Research Team
The faculty and staff involved in Birthright Israel-related research have extensive experience studying Jewish young adults.
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.
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.
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.
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 is the author of Persuasion, Integration, and Deliberative Democracy: The Will of the Whole (Routledge 2025). 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 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.