We welcome our 2025 Summer Research Fellows

The Project on Workforce welcomes Ryan Burton, Hilary Greenberg, Alexis Lassiter, and Nathania Silalahi as summer research fellows. The group will explore and document activities at healthcare career and technical high schools and hospitals as part of a new Bloomberg Philanthropies initiative.

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Ryan Burton

Ryan Burton is a Summer Research Fellow at the Harvard Project on Workforce and recently graduated from the Doctor of Education Leadership (Ed.L.D.) program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. For his doctoral capstone, he led the development of a career advising strategy at the Denver Scholarship Foundation to help better prepare Denver Public School students and alumni for professional success. 

Ryan decided to have a career in education after completing a year of service at an urban middle school through City Year Boston. During that year, he experienced the positive impact that nonprofit and community organizations can have in addressing the opportunity gaps that affect classroom performance. Before starting his doctorate, Ryan served as the Success Program Director at Bottom Line, a college access and success organization that supports over 2,000 first-generation students across Massachusetts. Before Bottom Line, Ryan worked in philanthropy and nonprofit leadership in Colorado. Ryan received his bachelor’s degree in English and political science from the University of Kansas and a Master of Social Work degree from Washington University in St. Louis.

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Hilary Greenberg

Hilary Greenberg is a recent graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School and MIT Sloan School of Management, where she earned a Master in Public Administration and MBA as a dual-degree candidate. While in graduate school, Hilary served as a Transition Term Fellow in Philadelphia, PA, with the Taubman Center for State and Local Government and was affiliated with the MIT Institute for Work and Employment Research, serving as a Teaching Assistant for People and Profits: Shaping the Future of Work. She also worked as an Investment Associate at two impact investing firms, Kapor Capital and Impact Engine. Prior to graduate school, Hilary served as a researcher and program manager at two nonprofit research organizations in Washington, DC: the Aspen Institute Future of Work Initiative and the Financing the Future Initiative at Jobs for the Future (JFF). Her work focused on the future of work and education finance reform, with an emphasis on advancing economic opportunity for low-income and historically marginalized communities in the U.S. Hilary was raised in the Boston area and earned her undergraduate degree in Public Policy Studies from Duke University.

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Alexis Lassiter

Alexis Lassiter is a recent graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she earned her Master’s in Education Policy and Analysis. Originally from Charlotte, NC, she holds a B.S. in Economics from Winston-Salem State University #HBCUpride. At HGSE, she was awarded the Leadership in Education Fellowship, served as an Equity & Inclusion Fellow, and concluded her program receiving the Intellectual Contribution Award.

She previously held roles at Teach For America and Leadership for Educational Equity, working across program strategy, leadership development, and public policy. Her work focuses on the intersection of policy, identity, and structural inequality. Drawing on her economics training and experience in the education and nonprofit sectors, she uses data to interrogate how narratives of merit, deservingness, and belonging shape institutional outcomes. Alexis is currently preparing to apply to Ph.D. programs in economic sociology and organizational theory.

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Nathania Silalahi

Nathania (Thania) Silalahi recently graduated with a Master’s in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School. Raised in Jakarta, she is committed to advancing equity through inclusive policies and programs in education and labor, particularly in the context of developing countries. Prior to graduate school, Thania worked in the Special Staff Office of the Indonesian Ministry of Education, Culture, Research & Technology, where she focused on higher education reform and built university-industry linkages to foster job-ready graduates. As a Healthcare CTE Summer Fellow, she is excited to explore how education and healthcare systems can align to expand career pathways. Thania also brings research experience from internships at J-PAL and the United Nations, and holds a BA in Philosophy, Politics & Economics from the University of Oxford.