An innovative lab pushing research, innovation, and evidence forward.
RISEI is a research lab at Northwestern University advancing rigorous, evidence-based work across technology, workforce, education, and global opportunity. We produce peer-reviewed research, build AI-powered tools, design new curricula and apprenticeship models, serve as evaluation partners on federal and international grants, and translate findings into formats policymakers and practitioners can act on.
Four lines of inquiry, one thesis.
Marginalized populations are systematically under-measured, under-served, and under-represented. Our work produces the evidence — and the measurement infrastructure — to close that gap.
Technology & the Future of Work
How AI changes the calculus of employment for workers already on the margin. Measuring what current exposure frameworks miss, and building an Adaptive Precision Framework for policy under model uncertainty.
Workforce & Disability
Vocational rehabilitation, subminimum wage elimination, and competitive integrated employment — the evidence base for what happens after Section 14(c).
Education & Assessment
How accessibility features in digital assessments shape outcomes for students with disabilities. Process-data methods, transitions, and the economics of inclusive schooling.
Global Inclusion
Longitudinal evaluation of unified sports and inclusive programming across 170+ countries. Where attitudes shift, how high-school completion responds, and why the effects persist.
When you ask four AIs to rate the same 95 occupations, they give four different answers.
The exposure scores that currently drive workforce forecasting and policy design diverge by 77 percentile points across major LLMs. Some occupations flip sign entirely — low-exposure on one model, high-exposure on another.
We propose an Adaptive Precision Framework: continuous recalibration of education, hiring, and workforce policy as exposure estimates evolve — rather than freezing decisions on any single model's judgment.
Read paper & brief →
Long-horizon commitments, built with states.
Two active federal model projects anchor the lab: Virginia's transition from subminimum wage employment, and Maine's multi-agency partnerships for youth with disabilities. Plus four more in the field.
Virginia EPIC: Real pay for real jobs
Eliminating Section 14(c) subminimum wage for workers with disabilities across Virginia through evaluation, education, outreach, and capacity-building — in partnership with DARS and DBVI.
Maine Pathways to Partnerships
Statewide collaborative model connecting vocational rehabilitation, special education, community partners, and employer networks to improve transition outcomes for children and youth with disabilities.
NAEP Process Data & Accessibility
Using process data from NAEP digital assessments to investigate how accessibility features affect mathematics performance for students with disabilities — and what the results imply for test design.
Special Olympics Global Evaluation
Longitudinal evaluation of unified sports and inclusive programming on social inclusion, high-school completion, and community attitudes — across more than 170 countries.
Working papers & policy briefs.
A selection of what's been shipped or is about to ship. The full portfolio is on the publications page.
Directed by Michelle Yin. Built by a distributed team.
Senior advisors from Rochester, Virginia, and Stony Brook. Lead economists across four universities. Postdocs, graduate assistants, and affiliates — research staff who ship papers and policy briefs, not just data.
Federal agencies, international NGOs, state governments, universities.
Federal
- U.S. Department of Education
- U.S. Department of Labor
- Institute of Education Sciences
- Rehabilitation Services Admin.
State & Regional
- Virginia DARS
- Virginia DBVI
- Maine DOE & VR
- State workforce agencies
International
- Special Olympics International
- Inter-American Development Bank
- Chinese University of Hong Kong
Academic
- Northwestern University
- U. of Rochester · Virginia · Stony Brook
- NBER · IZA · J-PAL affiliates
Rigorous research, on a policy timeline.
We partner with agencies, foundations, advocacy organizations, and fellow researchers on evaluation, working papers, and policy briefs. Prospective students and postdocs: we review applications year-round.
Contact the lab →Evanston, IL 60208