Six innovation tracks. One mission.
We build what's needed to make evaluation faster, training more useful, and opportunity reachable for the next generation. Innovation at RISEI runs on six parallel tracks — AI training for workforce partners, Nexellence Institute for youth researchers, ARCHIE Lab microgrants, methodology innovation inside our own evaluation practice, the ReachABLE consumer platform, and EduWork.AI, Dr. Yin's venture bringing practical AI to public institutions.
How we innovate — from the curriculum to the code.
Four tracks, each with its own delivery model, audience, and deliverables. Everything is in production.
AI Training for Workforce Partners
A growing curriculum of applied AI training for state agency staff, VR counselors, evaluation teams, and researchers — translating AI capabilities into the actual workflow of a case manager or program officer. No jargon, no hype, just what the tools do and when to trust them. Deployed with Virginia DARS and expanding.
Nexellence Institute
Youth research programs at Northwestern and Beijing. ResearchCORE, PathQuest, Summit — bringing middle- and high-school students into real research through curiosity, creativity, and hands-on learning.
ARCHIE Lab Microgrants
Youth-focused research microgrants for ages 14–24. ARCHIE funds original research projects led by young people themselves, with a youth advisory board and mentorship network. Because the next generation of researchers doesn't need to wait for their PhD to do real work.
Evaluation Innovation
Methodology and tools that make our own evaluation work faster, cheaper, and more rigorous — and that adapt for partner grants. The Adaptive Precision Framework. Six AI-powered tools in production. Custom reporting, fidelity dashboards, and admin-data linkage.
ReachABLE
Research turned into a product families can use. ReachABLE at joinreachable.com gives people with disabilities free ABLE eligibility checks, benefits simulators, and plain-language enrollment help — and it is the platform at the center of Project ReachABLE, the $3 million ACL-funded national effort led by RISEI Lab with TransCen. Always free for families.
EduWork.AI
Practical AI for public institutions, with people in charge. Founded by Dr. Michelle Yin, EduWork.AI is a woman-owned small business whose economists, data scientists, and learning scientists build AI tools that help government agencies and public institutions adopt technology and operate more efficiently — needs assessment, evidence finding, and quality control, with human oversight at every step.
Innovation isn't a side project. It's how we make evaluation faster, cheaper, and more useful — and how we build the training, tools, and programs the work actually needs.— RISEI innovation principle
AI training, written for case managers — not engineers.
Our AI training curriculum is built for the people who actually use the tools: agency staff, VR counselors, family-facing case managers, program officers. We translate AI capabilities into the workflow — intake, plan development, reporting — without jargon or hype.
The first full deployment was with Virginia DARS. The same curriculum pattern now adapts for other federal and state partners, and for graduate students and early-career researchers through RISEI workshops.
Bringing youth into real research.
Summer programs at Northwestern and Beijing for motivated middle- and high-school students. Curiosity, creativity, and hands-on research that builds confidence and real-world skills.
Two cities. One institute.
Nexellence runs two parallel summer sessions each year — one at Northwestern in Evanston, one in Beijing. Same research-first curriculum, different cultural contexts, shared alumni network.
Evanston, IL
Summer 2026
Programs: ResearchCORE · PathQuest · Summit
The rest of the innovation stack.
Youth-led microgrants on one side, AI-powered evaluation tools on the other — both in active production.
ARCHIE Lab
Youth-focused research microgrants that fund original projects led by young people themselves. Applications welcome from ages 14 to 24, with mentorship and a youth advisory board to support the work from question to deliverable.
Because the next generation of researchers doesn't need to wait for their PhD to do real work.
Learn & apply →Six AI tools in production.
Custom-built to accelerate RISEI's own evaluation work — and adaptable for partner grants. Every tool ships with research-in-the-loop safeguards.
The Adaptive Precision Framework is the lab's signature methodology contribution — continuous recalibration of policy under evolving AI measurement. Companion to NBER WP #35110.
Read the APF brief →The papers behind the innovation.
Our innovation track rests on published methodology work. These are the foundational references.
Scoping a grant where training, youth engagement, or AI tools should ship with the evaluation?
If your upcoming IES, NSF, DOL, or SEED proposal needs AI training for partner staff, a youth-research complement, or custom AI tooling — we'd like to be on the team. Bring us in at the proposal stage.
Start a partnership →