Maia Merin is a Program Manager for the National Academy of Advanced Teacher Education. She received her Ph.D. in Teaching and Learning from New York University in January 2015. She was a former social studies teacher in New York City public schools. After seven years of teaching, she returned to graduate school to pursue a doctoral degree in Social Studies Education. Her dissertation explored New York City's educational history, specifically one experimental school district in the Lower East Side in the late 1960s. She conducted extensive oral histories and archival research.

Maia holds a Masters in Secondary School Education from Brooklyn College and a BA in History from Wesleyan University in Connecticut. She was a New York City Teaching Fellow and the recipient of the Ruth Landes Fellowship while at NYU.