AP-NORC Center Experts

Filter By:

Alycia Bayne

Principal Research Scientist
Public Health
Phone: (202) 999-0992

Alycia Infante Bayne is a principal research scientist in the Public Health Research Department. Bayne has 15 years of experience in program evaluation and qualitative research methods. She has expertise in primary data collection and analysis. She has collected data in communities across the country, using site visits, interviews, focus groups, and surveys. Her evaluation findings have informed state and federal health programs and policies. Her research areas include public health, aging and health, transportation as a social determinant of health, rural health, and health equity.
Bayne leads research on aging and health at NORC. She is the project director for a study for the CDC Foundation, with technical assistance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to identify the needs and concerns of older adults and their caregivers during public health emergencies such as COVID-19. Bayne also leads evaluations of community-based healthy aging programs for the YMCA of the USA. She also conducts the evaluation of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Office of Minority Health’s work to advance health equity in Medicare.

Bayne also directs a portfolio of work exploring the intersection of transportation and health. She led a three-year study for the CDC Center for Injury Prevention and Control to identify the barriers and facilitators of older adults’ use of ride share services. For the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, Bayne conducts a project to identify countermeasures to address drowsy driving, and she completed a study to identify evidence-based practices for traffic safety campaigns. She also led a study on access to transportation in rural communities for the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, and currently directs a pilot impact assessment of the CDC’s Injury Control Research Centers.

Bayne has served in a leadership role on numerous cross-site evaluations of community-based initiatives, including an assessment of community health coalitions after federal funding has ended for the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, an evaluation of the Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health program for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an evaluation of the Advancing System Improvements to Support Targets for Healthy People 2010 Program for the Office on Women’s Health, and an evaluation of the 330A Outreach Authority programs for the Health Resources and Services Administration Federal Office of Rural Health Policy.

Bayne served as a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Transportation Research Board Committee on the Safe Mobility of Older Persons. She is also a member of the Health New Jersey 2030 Advisory Council, which advises the selection of topic areas, objectives, and target-setting methodology to monitor health promotion and disease prevention interventions in the state.

Bayne has presented evaluation findings to federal agencies as well as task forces such as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Healthy Weight Task Force and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. She has also presented widely at conferences including those sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and AcademyHealth. Bayne is a silver award recipient of the Mather Institute’s Innovative Research on Aging Awards for CDC research on transportation and aging.

Alycia Bayne

Principal Research Scientist
Public Health
(202) 999-0992

Alycia Infante Bayne is a principal research scientist in the Public Health Research Department. Bayne has 15 years of experience in program evaluation and qualitative research methods. She has expertise in primary data collection and analysis. She has collected data in communities across the country, using site visits, interviews, focus groups, and surveys. Her evaluation findings have informed state and federal health programs and policies. Her research areas include public health, aging and health, transportation as a social determinant of health, rural health, and health equity.
Bayne leads research on aging and health at NORC. She is the project director for a study for the CDC Foundation, with technical assistance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to identify the needs and concerns of older adults and their caregivers during public health emergencies such as COVID-19. Bayne also leads evaluations of community-based healthy aging programs for the YMCA of the USA. She also conducts the evaluation of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Office of Minority Health’s work to advance health equity in Medicare.

Bayne also directs a portfolio of work exploring the intersection of transportation and health. She led a three-year study for the CDC Center for Injury Prevention and Control to identify the barriers and facilitators of older adults’ use of ride share services. For the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, Bayne conducts a project to identify countermeasures to address drowsy driving, and she completed a study to identify evidence-based practices for traffic safety campaigns. She also led a study on access to transportation in rural communities for the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, and currently directs a pilot impact assessment of the CDC’s Injury Control Research Centers.

Bayne has served in a leadership role on numerous cross-site evaluations of community-based initiatives, including an assessment of community health coalitions after federal funding has ended for the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, an evaluation of the Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health program for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an evaluation of the Advancing System Improvements to Support Targets for Healthy People 2010 Program for the Office on Women’s Health, and an evaluation of the 330A Outreach Authority programs for the Health Resources and Services Administration Federal Office of Rural Health Policy.

Bayne served as a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Transportation Research Board Committee on the Safe Mobility of Older Persons. She is also a member of the Health New Jersey 2030 Advisory Council, which advises the selection of topic areas, objectives, and target-setting methodology to monitor health promotion and disease prevention interventions in the state.

Bayne has presented evaluation findings to federal agencies as well as task forces such as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Healthy Weight Task Force and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. She has also presented widely at conferences including those sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and AcademyHealth. Bayne is a silver award recipient of the Mather Institute’s Innovative Research on Aging Awards for CDC research on transportation and aging.

René Bautista

Principal Research Scientist
Statistics and Methodology
Phone: (312) 357-3867

René Bautista is a principal research scientist in the Statistics and Methodology department at NORC and director of the General Social Survey. His academic training in Survey Methodology and work on sources of measurement error in surveys provides him with a solid theoretical and scientific approach to conduct applied survey research. Bautista has substantial experience developing and implementing major surveys and conducting leading methodological. His research focuses on nonresponse, measurement error, interviewer effects, mixed modes, and data collection methods.

During his tenure at NORC, Bautista has worked on program evaluations including the Census Integrated Communications Program Evaluation in 2010, commissioned by the U.S. Census Bureau, to evaluate the success of the communication campaign implemented prior to the Decennial Census. In particular, the evaluation utilized a mixed survey design (longitudinal and cross-sectional) and aimed to collect information among minority groups. In this project, Bautista advised on strategies to establish statistical significance of key survey estimates. He was responsible for conducting significance testing and multivariate analysis using complex variance estimation techniques. Also, he has participated in other studies commissioned to NORC, such as the evaluation of the Survey of Crime Victimization (SCV) conducted on behalf of the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, where he conducted cognitive interviews and provided guidance on significance testing of experimental data.

Bautista has provided statistical consulting to the National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE), a project conducted on behalf of the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE). As the first major study of child care and education in the U.S. in over 20 years and largest-ever data collection effort conducted by NORC, Bautista’s work on this project highlights his commitment to generate data of the highest quality and an appreciation of the functions the survey data serve. He continues to contribute to the NSECE team on sampling methodologies for the 2019 NSECE.

Bautista has also provided senior survey methodology advice on questionnaire design and cognitive testing for the 2012 National Survey on Health Information Exchange in Clinical Laboratories, a project commissioned by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. This study evaluates capabilities of laboratories in the U.S. to exchange information using electronic means.

In 2014, Bautista was also a key contributor to the re-design of the National Survey of Children’s Health and the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs by overseeing adaptation of survey instruments (English and Spanish) for the change in data collection strategy from a CATI instrument to a self-administered instrument (paper- and web-based).

In 2015, he was the lead methodologist for one the Task Orders through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services related to adding new questions to the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS). He led the effort to understand how limited English proficiency (LEP) may impede access to healthcare. This work has meant developing and testing new LEP items and measures that reach well beyond used historically by government agencies.

In 2017, Bautista served as Director for the Worker Voice Study, a survey commissioned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of Management, aiming to collect information among 4,000 workers across the country.

Previously, he worked at the Gallup Research Center at the University of Nebraska. Bautista has also consulted as Election Night Analyst with Edison Media Research –exclusive provider of exit polling data to ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Fox News, NBC News and the Associated Press.

Bautista, who earned his Ph.D. at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has published scholarly work in peer-reviewed journals and books, and is a frequent presenter in major national and international conferences on survey methodology. He holds an academic appointments as lecturer at the University of Chicago Harris Graduate School of Public Policy and affiliate faculty at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Survey Research and Methodology Program. He currently serves as Associate Editor of Public Opinion Quarterly, the flagship journal of the American Association for Public Opinion Research. He is an elected member of AAPOR’s Executive Council and serves as Associate Chair/Chair-Elect for the AAPOR Standards Committee.

René Bautista

Principal Research Scientist
Statistics and Methodology
(312) 357-3867

René Bautista is a principal research scientist in the Statistics and Methodology department at NORC and director of the General Social Survey. His academic training in Survey Methodology and work on sources of measurement error in surveys provides him with a solid theoretical and scientific approach to conduct applied survey research. Bautista has substantial experience developing and implementing major surveys and conducting leading methodological. His research focuses on nonresponse, measurement error, interviewer effects, mixed modes, and data collection methods.

During his tenure at NORC, Bautista has worked on program evaluations including the Census Integrated Communications Program Evaluation in 2010, commissioned by the U.S. Census Bureau, to evaluate the success of the communication campaign implemented prior to the Decennial Census. In particular, the evaluation utilized a mixed survey design (longitudinal and cross-sectional) and aimed to collect information among minority groups. In this project, Bautista advised on strategies to establish statistical significance of key survey estimates. He was responsible for conducting significance testing and multivariate analysis using complex variance estimation techniques. Also, he has participated in other studies commissioned to NORC, such as the evaluation of the Survey of Crime Victimization (SCV) conducted on behalf of the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, where he conducted cognitive interviews and provided guidance on significance testing of experimental data.

Bautista has provided statistical consulting to the National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE), a project conducted on behalf of the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE). As the first major study of child care and education in the U.S. in over 20 years and largest-ever data collection effort conducted by NORC, Bautista’s work on this project highlights his commitment to generate data of the highest quality and an appreciation of the functions the survey data serve. He continues to contribute to the NSECE team on sampling methodologies for the 2019 NSECE.

Bautista has also provided senior survey methodology advice on questionnaire design and cognitive testing for the 2012 National Survey on Health Information Exchange in Clinical Laboratories, a project commissioned by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. This study evaluates capabilities of laboratories in the U.S. to exchange information using electronic means.

In 2014, Bautista was also a key contributor to the re-design of the National Survey of Children’s Health and the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs by overseeing adaptation of survey instruments (English and Spanish) for the change in data collection strategy from a CATI instrument to a self-administered instrument (paper- and web-based).

In 2015, he was the lead methodologist for one the Task Orders through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services related to adding new questions to the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS). He led the effort to understand how limited English proficiency (LEP) may impede access to healthcare. This work has meant developing and testing new LEP items and measures that reach well beyond used historically by government agencies.

In 2017, Bautista served as Director for the Worker Voice Study, a survey commissioned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of Management, aiming to collect information among 4,000 workers across the country.

Previously, he worked at the Gallup Research Center at the University of Nebraska. Bautista has also consulted as Election Night Analyst with Edison Media Research –exclusive provider of exit polling data to ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Fox News, NBC News and the Associated Press.

Bautista, who earned his Ph.D. at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has published scholarly work in peer-reviewed journals and books, and is a frequent presenter in major national and international conferences on survey methodology. He holds an academic appointments as lecturer at the University of Chicago Harris Graduate School of Public Policy and affiliate faculty at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Survey Research and Methodology Program. He currently serves as Associate Editor of Public Opinion Quarterly, the flagship journal of the American Association for Public Opinion Research. He is an elected member of AAPOR’s Executive Council and serves as Associate Chair/Chair-Elect for the AAPOR Standards Committee.

Bruce G. Taylor

Senior Fellow
Public Health
Phone: (301) 634-9512

Bruce Taylor is a Senior Fellow with NORC at the University of Chicago in the Public Health department. He manages research projects and leads business development in the intersecting areas of violence, health and criminal justice for NORC.

Dr. Taylor has over 20 years of experience in applied research, field experiments, statistical analysis, measurement, survey design, and program evaluation. He has conducted studies on violence prevention, violent offenders, victimization, policing, and illicit drug markets. Most recently his work has focused on identifying demographic and contextual explanations for a variety of forms of violent and related risky behaviors. He has conducted research funded by a number of federal sources, such as the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute of Justice, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. His research has also been supported by a number of state and municipal sources, along with several foundations and other private sources (e.g., Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute). Taylor has published his work widely in leading peer-reviewed academic journals such as Addiction Biology, Criminology, Criminology and Public Policy, Drug and Alcohol Dependence, Journal of Adolescent Health, Journal of Experimental Criminology and Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and Prevention Science.

His early work in violence research explored the psychological recovery process of sexual assault victims and explored the correlates of post-crime distress and social networks. In the mid to late 1990s, Dr. Taylor implemented a 5-year program of experimental longitudinal studies in New York City on the effects of a variety of interventions on the problem of intimate partner violence (IPV). This work was followed by randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the effectiveness of batterer treatment programs for men in community and jail-based settings. Since 2005, with funding from three US Department of Justice (USDOJ) grants and two contracts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), he has been conducting a series of field experiments on the effectiveness of primary prevention programs on IPV and sexual violence. He is also a Co-Principal Investigator of the first comprehensive nationally representative survey of teen dating violence in the US and the first national survey on victim service providers. In 2012, the Academy of Experimental Criminology (AEC) recognized his RCT work and elected him as an AEC Fellow. He also serves on the USDOJ Violent Crime Victimization Expert Panel.

Prior to joining NORC in 2010, Taylor was the research director for the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), based in Washington, D.C., from 2005-2010, where he managed a group of about 10 researchers, led strategic and business development for PERF, and developed and managed an annual department budget. From 2002-2005, he was a senior research associate/managing associate at Caliber/ICF International, where he led projects on juvenile justice, children exposed to violence, youth violence prevention, and community policing. From 1998- 2002, he was a researcher and deputy director of the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring Program, a program within the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice that involved surveys and specimen collection on drugs and crime issues from detained arrestees in more than three dozen cities across the U.S. Prior to his work at DOJ, he was a senior research associate at the Victim Services Agency in New York City, where he conducted basic and applied/evaluation research on crime victim issues.

Bruce G. Taylor

Senior Fellow
Public Health
(301) 634-9512

Bruce Taylor is a Senior Fellow with NORC at the University of Chicago in the Public Health department. He manages research projects and leads business development in the intersecting areas of violence, health and criminal justice for NORC.

Dr. Taylor has over 20 years of experience in applied research, field experiments, statistical analysis, measurement, survey design, and program evaluation. He has conducted studies on violence prevention, violent offenders, victimization, policing, and illicit drug markets. Most recently his work has focused on identifying demographic and contextual explanations for a variety of forms of violent and related risky behaviors. He has conducted research funded by a number of federal sources, such as the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute of Justice, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. His research has also been supported by a number of state and municipal sources, along with several foundations and other private sources (e.g., Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute). Taylor has published his work widely in leading peer-reviewed academic journals such as Addiction Biology, Criminology, Criminology and Public Policy, Drug and Alcohol Dependence, Journal of Adolescent Health, Journal of Experimental Criminology and Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and Prevention Science.

His early work in violence research explored the psychological recovery process of sexual assault victims and explored the correlates of post-crime distress and social networks. In the mid to late 1990s, Dr. Taylor implemented a 5-year program of experimental longitudinal studies in New York City on the effects of a variety of interventions on the problem of intimate partner violence (IPV). This work was followed by randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the effectiveness of batterer treatment programs for men in community and jail-based settings. Since 2005, with funding from three US Department of Justice (USDOJ) grants and two contracts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), he has been conducting a series of field experiments on the effectiveness of primary prevention programs on IPV and sexual violence. He is also a Co-Principal Investigator of the first comprehensive nationally representative survey of teen dating violence in the US and the first national survey on victim service providers. In 2012, the Academy of Experimental Criminology (AEC) recognized his RCT work and elected him as an AEC Fellow. He also serves on the USDOJ Violent Crime Victimization Expert Panel.

Prior to joining NORC in 2010, Taylor was the research director for the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), based in Washington, D.C., from 2005-2010, where he managed a group of about 10 researchers, led strategic and business development for PERF, and developed and managed an annual department budget. From 2002-2005, he was a senior research associate/managing associate at Caliber/ICF International, where he led projects on juvenile justice, children exposed to violence, youth violence prevention, and community policing. From 1998- 2002, he was a researcher and deputy director of the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring Program, a program within the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice that involved surveys and specimen collection on drugs and crime issues from detained arrestees in more than three dozen cities across the U.S. Prior to his work at DOJ, he was a senior research associate at the Victim Services Agency in New York City, where he conducted basic and applied/evaluation research on crime victim issues.

Tom Rosenstiel

Senior Fellow
Public Affairs and Media Research

One of the most recognized thinkers in the country on the future of news, Tom Rosenstiel is the author of 10 books, including three novels. Before joining NORC, he was the executive director of the American Press Institute. Prior to that, he was founder and for 16 years director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, one of the five original projects of the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C. He was co-founder and vice chair of the Committee of Concerned Journalists. He is also a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and the Eleanor Merrill Visiting Professor on the Future of Journalism at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland.

His first novel, Shining City (2017), about a supreme court nomination, was an NPR Book of the Year. His second, The Good Lie (2019), about a terrorist incident, was a Washington Post best seller. His third, Oppo, about a presidential campaign, was published in December 2019.

Among his seven books on journalism, politics and ethics is The Elements of Journalism: What News People Should Know and the Public Should Expect, co-authored with Bill Kovach, which has been translated into more than 25 languages and is used widely in journalism education worldwide. It has been called “a modern classic” (NYT) and one of the five best books ever written on journalism (WSJ). Tom’s media criticism, his nonfiction books and his research work at API and at PEJ have generated more than 50,000 academic citations.

During his journalism career he worked as media writer for the Los Angeles Times for a decade, chief congressional correspondent for Newsweek, press critic for MSNBC, business editor of the Peninsula Times Tribune, a reporter for Jack Anderson’s Washington Merry Go ‘Round column, and began his career at the Woodside Country Almanac in his native northern California.

He is the winner of the Goldsmith book Award from Harvard, four Sigma Delta Chi Awards for Journalism Research from SPJ and four awards for national for media criticism from Penn State. He has been named a fellow of the Society of Professional Journalists, the organization’s highest honor, the Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism from the University of Missouri Journalism School, the Dewitt Carter Reddick Award for Outstanding Professional Achievement in the Field of Communications from the University of Texas at Austin, and the Columbia Journalism School Distinguished Alumni Award.

Tom Rosenstiel

Senior Fellow
Public Affairs and Media Research

One of the most recognized thinkers in the country on the future of news, Tom Rosenstiel is the author of 10 books, including three novels. Before joining NORC, he was the executive director of the American Press Institute. Prior to that, he was founder and for 16 years director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, one of the five original projects of the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C. He was co-founder and vice chair of the Committee of Concerned Journalists. He is also a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and the Eleanor Merrill Visiting Professor on the Future of Journalism at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland.

His first novel, Shining City (2017), about a supreme court nomination, was an NPR Book of the Year. His second, The Good Lie (2019), about a terrorist incident, was a Washington Post best seller. His third, Oppo, about a presidential campaign, was published in December 2019.

Among his seven books on journalism, politics and ethics is The Elements of Journalism: What News People Should Know and the Public Should Expect, co-authored with Bill Kovach, which has been translated into more than 25 languages and is used widely in journalism education worldwide. It has been called “a modern classic” (NYT) and one of the five best books ever written on journalism (WSJ). Tom’s media criticism, his nonfiction books and his research work at API and at PEJ have generated more than 50,000 academic citations.

During his journalism career he worked as media writer for the Los Angeles Times for a decade, chief congressional correspondent for Newsweek, press critic for MSNBC, business editor of the Peninsula Times Tribune, a reporter for Jack Anderson’s Washington Merry Go ‘Round column, and began his career at the Woodside Country Almanac in his native northern California.

He is the winner of the Goldsmith book Award from Harvard, four Sigma Delta Chi Awards for Journalism Research from SPJ and four awards for national for media criticism from Penn State. He has been named a fellow of the Society of Professional Journalists, the organization’s highest honor, the Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism from the University of Missouri Journalism School, the Dewitt Carter Reddick Award for Outstanding Professional Achievement in the Field of Communications from the University of Texas at Austin, and the Columbia Journalism School Distinguished Alumni Award.

Susan Mayer

Professor Emeritus, Co-Director Behavioral Insights and Parenting Lab
University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy

Susan E. Mayer, professor emeritus at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and the College, served as dean of Harris from 2002 to 2009. She has published numerous articles and book chapters on the measurement of poverty, the effect of growing up in poor neighborhoods, and the effect of parental income on children’s well-being. She is currently doing research on intergenerational economic mobility and on using behavioral insights to help low-income adults become better parents.

Mayer has been a member of the Institutes of Medicine, National Research Council, Board on Children, Youth and Families, the Board of Directors of Chapin Hall Center for Children, and the Board of Advisors for the Pew Charitable Trust Economic Mobility Project. She has also been a member of the General Accounting Office Educators’ Advisory Panel, the National Academy of Sciences Committee on National Statistics Panel to Review U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Measurement of Food Insecurity and Hunger, and the Committee on Standards of Evidence and the Quality of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research. Mayer has an honorary Doctor of Laws degreed conferred by Lake Forest College. Mayer is the past director and deputy director of the Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research. She has served as an associate editor for the American Journal of Sociology.

Susan Mayer

Professor Emeritus, Co-Director Behavioral Insights and Parenting Lab
University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy

Susan E. Mayer, professor emeritus at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and the College, served as dean of Harris from 2002 to 2009. She has published numerous articles and book chapters on the measurement of poverty, the effect of growing up in poor neighborhoods, and the effect of parental income on children’s well-being. She is currently doing research on intergenerational economic mobility and on using behavioral insights to help low-income adults become better parents.

Mayer has been a member of the Institutes of Medicine, National Research Council, Board on Children, Youth and Families, the Board of Directors of Chapin Hall Center for Children, and the Board of Advisors for the Pew Charitable Trust Economic Mobility Project. She has also been a member of the General Accounting Office Educators’ Advisory Panel, the National Academy of Sciences Committee on National Statistics Panel to Review U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Measurement of Food Insecurity and Hunger, and the Committee on Standards of Evidence and the Quality of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research. Mayer has an honorary Doctor of Laws degreed conferred by Lake Forest College. Mayer is the past director and deputy director of the Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research. She has served as an associate editor for the American Journal of Sociology.