Senior Analyst
Research, Assessment, and Planning
emartin@saonet.ucla.edu
Survey Portfolio: The First Destination Survey, The Entering Student Survey
Elizabeth has served as a Senior Analyst on the SAIRO team since 2024. She has a particular interest in surveys and is the lead analyst for both the First Destination Survey and Entering Student Survey. For these surveys, she oversees all aspects of the survey process including instrument design, data collection, marketing, stakeholder engagement, data analysis, and reporting of findings to key campus partners. Throughout her career, Elizabeth has been passionate about using data and evidence to inform institutional practice and policy.
Elizabeth holds both a Ph.D. and M.A. in Higher Education and Organizational Change from UCLA. Her dissertation titled, “College Rankings: What Type of Students Use Them and Who Benefits,” explored the types of students likely to rely on college rankings in their college search process and the extent to which students’ use of rankings relates to key psychosocial outcomes such as sense of belonging. Elizabeth’s dissertation makes use of data from the Higher Education Research Institute, where she was a data analyst from 2019-2024. Her dissertation was inspired by her time at U.S. News & World Report, where she was part of the team responsible for producing the company’s education rankings like the “Best Colleges” ranking. Elizabeth also has a strong interest in education policy and previously served as a research apprentice at the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution. In 2017, she earned an M.S. in Public Policy and Management with highest distinction from Carnegie Mellon University, where she also completed her B.S. in Decision Science. A deep believer in the value of higher education, Elizabeth is especially committed to using data to promote transparency, accountability, and equity across institutions.
