About Me

Brian Holzman, Ph.D.

I am an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Administration and Human Resource Development and, by courtesy, the Department of Sociology at Texas A&M University.

I completed my Ph.D. in sociology of education and higher education administration in the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University. I was affiliated with the Center for Education Policy Analysis and the Center on Poverty and Inequality. During my graduate studies, I received an Institute of Education Sciences Predoctoral Training Fellowship and an American Educational Research Association Dissertation Grant. Following graduate school, I worked as a postdoctoral fellow and a research scientist at the Houston Education Research Consortium at Rice University.

My primary research interests include understanding racial/ethnic and socioeconomic inequalities in college access and success and evaluating policies and interventions that can reduce gaps between groups. In my work, I employ rigorous quantitative research methods like experimental and quasi-experimental techniques and district, state, and national data.

Theoretically, my research is informed by insights from sociology and higher education. I have a strong interest in the postsecondary pathway, social and cultural capital, immigrant integration and policy, English learner students, and treatment effect heterogeneity. Currently, I serve as the principal investigator for projects on 1) STEM pathways in high school, 2) the impact of information and personal assistance interventions on selective college outcomes, and 3) the role of newcomer schools in the educational achievement and attainment of recent immigrant students (funded by the Brady Education Foundation). I am also co-principal investigator of a middle school text messaging field experiment funded by the National Science Foundation.