Staff
Rodney Andrews, PhD, Director
Leigh Hausman, Technology
Angelica Ware Herrera, PhD, Research
Janie Jury, Administration
Zhixiang (Mark) Lu, Data Management
Nidhi Mehrotra, PhD, Research
Katie Patterson, Communications
Priyanka Singh, PhD, Evaluation Services
Graduate Research Assistants
Rodney Andrews, PhD, Director
Phone: (972) 883-2548 | rodney.j.andrews@utdallas.edu | CV
Rodney Andrews is the director of Texas Schools Project and The University of Texas at Dallas Education Research Center. As such, Rodney leads the Texas Schools Project and UT Dallas Education Research Center teams in their work to conduct independent research to benefit education in Texas.
In addition to his responsibilities as director, Rodney is also a senior researcher with Texas Schools Project where he collaborates with principal investigators, participates in the federally-funded National Center for the Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER), and performs independent research with data housed at the UT Dallas Education Research Center. He is also an assistant professor of economics at the UT Dallas School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences.
Rodney’s areas of expertise include economics of education, labor economics, public finance, and applied microeconometrics.
Rodney received his doctorate degree in economics from the University of Michigan.
Leigh Hausman, Technology
Phone: (972) 883-6410 | lhausman@utdallas.edu
Leigh Hausman is the computer systems technologist for Texas Schools Project.
Her primary responsibilities include managing the computing and security infrastructure for Texas Schools Project, including an 8-node Cray CX-1 compute cluster and more than four terabytes of storage.
Prior to joining Texas Schools Project in 2008, Leigh spent ten years managing computer systems for other academic institutions, including building a 100+ node compute cluster for Texas A&M University in Qatar.
Angelica Ware Herrera, PhD, Research
Phone: (512) 852-7680 | angelica.herrera@utdallas.edu
Angelica Ware Herrera is a research scientist at the Austin office of Texas Schools Project. Her primary responsibilities include conducting quantitative and qualitative research on several statewide and national educational initiatives using basic and advanced methods with cross-sectional and longitudinal databases.
Prior to joining Texas Schools Project, Angelica worked for the Austin Independent School District as an evaluation analyst. At AISD, she was responsible for the development of evaluation designs, data collection and analysis, and reporting evaluation results, with a key focus on bilingual educational programs and other services offered to English language learning students. She also spent several years in New York, conducting research for organizations such as the National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University and Sesame Workshop.
Angelica received her doctorate degree in developmental psychology from City University of New York.
Janie Jury, Administration
Phone: (972) 883-2555 | jjury@utdallas.edu
Janie Jury has been the administrative services officer for Texas Schools Project since 2001.
In this position she manages the office affairs of the center including account management, documentation, and reconciliation.
Janie has been with UT Dallas for 15 years, previously working in a variety of departments including the Graduate Dean’s Office and the School of Human Development.
A native of Pennsylvania where she worked in the music field, Janie moved to Dallas in 1994. She holds a bachelor's degree in music from Seton Hill College.
Zhixiang (Mark) Lu, Data Management
Phone: (972) 883-5478 | zxl063000@utdallas.edu
Zhixiang Lu leads the data team at Texas Schools Project.
As such, he is responsible for downloading data and managing data organization, translation, and verification.
Zhixiang joined Texas Schools Project in 2006 as a research assistant while he was working on his master’s degree in geospatial information science at The University of Texas at Dallas, which he received in August 2008.
He also holds a master’s degree in computer science from Prairie View A&M University.
Nidhi Mehrotra, PhD, Research
Phone: (972) 883-6419 | nidhi.mehrotra@utdallas.edu
Nidhi Mehrotra serves as an associate director with Texas Schools Project.
Under this role, she is responsible for the management of data access policies and protocol, research support, and FERPA compliance. Additionally, she is the UT Dallas Education Research Center liaison with the Joint Advisory Board for UTD-ERC research projects.
Prior to joining Texas Schools Project in 2004, Nidhi taught graduate sociology courses at Oklahoma State University and also conducted research at OSU involving confidential data and longitudinal analysis.
She received her doctorate degree in 1999 from the University of Chicago in economics of education.
A native of India, Nidhi received her master's degree in economics from Delhi School of Economics and then, upon completion of her master’s program, worked for Eklavya, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving children’s education in India.
Katie Patterson, Communications
Phone: (972) 883-6424 | katie.patterson@utdallas.edu
Katie Patterson serves as communications coordinator for Texas Schools Project.
In this capacity, Katie is responsible for the organization’s external communications including website, e-newsletter, news releases, and collateral pieces.
Prior to joining Texas Schools Project, Katie spent 19 years in marketing for a national franchisor managing brand identity, e-mail strategy, collateral development, and more.
Katie holds a bachelor's degree in advertising from The University of Texas at Austin.
Priyanka Singh, PhD, Evaluation Services
Phone: (972) 883-5428 | pxs031100@utdallas.edu
Priyanka Singh is a research scientist with the Evaluation Services group at Texas Schools Project. In this role, she conducts research-based program evaluations for school districts, education organizations, foundations, and the business community.
Prior to joining Texas Schools Project, Priyanka worked as a senior evaluation specialist with the Dallas Independent School District (DISD), leading their College and Career Readiness program evaluation.
Additionally, she was the lead evaluator for DISD of project Destination Graduation, a project managed by United Way, and also worked on the evaluation of the Thriving Mind project, managed by Big Thought and funded by the Wallace Foundation. The Thriving Mind project focused on enriching the cultural capital of students in DISD schools and stimulating creativity and learning in students.
In addition to her work with DISD, Priyanka has been a part-time lecturer at UT Dallas, teaching several courses in microeconomics and labor economics.
Priyanka earned both her doctorate degree in economics and master’s degree in applied economics from The University of Texas at Dallas. She also holds a master’s degree in corporate management.
Graduate Research Assistants
- Nikhil Jha
- Michael Latham
- Jing Li
- Scott Lingo
- Di Miao
- Oksana Zhuk
Page last updated on September 7, 2011.
