Professor Kathleen Morris is the founder of the “We the Cities” Project and a Resident Scholar at the U.C. Berkeley Institute for Governmental Studies (Berkeley IGS). “We the Cities” explores whether colleges and universities and foundations can help support local democracy and government by helping to construct educational bridges from communities into local government. The basic idea is to create a kind of “trade school” for democracy, law, and government, then actively recruit, educate, and prepare bright, community-minded constituents up and down...
Sarah Novicoff is a research fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California whose work focuses on K–12 education. Her research uses mixed methods to understand how state policy can improve the educational experiences of students, with a specific focus on English Learners and early literacy. Her work has been published in the American Educational Research Journal and Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, among other journals. She previously worked as a 6th grade social studies teacher in Los Angeles. She holds a PhD in educational policy and economics of education from Stanford...
Eric Assan is a research associate at the PPIC Higher Education Center, where he researches PK–12 and higher education policy. His work focuses on educational equity, dual enrollment, college and career pathways, the impacts of COVID-19, and digital transformation to improve California’s education system. Prior to joining PPIC, he was a graduate teaching assistant at the Berkeley School of Education. He holds a BS in social sciences education from the University of Cape Coast (Ghana), an MEd in educational administration from Huzhou University (China), and an MA in education from the...
Caroline Danielson is vice president of research and senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California. Her research focuses on multiple dimensions of the social safety net, including its role in mitigating poverty, program access and enrollment, and the integration and governance of programs. Her work has been published in numerous academic journals, including the Journal of Policy Analysis and the Social Service Review. Before coming to PPIC, she was a principal analyst at the University of California’s Welfare Policy Research Project and a faculty member in the Department of...
Annalise Blum is a research fellow at the PPIC Water Policy Center. She is a hydrologist and environmental engineer with expertise in water, climate, and national security policy. She previously served as deputy assistant secretary for water and science at the US Department of the Interior and as senior advisor for climate policy at the US Department of Defense. Her research has focused on a range of topics, including trends in flood and droughts, climate change impacts on ecosystems, and access to safe drinking water. She has worked or served as a fellow at the National Academy of...
Chicago Magazine's January 2026 issue featured IGS Resident Scholar and law professor Kathleen Morris in a deep-dive on how cities are increasingly using affirmative litigation as a tool to hold corporations and the federal government accountable. The article traces the origins of the movement to 2006, when San Francisco became the first city in the nation to form a dedicated affirmative litigation unit, with Morris at its helm. Her work pioneering that model — which has since spread to dozens of cities nationwide — offers important context for understanding how local governments are...
Kyle Greenspan is a research associate with the PPIC Water Policy Center, where he focuses on topics ranging from groundwater to carbon sequestration. Previously he worked as a PPIC summer intern for the water center. Prior to joining PPIC, he interned with the United States Forest Service Pacific Northwest and Southwest regional offices and conducted disease ecology research as an undergraduate student researcher. He holds a BA in environment, economics, and politics from Pitzer College.
Mark Baldassare is a nonresident scholar at Carnegie California. He is also a senior fellow at the Bedrosian Center on Governance in the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy at USC. He is statewide survey director and the Miller Chair in public policy at the Public Policy Institute ofCalifornia. For the previous 15 years, he also served as president and CEO of PPIC. Prior to that, he served as PPIC’s director of research and senior fellow. He is a leading expert on public opinion and survey methodology, and has directed the PPIC Statewide Survey since its founding in 1998. He is an...
Brett Guinan is a research associate at the Public Policy Institute of California, where she focuses on K–12 education policy. Prior to joining PPIC, she was a research data analyst at the California Department of Social Services. She has conducted independent research at the UC Center Sacramento and worked as a research apprentice for the political science department at the University of California, San Diego. She holds a BS in political science and data analytics from UC San Diego.
