Our Team.

Our team has a long history of successful collaboration with each other and with state, district and school partners. Professor Daphna Oyserman (University of Southern California, USC), Pathways developer, has received numerous academic honors for her advancement of knowledge about how identity and culture shape our interpretations. She conceptualized the theoretical framework and its translation to the Pathways intervention, publishing about 200 academic papers including papers coauthored with members of our team. She and Dr. Nicholas Sorensen (Summitlab) collaborated to refine a teacher-led, teacher-trained, scalable and sustainable version of Pathways. Over the past 8 years they have received prestigious grants from the U.S. Department of Education to do just that. Dr. Sorensen’s work focuses on leveraging psychological science to develop and test preventive interventions in partnership with schools across the country. Samantha Neiman (American Institutes for Research, AIR) has 15 years of experience at AIR leading large-scale data collection and research projects that address AIR’s mission to generate and use evidence that contributes to a better, more equitable world. Since 2015, Ms. Neiman has worked closely with the Nevada Department of Education’s Office for a Safe and Respectful Learning Environment to administer their school climate survey, provide reports and tools to summarize students’ perceptions of their learning environments, and to help the state use student voice for equitable decision making.

Over the coming years, we look forward to inviting teachers who demonstrate high-quality Pathways implementation to join our team as Pathways teacher trainers. Together, with the support of the Nevada Department of Education, we will expand access to and sustain use of Pathways in Nevada schools.