AP-NORC Center Experts

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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.

Karen Grigorian

Vice President
Education and Child Development
Phone: (312) 759-4025

Karen Grigorian is vice president of the Education and Child Development department. In addition to her role as vice president and serving as a project director, she is chair of NORC’s Institutional Review Board and co-lead for the Higher Education Analytics Center.

Since joining NORC in 1993, Grigorian has gained extensive experience through her work, which spans the length of NORC’s extensive library of social science surveys. She holds leadership responsibilities on many levels, including department administration, project management, department and project budget supervision, client relationships and human subjects’ protections review. Currently working as the Project Director on the Component 2 EEO-1 Pay Data Collection for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Principal Investigator on Bottom Line College Access Program Evaluation, and project consultant for the Study of the American Law School Dean for the Association of American law Schools. As a project leader, Survey of Doctorate Recipients sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Grigorian is responsible for all aspects of management, including for all facets of the project, including client management communication, project team leadership, obtaining IRB and Office of Management and Budget clearance, sample design, controlled experiment designs methodological plans, system architecture, data collection oversight, data products and deliverables such as final reports, and external data users’ requests.

Grigorian regularly authors multiple presentations and reports and recently presented “. Exploring Alternative Measures of Doctoral Underemployment” at the 2018 Society for Longitudinal and Lifecourse Studies conference and “Optimal Offer Strategies in a Paperless World – Incentive experiment results from a multi-wave student survey” at the 2018 Federal Computer Assisted Survey Information Collection meeting. Most recently, she was a co-author on the 2017 Annals of Epidemiology journal article “”Do Inferences about Mortality Rates and Disparities Vary by Source of Mortality Information?” and she frequently produces or co-writes other publications for the NSF including InfoBriefs, panel meeting presentations, and methodological reports. In the past, Grigorian co-authored a guideline for the U.S. Department of Education, How to Solicit Rigorous Evaluations of Mathematics and Science Partnerships (MSP) Projects: A User-Friendly Guide for MSP State Coordinators (2005). Earlier in her career with NORC, Grigorian was the Director of the Data Preparation Center. This experience has given her a thorough understanding of the most effective data collection and quality assurance methodologies, which are seamlessly incorporated into her current project protocols.

Grigorian received her undergraduate degree and a secondary teaching certificate from the University of Michigan while working at the Institute for Social Research. Since that time, she has earned a Masters of Project Management.

Karen Grigorian

Vice President
Education and Child Development
(312) 759-4025

Karen Grigorian is vice president of the Education and Child Development department. In addition to her role as vice president and serving as a project director, she is chair of NORC’s Institutional Review Board and co-lead for the Higher Education Analytics Center.

Since joining NORC in 1993, Grigorian has gained extensive experience through her work, which spans the length of NORC’s extensive library of social science surveys. She holds leadership responsibilities on many levels, including department administration, project management, department and project budget supervision, client relationships and human subjects’ protections review. Currently working as the Project Director on the Component 2 EEO-1 Pay Data Collection for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Principal Investigator on Bottom Line College Access Program Evaluation, and project consultant for the Study of the American Law School Dean for the Association of American law Schools. As a project leader, Survey of Doctorate Recipients sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Grigorian is responsible for all aspects of management, including for all facets of the project, including client management communication, project team leadership, obtaining IRB and Office of Management and Budget clearance, sample design, controlled experiment designs methodological plans, system architecture, data collection oversight, data products and deliverables such as final reports, and external data users’ requests.

Grigorian regularly authors multiple presentations and reports and recently presented “. Exploring Alternative Measures of Doctoral Underemployment” at the 2018 Society for Longitudinal and Lifecourse Studies conference and “Optimal Offer Strategies in a Paperless World – Incentive experiment results from a multi-wave student survey” at the 2018 Federal Computer Assisted Survey Information Collection meeting. Most recently, she was a co-author on the 2017 Annals of Epidemiology journal article “”Do Inferences about Mortality Rates and Disparities Vary by Source of Mortality Information?” and she frequently produces or co-writes other publications for the NSF including InfoBriefs, panel meeting presentations, and methodological reports. In the past, Grigorian co-authored a guideline for the U.S. Department of Education, How to Solicit Rigorous Evaluations of Mathematics and Science Partnerships (MSP) Projects: A User-Friendly Guide for MSP State Coordinators (2005). Earlier in her career with NORC, Grigorian was the Director of the Data Preparation Center. This experience has given her a thorough understanding of the most effective data collection and quality assurance methodologies, which are seamlessly incorporated into her current project protocols.

Grigorian received her undergraduate degree and a secondary teaching certificate from the University of Michigan while working at the Institute for Social Research. Since that time, she has earned a Masters of Project Management.

Varuni Dayaratna

Vice President
International Programs
Phone: (301) 634-9414

Varuni Dayaratna is Vice President and Associate Director for International Programs at NORC. She is a seasoned program manager, with over 20 years of experience working in the international development field and over 15 years of experience managing research, evaluation, and technical assistance project.

Dayaratna currently serves as project director for numerous NORC projects, including the $25 million USAID-funded Reading & Access Evaluation MOBIS task order under which NORC is conducting impact evaluations of early grade reading projects in Ethiopia, Zambia, Nepal, Liberia, and South Africa. She has also managed multimillion dollar Millennium Challenge Corporation evaluation contracts in Lesotho, Ghana, and Honduras, and currently serves as Project Director for the performance and impact evaluation of USAID’s School Health and Reading Program in Uganda.

As project director for these evaluations, Dayaratna manages multidisciplinary teams comprised of economists, statisticians, survey experts, and subject-matter experts; and oversees all aspects of the projects including design and implementation of the evaluations, data collection, and analysis.

Before joining NORC, Dayaratna served as Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean for the Health Policy Initiative, a multi-year USAID-funded health project. Within this context, Dayaratna developed and oversaw the design and implementation of country-level M&E Plans and associated data collection. She has worked over the years with USAID, MCC, The World Bank, The Inter-American Development Bank and foundations.

Dayaratna holds a Master’s degree in international affairs from Princeton University.

Varuni Dayaratna

Vice President
International Programs
(301) 634-9414

Varuni Dayaratna is Vice President and Associate Director for International Programs at NORC. She is a seasoned program manager, with over 20 years of experience working in the international development field and over 15 years of experience managing research, evaluation, and technical assistance project.

Dayaratna currently serves as project director for numerous NORC projects, including the $25 million USAID-funded Reading & Access Evaluation MOBIS task order under which NORC is conducting impact evaluations of early grade reading projects in Ethiopia, Zambia, Nepal, Liberia, and South Africa. She has also managed multimillion dollar Millennium Challenge Corporation evaluation contracts in Lesotho, Ghana, and Honduras, and currently serves as Project Director for the performance and impact evaluation of USAID’s School Health and Reading Program in Uganda.

As project director for these evaluations, Dayaratna manages multidisciplinary teams comprised of economists, statisticians, survey experts, and subject-matter experts; and oversees all aspects of the projects including design and implementation of the evaluations, data collection, and analysis.

Before joining NORC, Dayaratna served as Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean for the Health Policy Initiative, a multi-year USAID-funded health project. Within this context, Dayaratna developed and oversaw the design and implementation of country-level M&E Plans and associated data collection. She has worked over the years with USAID, MCC, The World Bank, The Inter-American Development Bank and foundations.

Dayaratna holds a Master’s degree in international affairs from Princeton University.