AP-NORC Center Experts

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Michael López

Vice President
Education and Child Development
Phone: (301) 634-9525

Michael López, PhD, is a Vice President in the Education and Child Development department at NORC, where he provides strategic oversight and direction for the growing portfolio of early childhood research at NORC. López is a nationally recognized expert on early childhood research, with a particular emphasis on low-income or culturally and linguistically diverse populations. He has over 25 years of experience conducting applied policy research in the areas of early childhood care and education, children’s socio-emotional development, health and mental health, racial and ethnic disparities, cultural and linguistic diversity, and appropriate assessments for cultural and linguistically diverse dual language learners.

Prior to joining NORC, López worked as a principal associate at Abt Associates where he conducted and disseminated early childhood research spanning topics such as Head Start, state preschool, child care, and childhood obesity. Among his achievements, López co-led the National Research Center on Hispanic Children and Families, a five-year, $5 million national center to conduct and disseminate research, informing Administration for Children and Families programs and policies supporting low-income Hispanic children and families. He also served as co-principal investigator on the National Study of the Migrant and Seasonal Head Start (MSHS) program, where he oversaw the design and implementation of a nationally representative study describing the characteristics of children and families enrolled in MSHS, as well as program practices and services.

Earlier in his career, López directed the Child Outcomes Research and Evaluation team in the Administration for Children and Families, within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 1991 to 2005, where he developed and directed large-scale, national evaluation studies of federal programs—including the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey and the National Head Start Impact Study, the largest, nationally representative, randomized study examining the impact of Head Start on children’s school readiness—among others.

López has written numerous peer-reviewed research articles, reports, and briefs on issues related to early childhood, Head Start, early care and education utilization, and cultural and linguistic diversity issues, including the psychometrics of language, literacy, and classroom observational measures for young dual language learners.

López earned his undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and earned his master’s degree and PhD in child clinical psychology at Michigan State University. López currently serves as a board member of the Highscope Educational Research Foundation and the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute Executive Leadership Board. He is also a member of the advisory committee supporting the PNC Grow Up Great early childhood initiative.

Michael López

Vice President
Education and Child Development
(301) 634-9525

Michael López, PhD, is a Vice President in the Education and Child Development department at NORC, where he provides strategic oversight and direction for the growing portfolio of early childhood research at NORC. López is a nationally recognized expert on early childhood research, with a particular emphasis on low-income or culturally and linguistically diverse populations. He has over 25 years of experience conducting applied policy research in the areas of early childhood care and education, children’s socio-emotional development, health and mental health, racial and ethnic disparities, cultural and linguistic diversity, and appropriate assessments for cultural and linguistically diverse dual language learners.

Prior to joining NORC, López worked as a principal associate at Abt Associates where he conducted and disseminated early childhood research spanning topics such as Head Start, state preschool, child care, and childhood obesity. Among his achievements, López co-led the National Research Center on Hispanic Children and Families, a five-year, $5 million national center to conduct and disseminate research, informing Administration for Children and Families programs and policies supporting low-income Hispanic children and families. He also served as co-principal investigator on the National Study of the Migrant and Seasonal Head Start (MSHS) program, where he oversaw the design and implementation of a nationally representative study describing the characteristics of children and families enrolled in MSHS, as well as program practices and services.

Earlier in his career, López directed the Child Outcomes Research and Evaluation team in the Administration for Children and Families, within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 1991 to 2005, where he developed and directed large-scale, national evaluation studies of federal programs—including the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey and the National Head Start Impact Study, the largest, nationally representative, randomized study examining the impact of Head Start on children’s school readiness—among others.

López has written numerous peer-reviewed research articles, reports, and briefs on issues related to early childhood, Head Start, early care and education utilization, and cultural and linguistic diversity issues, including the psychometrics of language, literacy, and classroom observational measures for young dual language learners.

López earned his undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and earned his master’s degree and PhD in child clinical psychology at Michigan State University. López currently serves as a board member of the Highscope Educational Research Foundation and the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute Executive Leadership Board. He is also a member of the advisory committee supporting the PNC Grow Up Great early childhood initiative.

Kristina Hanson Lowell

Vice President and Senior Fellow
Health Care
Phone: (301) 634-9488

Kristina Hanson Lowell is a vice president and senior fellow in the Health Care Department at NORC.

She has more than 18 years of experience and policy expertise in the areas of Medicare and Medicaid, health information technology (IT), payment reform, chronic care improvement, and disability issues. Lowell has directed many large-scale quantitative and qualitative studies on behalf of state and federal government agencies, not-for-profit and consumer organizations, academic researchers, foundations, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and professional associations. These studies have included surveys, focus groups, structured interviews, and site visits with a focus on the general population, individuals with chronic conditions and disabilities, elderly and low-income populations, health-care providers, federal and state legislators, and other key policymakers. Among her ongoing projects at NORC, Lowell is serving as the Project Director of the evaluations of the Beacon Community Cooperative Agreement Program and the Information Technology (IT) Professionals in Health Care (“Workforce”) Program for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

Prior to joining NORC, Lowell was a Research Director at the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution, where she focused on health IT, payment and delivery-system reform, and long-term care. Lowell directed a two-year project for the Markle Foundation designed to build an infrastructure for the development of better evidence on how payment reforms and health IT can be used to improve care and health outcomes for people with chronic conditions. While at Brookings, Lowell also helped coordinate the formation and launch of the Long-Term Quality Alliance, a multi-stakeholder effort dedicated to fostering the implementation of quality measures across the range of long-term services and supports. Lowell was previously a senior analyst in the Office of Policy at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), where she managed the Office’s Medicare Part D portfolio, including empirical studies of beneficiary savings, access, and program spending; monitoring and improvement of the Part D Plan Finder tool; and the launch of an on-line consumer resource on Prescription Drug Patient Assistance Programs. She served as a Part D liaison between the Office of the Administrator, other parts of the Agency and DHHS, Capitol Hill, and a range of consumer and stakeholder organizations. Prior to CMS, Lowell was a Senior Research Manager at Harris Interactive, where she directed large-scale quantitative and qualitative health-policy studies and surveys, including a gap analysis survey of people with and without disabilities. Lowell was also a Senior Policy Analyst at the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, focusing on Medicare, Medicaid, prescription drugs, and disability policy. Lowell has served as an Instructor at Harvard College and as a Teaching Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard School of Public Health.

Lowell has published research in peer-reviewed publications on access to care under Medicaid, state variations in the coverage and delivery of mental-health and substance-abuse services under Medicaid managed care, public attitudes concerning mental illness, and innovative approaches to payment- and delivery-system reform such as accountable care organizations (ACOs).

Kristina Hanson Lowell

Vice President and Senior Fellow
Health Care
(301) 634-9488

Kristina Hanson Lowell is a vice president and senior fellow in the Health Care Department at NORC.

She has more than 18 years of experience and policy expertise in the areas of Medicare and Medicaid, health information technology (IT), payment reform, chronic care improvement, and disability issues. Lowell has directed many large-scale quantitative and qualitative studies on behalf of state and federal government agencies, not-for-profit and consumer organizations, academic researchers, foundations, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and professional associations. These studies have included surveys, focus groups, structured interviews, and site visits with a focus on the general population, individuals with chronic conditions and disabilities, elderly and low-income populations, health-care providers, federal and state legislators, and other key policymakers. Among her ongoing projects at NORC, Lowell is serving as the Project Director of the evaluations of the Beacon Community Cooperative Agreement Program and the Information Technology (IT) Professionals in Health Care (“Workforce”) Program for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

Prior to joining NORC, Lowell was a Research Director at the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution, where she focused on health IT, payment and delivery-system reform, and long-term care. Lowell directed a two-year project for the Markle Foundation designed to build an infrastructure for the development of better evidence on how payment reforms and health IT can be used to improve care and health outcomes for people with chronic conditions. While at Brookings, Lowell also helped coordinate the formation and launch of the Long-Term Quality Alliance, a multi-stakeholder effort dedicated to fostering the implementation of quality measures across the range of long-term services and supports. Lowell was previously a senior analyst in the Office of Policy at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), where she managed the Office’s Medicare Part D portfolio, including empirical studies of beneficiary savings, access, and program spending; monitoring and improvement of the Part D Plan Finder tool; and the launch of an on-line consumer resource on Prescription Drug Patient Assistance Programs. She served as a Part D liaison between the Office of the Administrator, other parts of the Agency and DHHS, Capitol Hill, and a range of consumer and stakeholder organizations. Prior to CMS, Lowell was a Senior Research Manager at Harris Interactive, where she directed large-scale quantitative and qualitative health-policy studies and surveys, including a gap analysis survey of people with and without disabilities. Lowell was also a Senior Policy Analyst at the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, focusing on Medicare, Medicaid, prescription drugs, and disability policy. Lowell has served as an Instructor at Harvard College and as a Teaching Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard School of Public Health.

Lowell has published research in peer-reviewed publications on access to care under Medicaid, state variations in the coverage and delivery of mental-health and substance-abuse services under Medicaid managed care, public attitudes concerning mental illness, and innovative approaches to payment- and delivery-system reform such as accountable care organizations (ACOs).

Don Jang

Vice President and Director
Higher Education Analytics Center
Phone: (301) 634-9415

Don Jang is Vice President and Director of the Center for Excellence in Survey Research and serves as its Director. He is responsible for overseeing all staff and operations in the CESR department; building and leading the survey analytics team to help transform data collections to meet the demands of information with respect to timeliness, quantity, and quality; and building and leading data analytics team to bring advanced analytics to all NORC project offerings.

Jang has over twenty years experience managing and directing large-scale national federal statistical projects and methodological research associated with federal statistics programs. He has broad experience across all aspects of statistics, including multivariate statistical modeling, data linkage of multiple survey and administrative data, statistical disclosure avoidance, adaptive survey design, real time survey data processing, sampling, estimation, and report and data file production.

Before joining NORC in 2016, Jang was director of Data Science and Statistics of Mathematica Policy Research, building and growing the group to have more than 50 statisticians and data scientists. Jang’s longtime commitment to supporting national Science Foundation’s NCSES programs has been dated back to his tenure at Mathematica. Jang had led all statistical tasks for the Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System (SESTAT) project since 1996. The SESTAT database integrates data collected through three national sample surveys supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF): the National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG), the Survey of Doctorate Recipients (SDR), and the National Survey of Recent College Graduates (NSRCG). For that project, Jang has led all activities needed for statistical support of the SESTAT system, including linking multiple survey data; optimum sample allocation to meet a number of statistical precision goals; dynamic, streamlined, real time data processing for data editing, imputation, and model-based weighting production for large scale data collection, developing SESTAT variance estimation methodologies, constructing longitudinal weights for longitudinal data analysis, and providing general statistical consultations to NSF and data collection contractors.

Jang had been a member of the Statistical Evaluation Committee for the NSCG since its 2010 redesign based on American Community Survey (ACS) data for its sampling frame. As a committee member, Jang provided statistical advice to the NSF and Census Bureau NSCG statistical staff.

Jang previously taught graduate and undergraduate courses at George Washington University and George Mason University. He is currently a board member of the Korean International Statistical Society and also a board member of Hope Nicaragua; he has served as an at large board member and methodology program and section chairs for the Washington Statistical Society.

Don Jang

Vice President and Director
Higher Education Analytics Center
(301) 634-9415

Don Jang is Vice President and Director of the Center for Excellence in Survey Research and serves as its Director. He is responsible for overseeing all staff and operations in the CESR department; building and leading the survey analytics team to help transform data collections to meet the demands of information with respect to timeliness, quantity, and quality; and building and leading data analytics team to bring advanced analytics to all NORC project offerings.

Jang has over twenty years experience managing and directing large-scale national federal statistical projects and methodological research associated with federal statistics programs. He has broad experience across all aspects of statistics, including multivariate statistical modeling, data linkage of multiple survey and administrative data, statistical disclosure avoidance, adaptive survey design, real time survey data processing, sampling, estimation, and report and data file production.

Before joining NORC in 2016, Jang was director of Data Science and Statistics of Mathematica Policy Research, building and growing the group to have more than 50 statisticians and data scientists. Jang’s longtime commitment to supporting national Science Foundation’s NCSES programs has been dated back to his tenure at Mathematica. Jang had led all statistical tasks for the Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System (SESTAT) project since 1996. The SESTAT database integrates data collected through three national sample surveys supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF): the National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG), the Survey of Doctorate Recipients (SDR), and the National Survey of Recent College Graduates (NSRCG). For that project, Jang has led all activities needed for statistical support of the SESTAT system, including linking multiple survey data; optimum sample allocation to meet a number of statistical precision goals; dynamic, streamlined, real time data processing for data editing, imputation, and model-based weighting production for large scale data collection, developing SESTAT variance estimation methodologies, constructing longitudinal weights for longitudinal data analysis, and providing general statistical consultations to NSF and data collection contractors.

Jang had been a member of the Statistical Evaluation Committee for the NSCG since its 2010 redesign based on American Community Survey (ACS) data for its sampling frame. As a committee member, Jang provided statistical advice to the NSF and Census Bureau NSCG statistical staff.

Jang previously taught graduate and undergraduate courses at George Washington University and George Mason University. He is currently a board member of the Korean International Statistical Society and also a board member of Hope Nicaragua; he has served as an at large board member and methodology program and section chairs for the Washington Statistical Society.

Jennifer Hamilton

Vice President
Education and Child Development
Phone: (312) 201-6836

Dr. Jennifer Hamilton is Vice President of the Education and Child Development department at NORC. She brings extensive experience in education, methodological knowledge, and leadership skills to create collaborative teams of researchers that support innovative approaches to instruction and student growth.

Hamilton specializes in evaluation methodology, with a focus on the design and implementation of rigorous experimental and quasi-experimental designs. A major emphasis in her work has been social equity and improving the social, academic, economic, and health outcomes of our nation’s most vulnerable youth. As a results-oriented professional, she is an invited lecturer at the University of Georgia, a certified What Works Clearinghouse reviewer, a peer reviewer for numerous journals, and a past president of the Eastern Evaluation Research Society (EERS). Her chapter on program evaluation was recently published in a major textbook.

In her previous role, Hamilton led efforts to attract funding by responding to RFPs and submitting grant applications at the national, state, and local levels.

Jennifer Hamilton

Vice President
Education and Child Development
(312) 201-6836

Dr. Jennifer Hamilton is Vice President of the Education and Child Development department at NORC. She brings extensive experience in education, methodological knowledge, and leadership skills to create collaborative teams of researchers that support innovative approaches to instruction and student growth.

Hamilton specializes in evaluation methodology, with a focus on the design and implementation of rigorous experimental and quasi-experimental designs. A major emphasis in her work has been social equity and improving the social, academic, economic, and health outcomes of our nation’s most vulnerable youth. As a results-oriented professional, she is an invited lecturer at the University of Georgia, a certified What Works Clearinghouse reviewer, a peer reviewer for numerous journals, and a past president of the Eastern Evaluation Research Society (EERS). Her chapter on program evaluation was recently published in a major textbook.

In her previous role, Hamilton led efforts to attract funding by responding to RFPs and submitting grant applications at the national, state, and local levels.

Catherine C. Haggerty

Vice President
Economics, Justice, and Society
Phone: (312) 759-4065

Catherine C. Haggerty is Vice President of the Economics, Justice and Society department at NORC. She collaborates in establishing the department’s research agenda, business development, partnerships, and strategic outreach and planning, while managing small- and large-scale projects. She fulfills leadership responsibilities on various corporate committees focused on business development and is a member of NORC’s Institutional Review Board.

Haggerty has worked in the social science industry for more than 30 years managing all aspects of survey research for data collection projects including sample selection, listing, screening, questionnaire development, focus groups, pilot testing, systems development and testing, remote and in-person training, data collection, records abstraction, reporting, data preparation, delivery, and documentation. During the last decade she has managed the Survey of Consumer Finances, Making Connections and the Resident Relocation Study. She is also currently managing the Survey of Economically Successful Americans and is the Co-Principal Investigator of the Houston Foreclosure Study.

She has led teams that have developed training and mentoring programs that have resulted in improved data quality, designed strategies that maintain or increase response rates, and implemented quality improvement programs that have increased the efficiency of NORC’s data collection processes. In addition to her expertise in national large-scale, multimode longitudinal field data collection efforts, which include computer-assisted personal interviewing, paper-and-pencil interviewing and self-administration, she has also managed both large- and small-scale computer-assisted (CATI) studies. Prior to joining NORC in 1987, Haggerty worked as director of telephone operations at the Rand Corporation and director of the telephone center at UCLA’s Institute for Social Science Research. At both organizations she worked to improve screening and response rates. During her two years at the Rand Corporation she worked primarily on the Medical Outcomes Study and at UCLA she was a supervisor for the California Disability Study, the first academic CATI survey undertaken in the U.S., as well as numerous other CATI studies during her eight- year tenure.

Haggerty was a special issue guest editor of Housing Policy Debate, published in 2010. She has also co-authored scholarly papers addressing survey methodology and poverty-related issues; these papers have been presented at the American Association for Public Opinion Research, the Urban Affairs Association, National Association for Welfare Research and Statistics, and the Society for Lifelong and Longitudinal Studies.

Catherine C. Haggerty

Vice President
Economics, Justice, and Society
(312) 759-4065

Catherine C. Haggerty is Vice President of the Economics, Justice and Society department at NORC. She collaborates in establishing the department’s research agenda, business development, partnerships, and strategic outreach and planning, while managing small- and large-scale projects. She fulfills leadership responsibilities on various corporate committees focused on business development and is a member of NORC’s Institutional Review Board.

Haggerty has worked in the social science industry for more than 30 years managing all aspects of survey research for data collection projects including sample selection, listing, screening, questionnaire development, focus groups, pilot testing, systems development and testing, remote and in-person training, data collection, records abstraction, reporting, data preparation, delivery, and documentation. During the last decade she has managed the Survey of Consumer Finances, Making Connections and the Resident Relocation Study. She is also currently managing the Survey of Economically Successful Americans and is the Co-Principal Investigator of the Houston Foreclosure Study.

She has led teams that have developed training and mentoring programs that have resulted in improved data quality, designed strategies that maintain or increase response rates, and implemented quality improvement programs that have increased the efficiency of NORC’s data collection processes. In addition to her expertise in national large-scale, multimode longitudinal field data collection efforts, which include computer-assisted personal interviewing, paper-and-pencil interviewing and self-administration, she has also managed both large- and small-scale computer-assisted (CATI) studies. Prior to joining NORC in 1987, Haggerty worked as director of telephone operations at the Rand Corporation and director of the telephone center at UCLA’s Institute for Social Science Research. At both organizations she worked to improve screening and response rates. During her two years at the Rand Corporation she worked primarily on the Medical Outcomes Study and at UCLA she was a supervisor for the California Disability Study, the first academic CATI survey undertaken in the U.S., as well as numerous other CATI studies during her eight- year tenure.

Haggerty was a special issue guest editor of Housing Policy Debate, published in 2010. She has also co-authored scholarly papers addressing survey methodology and poverty-related issues; these papers have been presented at the American Association for Public Opinion Research, the Urban Affairs Association, National Association for Welfare Research and Statistics, and the Society for Lifelong and Longitudinal Studies.