Olga Rodriguez is director of the PPIC Higher Education Center and a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, where she holds the Thomas and Marilyn Sutton Chair in Higher Education Policy. As center director, she works with a team of researchers to identify programs and policies to help make the state’s higher education system more successful, equitable, and sustainable. Her own research focuses on college access and success among underserved students. Her recent work has examined statewide reforms to developmental education, English as a second language, dual enrollment, and assessment and placement systems in California’s community colleges. Before joining PPIC, she was a postdoctoral research associate at the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University. She holds a BA in economics/mathematics and Spanish from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an MA and PhD in economics and education from Columbia University.

Rachel Yang Zhou is a research fellow at the PPIC Higher Education Center. Her research lies at the intersection of higher education and labor economics, with a focus on financial aid, community colleges, and the college-to-workforce transition. Before joining PPIC, she was a research data specialist at the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, a postdoctoral scholar at the Golub Capital Social Impact Lab at Stanford University, and a quantitative researcher at the Community College Research Center. She holds a PhD in economics and education from Columbia University and a master’s degree in economics from Duke University.