About Us

Matthew Holsapple, Ph.D.

Senior Director of Research

Matthew Holsapple joined the National Student Clearinghouse in 2024 as the Senior Director of Research. He leads the Research Center’s operations, directs the development and dissemination of research publications, and facilitates the work of the research team to deliver meaningful insights for the education community. His career has focused on leveraging data and research to support improvements in policy and practice that advance learner success. Before joining the Clearinghouse, Holsapple led the data and research function at iMentor, one of the largest youth mentoring organizations in the country. He also worked in philanthropy at the Spencer Foundation, where he led the program supporting Research-Practice Partnerships in education. Additionally, he was part of the University of Chicago’s Consortium on School Research, leading projects on college readiness, access, and success, and has taught courses in statistics, data use, and education policy at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University. Holsapple holds a Ph.D. in Higher Education and master’s degree in Education Research Methods from the University of Michigan, as well as a master’s and bachelor’s degree from Purdue University.

Benjamin Berg

Research Analyst

Benjamin Berg is a Research Analyst with the National Student Clearinghouse’s Research Center.  At the Clearinghouse, he focuses on preparing and analyzing data for research publications and has worked on the Undergraduate Degree Earners and Yearly Success and Progress publications. Before joining the Clearinghouse, he worked at secondary and postsecondary institutions in roles including teaching chemistry and academic advising. Berg’s degrees include a B.A. in Chemistry from Franklin and Marshall College, an M.A. in Teaching from University of Delaware, an M.S. in Higher Education, and a graduate certificate in data science from American University.

Jennifer Causey

Senior Research Associate

Jennifer Causey, Senior Research Associate, leads the production of comprehensive publications on postsecondary outcomes including, but not limited to High School Benchmarks, Current Term Enrollment Estimates, and Some College, No Credential. Prior to joining the Clearinghouse, she spent over six years in Institutional Research at universities in the Greater New York and Washington D.C. metro areas analyzing enrollment and completion trends, while reporting statistics externally to Princeton Review and U.S. News World Report. Causey earned an M.A. in Developmental Psychology from The City University of New York – Graduate Center and a B.A. in Psychology from Gettysburg College.

Jeremy Cohen, Ph.D.

Research Associate

Jeremy Cohen is a Research Associate at the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. At the Clearinghouse, he has led efforts to develop student socioeconomic indicators through the creation of a neighborhood income measure. This measure captures the relative income levels of the areas where students lived before entering college. It allows researchers to use Clearinghouse data to track student mobility and pathways by socioeconomic status for the first time. Cohen has also contributed to the Research Center’s national reporting on Some College, No Credential individuals and their re-engagement with higher education, and worked on postsecondary enrollment, persistence and retention, and transfer. His research interests include socioeconomic differences in higher education pathways, the experiences of first-generation students, career outcomes, and students’ higher education funding strategies.

Cohen has been with the Clearinghouse since 2022. He holds a PhD in sociology from Princeton University along with bachelor’s degrees in economics and international relations from American University. 

Mohamed Ramadan Ibrahim

Research Analyst

Mohamed Ramadan Ibrahim is a research analyst with expertise in quantitative research and statistical modeling. He has published several of the Clearinghouse national reports, including the Undergraduate Degree Earners, Persistence and Retention, and the Postsecondary Data Partnership (PDP) Insights reports. At the Clearinghouse, Ibrahim has streamlined reporting by transitioning workflows from SAS to R and applying advanced statistical methods, such as logistic regression and regularized regression. He holds a Master’s in Education Policy Analysis from Harvard University.

Sarah Karamarkovich, Ph.D.

Research Associate

Sarah Karamarkovich joined the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center in May 2022 as a Research Associate. She led the restructuring of the transfer reports and worked with external partners to expand the Tracking Transfer series. This work provides insights into student mobility, with a focus on community college students pathways to bachelor’s attainment. Karamarkovich has also worked on a variety of projects that focus on enrollments, early postsecondary outcomes, and completion.

Prior to joining the Clearinghouse, Karamarkovich was an educational data analyst for Petersburg City Public Schools in Virginia, where she benchmarked key performance indicators in student outcomes, resource allocation, and operational efficiency to support data-based decisions. She earned her doctorate in educational psychology and masters in statistics from North Carolina State University. Karamarkovich also holds bachelor’s degrees in psychology and mathematics from Longwood University.

Hee Sun Kim, Ph.D.

Senior Research Associate

Hee Sun Kim is Senior Research Associate and has been with the Clearinghouse since 2021. Kim leads and contributes to the design and implementation of the Research Center’s publications by performing analytic and programming work, communicating research findings to diverse audiences, supervising junior analysts, as well as facilitating research collaborations. Kim has extensive work experience as an administrator and researcher in higher education institutions and has been involved in various research projects examining college student learning, success and outcomes and international dimensions of higher education. Kim holds a Ph.D. in Higher Education from University of Michigan; an M.A. in International Education Development from Teachers College, Columbia University; and a B.A. in English Literature from Yonsei University, South Korea. 

Bea Randolph

Research Associate

Bea Randolph is a Research Analyst who studies pathways through postsecondary education to empower stakeholders to make informed decisions that improve student outcomes. Her recent publications include Some College, No Credential and Undergraduate Degree Earners.

Randolph has been with the Clearinghouse since 2022. She holds a bachelor’s degree in STEM education from the University of Kentucky and a master’s in higher education from the University of Maryland, College Park.