Current Professional Affiliations

Chief Data Officer, City of Chicago
Director of Analytics and Performance Management, Department of Innovation and Technology, City of Chicago.

Leadership & Advisory Roles

Advisory Board Member – Northwestern’s Masters of Science in Analytics (MSiA)

Organizer – Chicago Data Visualization Group

Educational Background

Iowa State University, Masters of Science (M.S.), Economics: December 2007

Drake University, Bachelor’s of Arts (B.A.), Majors: Economics & Politics, Minors: Philosophy & Mathematics: May 2005.

Previous Professional Experience

• Senior Research Data Analyst, Northwestern University, Department of Medical Social Sciences: February 2012 – October 2012
• Consultant, Iowa State University, Office of Community College Research & Policy: March 2012 – August 2012
• Consultant – Institutional Effectiveness & Accountability, Iowa Department of Education: January 2008 – January 2012
• Visiting Graduate Fellow, American Institute for Economic Research, Great Barrington, MA: Summer 2006
• Investment Analyst, Smith Barney, Des Moines, IA: 2004 – 2006

Previous Teaching & Research Experience

• Lecturer, Economics & Statistics, Grand View University: August 2008 – December 2011
• Instructor, Workshop at the 2010 Mid-America Association of Institutional Research Annual Forum, “Data Visualization“: November 2010.
• Research Assistant, Iowa State University: October 2006 – December 2007
• LaTeX Tutorial/FYS Seminar, Department of Mathematics, Drake University: Fall Semester 2005

Book

Circos Data Visualization How-To. Packt Publishing. 2012

Book Chapters

“Workforce and Technical Skill Education and Its Assessment of Student Success” in Building Bridges for Student Success: A Sourcebook for Colleges and Universities (Eds. McLaughlin, Gerry, Richard Howard, Josetta McLaughlin, and William E. Knight). Consortium for Student Retention and Data Exchange, The University of Oklahoma. 2014 (working paper version)

Academic Publications

“Machine-Learned Epidemiology: Real-time Detection of Foodborne Illness at Scale.” Forthcoming, npj Digital Medicine.

“The Effects of Graduate-student Unionization on Stipends.” 2013 (forthcoming), The Review of Higher Education.

“Going and Passing Through Community Colleges: Examining the Effectiveness of Project Lead The Way in STEM Pathways.” 2013, Community College Journal of Research and Practice 37(3), p. 226-236. (working paper version)

“Measuring Transitions into the Workforce as a Form of Accountability.” November 2011, IR Applications, No. 32.

“Ethnic and racial differences in investment behavior.” (w/ Tahira K. Hira and Cäzilia Loibl) 2007. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the American Association for Family and Consumer Sciences (AAFCS), Reno, Nevada.

“A Framework for Agent-Based Computational Economics in Economic Geography.” Drake Undergraduate Social Science Journal. Spring 2006.

Other Publications

“Will data change the face of our cities? / les donnes changerot-elles le visage de nos villas?”  Open Resources Magazine, Paris, France. 2016

A Strategic Plan for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education. Cedar Falls, IA. 2011.

The Annual Condition of Iowa’s Community Colleges 2009. Des Moines, IA: Iowa Department of Education, Division of Community Colleges and Workforce Preparation. 2010.

Iowa Community College Fall Enrollment Report: 2010. Des Moines, IA: Iowa Department of Education, Division of Community Colleges and Workforce Preparation. 2009.

“Calculating Returns to Degree Using Administrative Data: 2002 Cohort.” (w/ Kiyokazu Matsuyama). Iowa Department of Education Technical Bulletin. No. 2. Des Moines, IA: Iowa Department of Education, Division of Community Colleges and Workforce Preparation. October 2009.

Iowa Community College Fall Enrollment Report: 2009. Des Moines, IA: Iowa Department of Education, Division of Community Colleges and Workforce Preparation. 2009.

Iowa Community College Tuition and Fees Report: 2010. (w/ Kent Farver). Des Moines, IA: Iowa Department of Education, Division of Community Colleges and Workforce Preparation. August 2009.

Project Lead The Way Interim Research Report: July 2009. (w/ Frankie Santos Laanan, David Rethwisch, Soko S. Starobin, Melissa Chapman, Leaf Yi Zhang). Des Moines, IA: Iowa Department of Education, Division of Community Colleges and Workforce Preparation. 2009.

The Annual Condition of Iowa’s Community Colleges: 2008. Des Moines, IA: Iowa Department of Education, Division of Community Colleges and Workforce Preparation. 2009.

“Enrollment Projections of Iowa’s Community Colleges.” Iowa Department of Education Technical Bulletin. No 1. Des Moines, IA: Iowa Department of Education, Division of Community College and Workforce Preparation. May 2008.

Iowa Community College Fall Enrollment Report: 2008. Des Moines, IA: Iowa Department of Education, Division of Community Colleges and Workforce Preparation. 2008.

Iowa Community College Tuition and Fees Report: Fiscal Year 2009. (w/ Jeremy Varner). Des Moines, IA: Iowa Department of Education.

The Effects of Graduate-student Unionization. Master’s Thesis. Iowa State University Library, February 2007. (Committee Members: Peter Orazem, Justin Tobias, Anthony Townsend).

“Exploring the Investment Behavior of Minorities in America.” (w/ Tahira K. Hira and Cäzilia Loibl).Washington, D.C.: Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Investor Education Foundation. 2007.

“Examining the Investor Confidence of Minorities in America.” (w/ Tahira K. Hira and Cäzilia Loibl). Washington D.C.: Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Investor Education Foundation. 2007.

Working Papers & Manuscripts

“Causal Impact of Iowa Project Lead The Way on Achievement Scores” (w/ David Rethwisch, Frankie Santos Laanan, Melissa Chapman, Soko S. Starobin, Leaf Zhang). Working Paper. Iowa Department of Education. April 2010.

“Calculating Returns to Degree Using Student Longitudinal Data Systems” (w/ Kiyokazu Matsuyama). Working Paper. Iowa Department of Education. February 2010.

“Current Status and Practice of Project Lead The Way in Iowa: A Longitudinal Evaluation” (w/ Frankie Santos Laanan, David Rethwisch, Soko S. Starobin, Leaf Zhang, Melissa Chapman). Working Paper. Iowa State University, College of Education. January 2010.

“A Conceptual and Operational Definition of STEM for Iowa Community Colleges” Working Paper (w/ John Lund). Working Paper. January 2010.

“Ethnic and Racial Differences in Investment Behavior. ” (w/ Tahira K. Hira and Cäzilia Loibl). Working Paper. Iowa State University. August 2007.

“Risk Tolerance and Investor Confidence.” (w/ Tahira K. Hira and Cäzilia Loibl). Working Paper. Iowa State University. August 2007.

“Bayes is the New Black: Agent-Based and Bayesian Inference in Biology.” (w/ Trin Turner). Working Paper, 2007.

Academic Conferences & Presentations

1. University of Chicago Booth School. Chicago Booth Alumni Big Data and Analytics Roundtable “Making a Data-Driven Government Organization.” Chicago, Illinois. September 1, 2016.
2. National Academy of Sciences. Building Smart Communities for the Future, “City-University Partnerships and the Metrolab Network.” Washington D.C. June 22, 2016
3. National Academy of Sciences. Workshop on Big Data and Analytics for Infectious Disease Research, Operations, and Policy, “Case Studies in Big Data and Analytics.” Washington D.C. May 10, 2016 (Video)
4. Do Good Data 2016. “Keynote: The Data Driven Government.” Chicago, Illinois. April 28, 2016.
5. University of Chicago, Urban Center for Computation and Data. Convening on Urban Data Science. “Panel: Partnerships between Academia and Policymakers.” Chicago, Illinois. April 27, 2016
6. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). 5th OECD Forum on Statistics, Knowledge, and Policy, “Big and Crowd-Sourced Data.” Guadalajara, Mexico. October 15, 2015
7. Summer Institute on Sustainability and Energy 2015. Chicago, Illinois. August 13, 2015.
8. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, International Conference on eDemocracy & eGovernment, “Building a government data strategy: Aligning open data and advanced research with the public and open science principles.” Quito, Ecuador. April 10, 2015.
9. Code for America Summit 2014.  “So You’re Ready for Open Data: Now What? Part 1, Part 2“. San Francisco, California. September 2014.
10. University of Chicago, Council on Advanced Studies, Computational Social Science Workshop, “Using Data to Improve Cities.” Chicago, Illinois. February 1, 2013.
11. American Education Research Association, “Genetic Algorithms for Propensity Score Matching: Evaluation of Project Lead The Way in College Persistence.” Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. April 2012.
12. Education Works! Summit, “Education & Labor Force Needs.” Ankeny, Iowa. November 2012.
13. Center for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Education (CESME) Brown Bag Seminar, “Iowa Project Lead The Way: Implications for Research, Policy, and Practice.” Ames, Iowa. October 5, 2011.
14. American Education Research Association, “Counting the Number of Women and Minorities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Majors: Complications From Diverging Definitions of STEM.” New Orleans, Louisiana. April 2011.
15. Council for the Study of Community Colleges, “A Pathway to Postsecondary Education in STEM Fields.” (w/ Soko S. Starobin, Frankie Santos Laanan, Yi (Leaf) Zhang, David Rethwisch, & Melissa Haynes). New Orleans, Louisiana. April 2011.
16. Association for the Study of Higher Education, “Calculating Public and Private Economic Returns to Degree Using Administrative Data.” Indianapolis, Indiana. November 2010.
17. American Evaluation Association Annual Conference, “Longitudinal Evaluation of Project lead The Way in Iowa: Using Interdisciplinary Collaboration as a Method of Quality.” San Antonio, Texas. November 2010.
18. Mid-America Association of Institutional Research, “Are There Enough Women in STEM?” Kansas City, MO. November 2010.
19. Mid-America Association of Institutional Research, “Calculating the Public-Economic Returns to Higher Education. An Example Using Iowa Community Colleges.” Kansas City, MO. November 2010.
20. P-12 Engineering and Design Education Research Summit, “Achievement Outcomes of Project Lead The Way in Iowa: Preliminary Results.” (w/ David Rethwisch, Frankie Santos Laanan, Melissa Chapman, Soko S. Starobin, Yi Zhang). Seaside, Oregon. August 2010.
21. Iowa Association of Community College Trustees Annual Conference, “Phases of a Community College Student: A Statistical Profile.” (w/ Jeremy Varner). Marshalltown, Iowa. July 2010.
22. Association of Institutional Research, “Visualizing Transitions into the Workforce.” (w/ Kiyokazu Matsuyama). Chicago, Illinois. May 2010. (Poster Session)
23. Association of Institutional Research, “Initial Results of a Longitudinal Evaluation of Project Lead The Way.” (w/ Frankie Santos Laanan, David Rethwisch, Soko Starobin, Melissa Chapman, Yi Zhang). Chicago, Illinois. May 2010.
24. Association of Institutional Research, “Calculating Returns to Degree Using Administrative Data.” (w/ Kiyokazu Matsuyama). Chicago, Illinois. May 2010.
25. American Educational Research Association, “Workforce Development During Economic Crisis: The Iowa Community College Response” (w/ Andrew Ryder, Linda Hagedorn, Soko Starobin, Dee Baird). Denver, Colorado. April 2010. (Poster Session)
26. American Educational Research Association,”Calculating Returns to Degree Using State Longitudinal Data Systems” (w/ Kiyo Matsuyama). Denver, Colorado. April 2010.
27. American Educational Research Association,”Initial Results of the Evaluation of Iowa Project Lead The Way” (w/ Frankie Santos Laanan, David Rethwisch, Soko Starobin, Melissa Chapman, and Yi Zhang). Denver, Colorado. April 2010.
28. American Educational Research Association, “Visualizing Transitions into the Workforce” (w/ Kiyo Matsuyama). Denver, Colorado. April 2010. (Poster Session)
29. Midwest Association of Institutional Researchers,”Calculating Returns to Degree Using Administrative Data.” (w/ Kiyokazu Matsuyama), Kansas City, Missouri. November 2009.
30. Midwest Association of Institutional Researchers,”Visualizing Transitions into the Workforce” (w/ Kiyokazu Matsuyama), Kansas City, Missouri. November 2009. (Poster Session)
31. Iowa Association for Career and Technical Education,”Project Lead The Way Evaluation Study”. Ames, Iowa. November 2009.
32. Association for the Study of Higher Education, “A Longitudinal Evaluation of Project Lead The Way in the State of Iowa” (w/ Frankie Santos Laanan, David Rethwisch, Soko Starobin, and Yi Zhang). Vancouver, Canada. November 2009. (Poster Session).
33. Association of Institutional Researchers – Upper Midwest,”A Longitudinal Evaluation of Iowa ‘Project Lead The Way’ in the State of Iowa.” (w/ Yi Zhang, Frankie Santos Laanan, David Rethwisch, Soko Starobin, and Melissa Chapman), Minneapolis, Minnesota. October 2009. (Poster Session).
34. Association of Institutional Researchers – Upper Midwest,”Visualizing Transitions into the Workforce” (w/ Kiyokazu Matsuyama), Minneapolis, Minnesota. October 2009. (Poster Session).
35. Association of Institutional Researchers – Upper Midwest,”Calculating Returns to Degree Using Administrative Data” (w/ Kiyokazu Matsuyama), Minneapolis, Minnesota. October 2009.
36. Iowa State University, Brown Bag Seminar, College of Education,”Longitudinal Data and Higher Education Accountability (recorded video)”, Ames, Iowa. September 2009.
37. Academy of Financial Services,”Risk Tolerance and Investment Confidence Among High-income Investors of Diverse Racial and Ethnic Backgrounds” (w/ Tahira K. Hira and Cazilia Loibl), Orlando, Florida. October 2007.
38. International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology (ISHPSSB),”Bayes is the New Black: Agent-Based Modeling and Bayesian Inferences in Biology“(w/ Trin Turner), University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom. July 2007.
39. American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences,”How Different Cultures Approach Investing.” (w/ Tahira K. Hira and Cazilia Loibl), Reno, Nevada. June 2007.
40. Midwest Economic Association Conferences, “The Effects of Graduate-student Unionization.” Chicago, Illinois. March 2006.

Honors

• 25 Doers, Dreamers, & Drivers, Government Technology, 2018
• Nominee, ChicagoInno “50 on Fire”, 2015
• In-abstentia Graduate Fellow Award, academic year 2006-07
• Pi Sigma Alpha, Kappa Tau Chapter Member, Political Science Honors Society, Drake University