Diana Mercado-Garcia completed her doctorate at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education in 2021. She employs quantitative and qualitative methods to explore various topics in education policy, such as the postsecondary transitions of underserved students and college interventions for English Learners. While at Stanford, Diana was an Institute of Education Sciences (IES) fellow as well as a recipient of Stanford’s DARE fellowship. She was affiliated with Understanding Language and the Center for Education Policy Analysis. Additionally, she conducted a years-long research-practice partnership with San Francisco Unified School District and co-authored a book, Preparing English Learners for College and Career. Prior to her doctoral studies, Diana worked at the American Institutes for Research (AIR) for four years. She received an MA in Sociology from Stanford and her BA in Sociology and Spanish Linguistics from UC Berkeley. Currently, Diana is a University of California Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow at UC San Diego.