Heike Michelsen directs the Einaudi Center’s grant writing, assessment, and evaluation efforts. She holds a doctorate in economics from the University of Hohenheim, Germany.

She has worked as a consultant for Higher Education for Development (HED), a former unit within the American Council on Education, and the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), on developing effective and sustainable institutional partnerships to increase higher education capacity-building in developing countries.

Before joining Cornell in 2005, she was a senior research officer at the International Service for National Agricultural Research, where she led projects on institutional partnerships and collaboration with higher education institutions, institutional performance, and priority setting.