Maria Claudia serves as a nonresident fellow with the Education Futures Lab team at the American Council on Education (ACE). She leads projects and contributes as an author for reports, essays, and other long-form publications intended for external audiences. Her expertise spans domestic and international policies and programs aimed at enhancing access and success in postsecondary education and facilitating the transition from higher education to the workforce. Maria Claudia has spearheaded two of ACE’s signature studies: Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education and Mapping Internationalization on U.S. Campuses. Her research portfolio also encompasses critical areas such as workforce education integration, credit for prior learning, STEM graduate education, and international education.

Maria Claudia’s skill set includes qualitative and quantitative research design and implementation; policy analysis; project leadership and execution; technical report writing; and collaboration with funders, college and university staff, and other stakeholders. Originally from Bogotá, Colombia and having lived in four countries, Maria Claudia brings an intercultural perspective to her work.

Before joining ACE, Maria Claudia worked with the Community College Research Initiatives at the University of Washington and the Office of Community College Research and Leadership at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. In these roles, she published extensively on community college bachelor’s degree policies and programs, transfer policies, and career and technical education.

Her prior roles include policy research at the Institute of Higher Education Policy and consultancy work for Development Services Group, examining the impacts of college aid programs. As director of student support at Lumni, a company that provides financial aid to students in Latin America through Income Share Agreements, she streamlined the admissions programs and launched Lumni Academy, a tutoring and mentoring platform aimed at easing students’ transition to the workforce.

In addition to her role at ACE, Maria Claudia has served as an adjunct faculty member at George Mason University, where she taught the “Community College” course. Her research has been featured in the Journal of Education Finance, the Journal of Vocational Education & Training, New Directions for Community Colleges, and New Directions for Institutional Research. She has also been quoted in media outlets like Inside Higher Ed, Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, and University World News.

Maria Claudia holds a PhD in education policy, organization, and leadership with a focus on higher education from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, a master’s degree in international education policy analysis from Stanford University, and a master’s degree in clinical psychology and bachelor’s degree in psychology from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.