Research Assistants & Administrative Staff

Trey Avery (Email) is a doctoral student in Biobehavioral Sciencess and serves as a graduate research fellow and communications director for NCCF. He also manages the Neurocognition of Language Lab, an EEG labratory at Teachers College. His research interests include the use of neuroimaging methods as an early diagnostic tool and measure of developmental differences in young children from different socioeconomic backgrounds. He is particularly interested in exploring the effects of different early childhood programs on early literacy and language development and attention. He earned a MS in Neuroscience & Education from Teachers College in 2011 and a B.A. in American Cultural Studies from Fairhaven College at Western Washington University in 2006.

Elise Castillo (Email) is Research Assistant to NCCF Co-Director Sharon Lynn Kagan. Prior to joining NCCF, Ms. Castillo taught English for three years in public middle and high schools in Brooklyn, New York. She earned her B.A. in English from Barnard College in 2008 and her M.S. in Teaching from Pace University in 2010. Ms. Castillo is an alumna of Teach For America.

Shibani Khanna (Email) joined NCCF in the summer of 2012 as a Research Assistant. She graduated from The University of Texas at Austin in 2008, and she taught Pre-Kindergarten as a Teach for America corps member at a KIPP public charter school in Houston, Texas. Upon completion of her field experience as a teacher, she pursued a Master’s degree at Brown University in Urban Education Policy, interning at the Rhode Island Department of Education. Shibani’s policy interests include early childhood education and school choice, and she is currently pursuing a doctorate in Education Policy with a specialization in ECE Policy.

Micaela Linder (Email) is the Administrative Associate to NCCF Co-Director Jeanne Brooks-Gunn. She earned a BA from Hampshire College in 2011 in Women and Gender Studies. Prior to joining NCCF, Micaela developed reproductive health self-advocacy pamphlets with imprisoned women in Central California and wrote her undergraduate senior thesis about the research process.


Samara Wallace-Noyola (Email) joined NCCF in September 2004 as Finance Director. Prior to joining NCCF, Ms. Wallace-Noyola was employed at Columbia University for eight years. She holds a Bachelor degree in Business Administration from Metropolitan College of New York, and is currently pursuing a MA degree in fundraising for non-profit administration at Columbia University.