at the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE). He has served as principal investigator or co-PI on several large-scale studies in educational settings, many of which involved mixed-methods randomized field trials. As a methodologist, Dr. May specializes in statistical and mixed methods for evaluating the impacts of social interventions and policies. For the past 12 years, Dr. May has taught advanced statistics courses to graduate students at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Delaware. He can be reached at hmay@udel.edu.
Carolyn Hammerschmidt
Carolyn comes to CREATEd with 10 years of experience in education, having served as a public school teacher, school administrator, and now as a researcher and program evaluator at the Center for Research in Education and Social Policy at the University of Delaware. Carolyn also brings an extensive past in volunteering in her local community, including leading advocacy efforts for her local public schools, serving as a founding board member for an education foundation, and serving as the president of her local elementary school PTA. Prior to joining CREATEd, Carolyn supported the work of two University of Delaware centers: the Delaware Academy for School Leadership (DASL) and the Partnership for Public Education (PPE). Carolyn holds a doctoral degree in educational leadership from the University of Delaware, a Certificate in Advanced Studies in Educational Administration from SUNY Brockport, a Graduate Certificate in Instructional Design from University of Wisconsin-Stout, and a Masters of Arts in Music Education from The Ohio State University. She can be reached at cfhammer@udel.edu.
Katie Philp
Katie Philp, Ed.D., M.P.H., serves as the Director of the Education Knowledge Broker Network at the University of Delaware, where she creates opportunities for professional learning to promote evidence use and mobilization. Katie is an educator, researcher, and non-profit leader with a diverse background in teaching and learning. She has led program design, implementation, and evaluation efforts in preK-20 classrooms and informal learning spaces. Her scholarly work focuses on afterschool programs and community-based learning, including applications of social and behavioral theory to youth development settings. Additionally, Katie has spent more than ten years working with non-profit organizations in her community, having secured millions in funding for local youth initiatives in Orlando, FL. She serves on several non-profit boards and advises grassroots coalitions dedicated to youth and family development.
Sam Van Horne
Sam Van Horne, Ph.D., is a data scientist in the Center for Research in Education & Social Policy at the University of Delaware. Prior to joining CRESP, Dr. Van Horne worked in healthcare, where he conducted research and program evaluation about initiatives designed to support clinician wellbeing. Before his work in healthcare, Dr. Van Horne worked in higher education and conducted research about the effectiveness of educational technologies and interventions that support college student outcomes. He can be reached at vanhorne@udel.edu.
Deborah Amsden Micklos
Debbie manages projects at CRUE, first an IES-funded research study on research utilization and now, the CREATEd project. She has 15 years of experience managing education related research projects and 10 years translating and disseminating research with the goal of helping individuals and families improve their quality of life. Prior to joining CRUE, Debbie was the Project Leader of Early Childhood Initiatives at the University of Delaware’s Center for Disabilities Studies where she developed a portfolio of grant-funded projects. She also served as a consultant to the Delaware Department of Education supporting Family and Consumer Sciences teachers to develop curriculum standards for career pathways. She began her career as a family and consumer sciences teacher in both middle and high school programs. She holds a master’s degree in Life Span Development from the University of Delaware and a B.S. in family and consumer sciences from Douglass College, Rutgers University. She can be reached at irmc@udel.edu.
E. Carly Hill
Carly is a Research Associate II in the School of Education at both the Center for Research in Education and Social Policy (CRESP) and the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences (HDFS). Carly serves the Center for Research Use in Education (CRUE) as the Communications Manager, playing a role in helping to shape the Center’s online presence and knowledge dissemination strategies. Her work for the Center underscores her dedication to advancing education and driving positive change through thoughtful communication, innovation, and research support. In addition, she also has years of experience supporting evaluation efforts for innovative educational programs including the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) program and the Special Education Administrative Leadership (SEAL) program. Carly earned a B.S. in Health Science from the University of Delaware and is currently a student in the Master’s in Social Work program. Carly can be reached at ehill@udel.edu.
Lien Vu
Lien Vu is the Graduate Assistant on the CREATEd team and a doctoral student in the Educational Statistics and Research Methods program. She earned her M.S. in Education from Johns Hopkins University and her B.A. in Economics and Health & Society from the University of Rochester. Her research interests span mathematics literacy, educational neuroscience, cognitive development, program evaluation, and methodological approaches that investigate the core mechanisms of learning to inform effective instructional design. With over 18 years of experience as an instructor and owner of a Kumon center, Lien brings a practitioner’s insight to her academic work, bridging theory and application in mathematics education through an interdisciplinary lens to understanding and improving educational outcomes. Before her career in education, she spent a decade in the financial sector, contributing analytical expertise at institutions such as the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Advanta Corporation. She can be reached at lienvu@udel.edu.