Monica Bhatt

Monica P. Bhatt is the Senior Research Director for the University of Chicago Crime Lab and Education Lab. In this role, Dr. Bhatt oversees a portfolio of over a dozen large-scale randomized controlled trials related to improving academic, behavioral, and mental health outcomes for Chicagoans. Her current work focuses on leading the Personalized Learning Initiative, understanding how we can scale the benefits of high-impact tutoring so that more students can benefit. She is the principal investigator on a number of high-profile studies, including individualized instructional interventions like high-dosage tutoring; alleviating mental health for young women; and READI Chicago, an initiative to reduce gun violence involvement among those at highest risk.

Prior to coming to the Crime Lab, she worked as a researcher at the American Institutes for Research where she led projects related to college access and retention, teacher quality, school finance, and school accountability policy. Her academic interests include using data to drive equitable resource allocation and understanding the effects of systemic approaches to reduce disparities in educational attainment and achievement and violence involvement among those who might benefit most. She is a former Fulbright Scholar and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in Education Policy and an M.P.P. and B.A. in Public Policy from Vanderbilt University.