People
Leonard Saxe is Klutznick Professor of Contemporary Jewish Studies and Social Policy at Brandeis University. He is also the director of the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies and the Steinhardt Social Research Institute at Brandeis University.
Professor Saxe is an experimental social psychologist concerned with the application of social science to social policy issues. His present focus is on religious and ethnic identity, in particular issues relevant to the Jewish community.
Janet Krasner Aronson, PhD, is the associate director of the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies and Steinhardt Social Research Institute at Brandeis University. Janet's primary research areas include local Jewish community studies, and she has directed studies in Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Washington, DC, Palm Beach County, Florida, and Cincinnati, among many other communities. She is interested in emerging trends in Jewish engagement and how best to measure, understand, and respond to these trends.
Janet earned her PhD in social policy at the Heller School for Social Policy at Brandeis where she examined the impact of Birthright Israel on the parents of the participants. Before joining CMJS, she worked as a computer programmer, a graphic designer and religious school teacher. She was a member of the first cohort of the Barnard College/Jewish Theological Seminary double-degree program, in which she earned bachelor's degrees in computer science and Bible. She has an MA in applied sociology from the University of Massachusetts, Boston.
Masha Sud Lokshin is the assistant director at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies and the Steinhardt Social Research Institute. She is responsible for the administrative coordination of the institutes and manages budgets, personnel and office administration, as well as communication with other campus departments and outside collaborators. Masha holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Brandeis University and an MBA from Bentley College. Prior to coming to CMJS, she worked in the financial and consulting industries. She is a native Russian speaker. In addition to her language abilities, she brings knowledge of Russian culture and history and organizational expertise to the institutes.
Ilana Friedman is the senior program administrator at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies and a member of the Community Studies team. Originally from Palo Alto, California, Ilana graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Curry College magna cum laude where she majored in communication and concentrated in theatre. While at Curry College, she held several leadership positions on campus, including president of Hillel.
Matthew Boxer is an assistant research professor at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies and the Steinhardt Social Research Institute. He earned a Master of Arts in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies from Brandeis University and a Master of Science and PhD in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where his doctoral dissertation focused on the effects of Jewish community size on Jewish identity. His research varies widely and includes the socio-demography and social psychology of the Jewish community, altruistic behaviors and preferences, Israel studies, formal and informal Jewish education, and antisemitism. He is a member of the National Advisory Board of the Center for Small Town Jewish Life at Colby College.
Matthew Brookner is an associate research scientist at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies and Steinhardt Social Research Institute. At CMJS and SSRI, he is the lead data analyst on Jewish community studies. In addition to community studies, Matt has coauthored needs assessments of interfaith couples, working women and households in poverty.
Matt completed his PhD at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University, where he wrote his dissertation on philanthropy education. He holds masters' degrees in both public policy and Jewish professional leadership from Brandeis, and has a bachelor's degree in classics and history.
Alicia is a research associate at Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University where she is a member of the Local Jewish Community Studies team and leads quantitative data analysis. She is also a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology at Wayne State University. Her dissertation focuses on the relationship between non-Jewish spouses of US Jews and the Jewish community.
In addition to her scholarship, Alicia is a co-founder and columnist for Nu?Detroit, a digital platform for diverse writing about and for the Jewish community of metropolitan Detroit. She has written for many publications, including Jerusalem Post, Detroit News, Detroit Jewish News, and Huffington Post, in addition to her columns in Nu?Detroit.
Alicia has a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School and a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Michigan. Prior to starting her PhD, Alicia served as General Counsel for the Continuing Care Division of Trinity Health.
NoaSapir Franklin is a research specialist at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies and a member of the qualitative research and evaluation team. After graduating from Brandeis University in 2023 with a BA in International and Global Studies, Noa served as an AmeriCorps Legal Advocate and assisted low-income individuals facing eviction and other housing issues. Noa's academic interests include international politics, Jewish communities, and housing inequality.
Deborah Grant received her BA from Brandeis University and her JD from Northeastern University. She edits and oversees production of CMJS print and digital publications.
Mark Grinberg is a web developer at the Cohen Center for Modern Judaic Studies. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and International and Global Studies (with honors) from Brandeis University. His honors thesis, which examined the internet and terrorism, was entitled "Flash Drive Terrorism." While at Brandeis, he interned at the Israeli Consulate in Boston and was a manager of the LTS Help Desk, where he supervised and provided tier one support to the community.
Shahar Hecht is an associate research scientist at CMJS. She received a joint bachelor's degree in psychology and business administration from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she also received an master's degree in criminology. At CMJS, she is the project manager for the Birthright Israel evaluations and the Jewish Futures Project. She has worked on the evaluation of Birthright Israel international programs and on a study of Israelis who participate in Birthright Israel. In addition to Birthright Israel projects, she has contributed to numerous other studies, including a study of Jewish young adults on college campuses and an evaluation of the needs of Nazi victims.
Alex Lee is a web developer at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies. He spent seven years working at an educational travel company, managing the codebase for all web-related projects. During the past two years, he worked on a web application for a pharmaceutical company and learned about the various challenges of clinical trials and bringing new medicines into the market.
Daniella Levine is a research associate at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies and a member of the Community Studies and Evaluation teams. Daniella received her Master of Public Policy from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis, where she focused on gender policy. Previously, she served as the grants manager for The Miriam Fund, Boston's Jewish Women's Fund. A Cambridge transplant, she spends her time outside of work exploring and playing with her dog, Joey.
Marcella Magerer comes to CMJS from Boston’s Combined Jewish Philanthropies where she was the Executive Administrator to Barry Shrage. At CMJS, she continues to provide administrative, professional and project support to Barry Shrage (Professor of the Practice in the Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program and Initiative for Jewish Identity, CMJS). She also serves as liaison to CMJS and Hornstein staff members and coordinates work and work products of Barry Shrage with Hornstein and CMJS staff.
Raquel Magidin de Kramer is an associate research scientist at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies and the Steinhardt Social Research Institute. She is currently working on the Jewish demography project.
Raquel has extensive experience in educational research and statistical analysis. Prior to joining CMJS, she worked as a research associate at the Center for the Study of Testing, Evaluation and Educational Policy housed at Boston College, and as a statistics and computer analyst at the Henrietta Szold Institute for Research in the Behavioral Sciences in Israel. She has also worked as a software engineer in the private sector for several years. She received a joint BSc in Education and Atmospheric Sciences as well as an MA in Education from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She received her PhD from the department of Research Measurement and Evaluation at Boston College. She is fluent in Spanish and Hebrew.
Adam Martin is a research specialist. He received his BA from Boston College in 2020 with a degree in political science and economics. His honors thesis examined the effects of state funding formulas on identification of students with disabilities and special education outcomes. He is interested in data analysis, elections, and education policy. His hobbies include traveling, writing, golf, and watching Survivor. At CMJS, he is part of the community studies team.
Daniel Nussbaum is a research associate at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies and the Steinhardt Social Research Institute. He provides data management and analysis for various research projects, including the population project, the Jewish electorate, COVID-19 impact, and local Jewish community studies. He completed his BS in psychology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and then earned an MA in Jewish Professional Leadership and a Master of Public Policy from Brandeis University in 2020. While in graduate school, Daniel also worked as a data analyst intern at Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston, where he developed a COVID-19 partner impact survey and an interactive data dashboard of past community study data.
Antero Ortiz is a web developer at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies and supports technical aspects of various projects. He received a Bachelor of Science cum laude in computer science with a minor in applied mathematics from the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Raanan Rein is a Visting Scholar at CMJS as part of the Brandeis Initiative on the Jews of the Americas. He is the Elías Sourasky Professor of Latin American and Spanish History and former Vice President of Tel Aviv University. He is a member of Argentina’s Academia de Historia and ex-President of the Latin American Jewish Studies Association (LAJSA). Rein is the author of numerous books, including Jewish Self Defense in South America (2023); Populism and Ethnicity: Peronism and the Jews of Argentina (2020); and Fútbol, Jews, and the Making of Argentina (2015).
Micha Rieser is a research associate at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies and the Steinhardt Social Research Institute. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Religion from the University of Rochester and a Master of Arts from the Communication, Culture and Technology Program at Georgetown University.
After receiving his undergraduate degree, Micha participated in the joint Israeli Antiquities Authority and University of Rochester run archaeological excavation of the town of Yodefat in the Galilee.
Prior to joining CMJS, Micha worked for Alley Cat Allies, an animal advocacy and protection organization, collecting and analyzing survey and scientific data to be used in policy efforts directed at the reform of the animal control system in the United States. This work included several national surveys and an article on survey findings published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.
He manages and analyzes data for the community studies project. He also analyzes data on Birthright Israel applicants and participants for the Birthright Israel research project.
Nicole Samuel is an associate research scientist at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University, where she has worked since 2005. She currently leads the ongoing evaluation of Hillel International’s Springboard Fellowship, the movement’s flagship program for early career professionals. Other recent work includes "Advancing Jewish Retreating" and "Innovating JCCs."
Her portfolio includes Jewish institutions and organizations, formal and experiential Jewish education, and Jewish identity. With Amy L. Sales, she has conducted several studies of Jewish life and Israel education at overnight camp, including "Limud by the Lake Revisited: Growth and Change at Jewish Summer Camp." Other previous projects include research on professional development in Jewish organizations, teen engagement in New York, and synagogues and synagogue change.
She received her MA in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and Women's Studies from Brandeis University in 2005, concentrating in Contemporary Jewish Life. She earned a BA in history magna cum laude from American University in Washington, DC.
Samantha is a research specialist at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies. She received her Bachelor of Arts in politics and public health at Brandeis University in 2023. While at Brandeis, she was a research fellow at the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy and interned at the US House of Representatives. At CMJS, she is part of the Birthright Israel and program evaluations teams. Samantha's academic interests include analyzing trends of online antisemitism and the ways in which discrimination affects life outcomes.
One of America’s foremost Jewish leaders, Barry Shrage served for the past 30 years as president of Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston and as a powerful voice on the American Jewish communal scene. He is known in Boston and throughout the world for his tireless support of Jewish education; his promotion of engagement by religious and nonreligious Jews; his commitment to working for social justice at home and abroad alongside others; his strong support of Israel; his bridge-building, outreach and engagement with the non-Jewish community in creative partnerships; and for his boundless energy and creativity.
Sasha Volodarsky is an associate research scientist at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies. He earned his PhD in political science from Northeastern University. His dissertation examined patterns in voters' volatility in European multiparty democracies. At CMJS, Sasha's research focuses primarily on antisemitism, the impact evaluation of educational programs (such as Birthright Israel), and American Jews’ relationship with Israel.
Sasha has also co-authored academic papers on various topics, including operational ideology in the United States, perceptions of antisemitism, the impact of COVID-19 on students' mental health, and the effectiveness of online education.
Before joining CMJS, Sasha worked as a researcher at the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute for Applied Research in Israel. Sasha holds an MA in government from Reichman University (Israel) and a BA in sociology and anthropology from Tel Aviv University. He is fluent in Hebrew, Ukrainian, and Russian.
Dalia Wassner, PhD, is the director of Jews of the Americas, an initiative of Brandeis University at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies. Dr. Wassner is a historian whose research and teaching is dedicated to providing more inclusive and interdisciplinary approaches to the Jewish Diaspora and broadening the academic fields of Jewish Studies, Latin American Studies and Diaspora Studies.
Dr. Wassner is the author of Harbinger of Modernity: Marcos Aguinis and the Democratization of Argentina (Boston: Brill, 2014), which illuminates the intersecting roles of Jews and public intellectuals in bringing democracy to post-dictatorship Argentina. She is guest-editor of the launching issue of the journal Latin American Jewish Studies (Spring 2022), and her scholarship has been published in numerous academic journals, including Latin American Research Review, Iberian and Latin American Studies, Contemporary Jewry, and Journal of Modern Jewish Studies. Dr. Wassner serves on the Latin American Jewish Studies Association Board of Directors, the Jewish Women's Archive Encyclopedia Editorial Board in the field of Latin America, and the Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry Board of Directors.
Graham Wright is an associate research scientist at the Steinhardt Social Research Institute and the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, and an associate research professor at the Heller School for Social Policy.
Graham is a political scientist, political theorist, and quantitative methodologist. He has published numerous academic articles exploring the complex intersection between attitudes and identities in American politics, the dynamics of contemporary antisemitism, and American Jews’ relationship to Israel. His work on deliberative democracy is the subject of a forthcoming book from Routledge.
His work at CMJS primarily focuses on antisemitism, the ongoing evaluation of Birthright Israel, and studies of US undergraduates. At the Heller School he teaches classes on statistics, research design, and contemporary antisemitism.