The Show-Me Institute is expanding, bringing aboard new policy analysts and a research assistant to help us conduct the best in Missouri public policy research.

Dave Roland joins us as an education policy analyst, bringing with him three years of experience as an attorney with the Institute for Justice, litigating school choice, economic liberty, and property rights cases in state and federal courts. He has undergraduate degrees in political science and Biblical studies from Abilene Christian University, and both a law degree and a master’s in theology from Vanderbilt University. Dave’s wife, Jennifer, will also be joining us as a policy analyst in a couple of weeks. She’s the former legislative affairs attorney for IJ’s Castle Coalition — but more about her later.

Also joining us as a research assistant is Justin Hauke, a graduate student at Washington University’s Olin Business School who until recently worked as a senior research associate for the St. Louis Federal Reserve. He has an undergraduate degree in economics and math from the University of Texas at Austin. Justin has been blogging here for a few days now, and we’ve already released his first op-ed. (Actually, he co-wrote an op-ed for us almost a year ago, so technically that would be his first.)

We hope to hear much more from our new staff members as they get settled in!