Alejandra Quintana-Barrera is a senior research assistant at the Community College Research Center, where she works on projects examining how adult education programs support learners’ academic progress and pathways to college credentials. She is currently a PhD student in Economics and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research examines how individuals form and update beliefs in response to major social changes and how these beliefs shape educational investments. One project investigates how Venezuelan migration to Colombia affects students’ expectations about the returns to higher education and their college enrollment decisions. A second project examines Peru’s gender-equality curriculum reform, exploring how changes in school curricula affect children’s gender stereotypes, parents’ beliefs, and educational decisions. Prior to joining Teachers College, Quintana-Barrera worked as a research consultant for the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. She holds an MA in Economics from Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia, and two bachelor’s degrees, one in economics and the other in art history, from the same university.