The Wellesley Centers for Women is pleased to welcome Sari Pekkala Kerr, Ph.D. who has joined the Wellesley Centers for Women as a senior research scientist. Most recently an econometrician at a leading global consulting firm in Boston, MA, Kerr studies the socio-economic effects of public policy. Her work has focused primarily on the implications of education, employment, and immigration policies. Research Kerr and her colleagues conducted in Finland on educational policies designed to provide equal opportunity in primary schooling, found the practices to be important factors in increasing economic equality and mobility. She will continue some of this work with the Government Institute for Economic Research in Helsinki, including an examination of how changes in immigration policy have affected the labor market in Finland. Kerr is also interested in expanding her study of maternity benefits, child care, and women's employment in the U.S. and abroad.