THE SIGNAL. THE FIRE.
US-Squared Research Institute exists to protect the brilliance of adolescents — especially Black and Brown young people — by building the justice-centered programs, tools, and systems that ensure they don't have to choose between being themselves and being safe.
We believe that brilliance is not earned through suffering — it is inherent. And we believe that organizations, educators, and communities have a responsibility to build the infrastructure that allows that brilliance to flourish.
Our work is grounded in peer-reviewed research, community accountability, and a relentless commitment to the young people who deserve better than what they've been given.
WHO LEADS US
Dr. Erica L. Tartt, PhD
Dr. Tartt is a developmental psychologist and equity researcher whose dissertation — Unraveling Hopelessness — analyzed CDC data from 7,000+ Black adolescents to identify distinct mental health profiles and challenge deficit-based frameworks in youth research.
She earned her PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2023. Her work sits at the intersection of quantitative methods, racial equity, and community-based practice.
Dr. Tartt does not run programs — she designs the conditions that make them possible. Her work begins where the research ends: identifying the structural gaps between brilliance and economic power, then building the networks across education, publishing, and workforce that close them. She is the architect of ecosystems. The delivery belongs to the people inside them.
Dr. Tartt's current focus is on building Atlas ERA — The Education Research Association — a global field-building network that connects education practitioners, funds their work, and credentials the brilliance happening in communities the traditional system cannot see.
Her embodied methodology: discover, visit, connect, credential, invest. The field is the work. The world is the classroom.
BY THE NUMBERS
Columbus, Ohio · executive@us-squared.org
OUR PARTNERS & FUNDERS
Partner and funder logos will appear here. Interested in supporting our work? Get in touch.