Center Staff
Paul Taylor, Director
Taylor also serves as Executive Vice President of the Pew Research Center, the parent organization of the Pew Hispanic Center and six other projects that provide information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. He has also had careers as a newspaper reporter and a public interest advocate. From 1996 through 2003, he served as president and board chairman of the Alliance for Better Campaigns. Before that, he was a journalist for 25 years, the last 14 at The Washington Post, where he covered national politics and served as a foreign correspondent.
Rakesh Kochhar, Associate Director for Research
Kochhar has over 20 years of research experience in the areas of labor economics and price and wage measurement and analysis. Prior to joining the Pew Hispanic Center, he was Senior Economist at Joel Popkin and Company, where he served as a consultant to government agencies, private firms, international agencies, and labor unions. Kochhar is a past President of the Society of Government Economists. His doctoral thesis at Brown University focused on the theory of labor migration.
Mark Hugo Lopez, Associate Director
Prior to joining the Pew Hispanic Center, Lopez was Research Director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) as well as a Research Assistant Professor at the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland. His areas of expertise include labor economics, civic engagement, voting behavior and the economics of education. He received his Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University.
Richard Fry, Ph.D., Senior Research Associate
Fry has recognized expertise in the analysis of U.S. education and demographic data sets and has published more than 35 articles and monographs on the characteristics of U.S. racial, ethnic and immigrant populations. Before joining the Pew Hispanic Center in 2001, he was a senior economist at the Educational Testing Service (ETS).
Jeffrey S. Passel, Senior Demographer
A nationally known expert on immigration to the United States and the demography racial and ethnic groups, Passel formerly served as principal research associate at the Urban Institute's Labor, Human Services and Population Center. Passel has authored numerous studies on immigrant populations in America, focusing on such topics as undocumented immigration, the economic and fiscal impact of the foreign born, and the impact of welfare reform on immigrant populations.
Gretchen Livingston, Ph.D., Senior Researcher
Livingston's primary areas of interest include immigrant adaptation, gender, social networks and family structure. She earned her Ph.D. in Demography and Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania, and prior to joining the Pew Hispanic Center she was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Princeton University Office of Population Research.
Gabriel Velasco, Research Analyst
Originally from Lima, Peru, Velasco completed a masters degree in Public Administration, with a concentration in Survey Methodology, from the University of Illinois in 2009. While pursuing his degree, he worked as a research assistant for the Survey Lab at the University of Chicago and as a bilingual interviewer for the National Opinion Research Center. Previous jobs in Peru include conducting quantitative and qualitative research in rural areas of Peru and working for the Peruvian Ministry of Foreign Relations as a human development assistant.
Daniel Dockterman, Research Assistant
Originally from Arlington, VA, Dockterman received a B.A. in psychology and economics from the University of Virginia. While an undergraduate, he also spent time studying abroad in Valencia, Spain. Before joining the Center, he taught middle school math in Brooklyn, New York. He is interested in educational research.
C. Soledad Espinoza, Intern
Espinoza is a doctoral candidate in Johns Hopkins University's Department of Sociology, Program on Social Inequality. She previously worked in the non-profit and public sectors in New York City and northern California with a focus on economic development, urban revitalization, and public policy. She holds an undergraduate degree from the University of California, at Berkeley in social welfare and psychology and a master's degree from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School in public affairs and urban and regional planning.
Rebecca Hinze-Pifer, Intern
Hinze-Pifer is a Masters of Public Policy candidate at The George Washington University, concentrating in program evaluation and education policy. She earned her undergraduate degree in astrophysics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and was a teacher before beginning her graduate studies.
Mary Seaborn, Administrative Manager
Seaborn manages office administration functions for the Pew Hispanic Center. Her career experience includes office management and administration in a variety of professional settings, including environmental consulting, telecommunications and architectural firms.
Other Bios
Pew Hispanic Center is one of seven projects that comprise the Pew Research Center (PRC). Research publications on this website may reflect collaboration and co-authorship with staff members from other PRC projects. Bios of interest from those projects may be found on their respective websites:
The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press
The Pew Research Center Project for Excellence in Journalism
The Pew Internet & American Life Project
The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life
Pew Global Attitudes Project
Pew Social & Demographic Trends