Aeshna Badruzzaman, PhD

Aeshna Badruzzaman serves as Project Director for the Council on Addressing Racism in the Early Years (CARE) and Senior Project Manager for Instructional Design. She joined the Center on the Developing Child in December 2021. As Project Director, she works closely with council co-chairs to convene and set the direction for a developing council of researchers, practitioners, community advocates, and policy experts to analyze, synthesize, and communicate what the current evidence tells us about the effects of racism on children’s everyday lives. As Senior Project Manager, she supports the Center’s efforts to bridge the research/action gap by providing a range of capacity-building experiences and developing curricula, toolkits, and other learning experiences that make the science of early childhood actionable and support the field in increasing the impact of innovations.

Before joining the Center, Aeshna dedicated over 15 years to roles as a researcher, educator, and program manager. She designed and implemented research agendas with NGOs and activists on climate change, conflict negotiation, workers’ rights, and human rights and advocacy. She taught for years at the university level—designing and facilitating student learning experiences enabling critical analysis. She also worked in academic publishing, supporting emerging scholarship in underrepresented regions through advising and online programs. Aeshna holds a PhD in political science from Northeastern University, an MA in politics from New York University, and a BA in economics and development studies from University of California, Berkeley.