AIR Experts Available to Discuss Education, Health Issues Raised in President Obama’s “State of the Union” Address

Washington, D.C. – Experts with the American Institutes for Research (AIR) are available to offer insights on issues raised by President Barack Obama during his State of the Union address, including his call to use education to better prepare Americans for the workplace.

AIR experts available to discuss topics raised by the President include:

• College Access and Affordability – Vice President Mark Schneider, former commissioner of the federal National Center for Education Statistics, is leading efforts to help states make more data about colleges available to the public. He leads AIR’s College Measures, which makes information about colleges and the earning power of their graduates available free at collegemeasures.org.
• Health Care – Marilyn Moon, director of AIR’s Center on Aging, is a nationally recognized economist and expert on aging, consumer health issues, and health care finance. She served as a public trustee for the Social Security and Medicare trust funds.
• Education and Technology – Tracy Gray, a nationally recognized expert in education and technology implementation, has led numerous projects in the United States and internationally examining technology’s impacts on educational achievement. She writes and lectures on integrating emerging technologies into the classroom and after-school programs.
• Inequality and Upward Mobility – Peter Cookson directs the Equity Project at AIR. His knowledge of schools and education comes from a lifetime of teaching, researching, and working to improve education for all children. He is the author or co-author of more than 15 books, including Class Rules: Exposing Inequity in America's High Schools (2013), and Sacred Trust: A Children’s Education Bill of Rights (2011).
• Early Childhood Development – Susan Muenchow has extensive experience in research and technical assistance in child development, with a special focus on state and local initiatives related to early learning and care. She was co-lead writer of Dream BIG for Our Youngest Children, an analysis of access in California to early learning and care programs, standards for quality and the status of the state's early learning and care- subsidy policies. 

In addition, Muenchow and other AIR experts offer insights into what to look for in a high quality preschool.

News media wishing to speak with an AIR expert should contact Larry McQuillan by calling (202) 403-5119.

About AIR
Established in 1946, with headquarters in Washington, D.C., the American Institutes for Research (AIR) is a nonpartisan not-for-profit organization that conducts behavioral and social science research and delivers technical assistance both domestically and internationally in the areas of health, education and workforce productivity. For more information, visit www.air.org.