Daniel Payares-Montoya is a research associate at the Public Policy Institute of California. His research focuses on the impact of COVID-19 on California’s community colleges, English as a second language, and the relation between labor markets and higher education in California. Before joining PPIC, he worked as a consultant for the World Bank, concentrating on green growth and green finance in developing countries, and as a researcher at the Center for Latin American Studies, University of California Berkeley, focusing on the socio-economic and political impact of globalization and industrialization in the Americas. He has also conducted research on productivity, education, and labor markets for the Private Council on Competitiveness and Proantioquia Foundation in Colombia. He holds a master’s degree in public policy from Universidad de Chile and a master’s degree in development practice from the University of California, Berkeley.

Iwunze Ugo is a research fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, where he focuses on education, from PK–12 to two- and four-year colleges and universities. His research interests include public school finances and governance; student outcomes, with a focus on demographic disparities; and transitions to higher education. He is a former PPIC research associate and currently a PhD candidate in economics at the University of California, Davis, where he has worked as graduate student researcher at the California Education Lab.