601 E. ST, NW

Washington, DC 20049

Supervisor: Dr. Bob Prisuta, Research Director, (202) 434-6293, may contact.

Designed and managed multiple complex research projects specializing in the areas of income security (Social Security, SSI, Medicare and retirement savings behavior) and demographics to support AARP’s legislative and member value agendas.

Collaborated with teams throughout AARP on all phases of research to ensure the quality of research, conducted peer review of others’ reports, including those prepared by vendors, and managed survey components of policy or program evaluation research in other departments.

Was principal investigator or technical project manager for five annual or ongoing surveys and provided analyses of national government data or internal data on an ongoing basis. Translated results into a variety of descriptive and background written materials and presentations informing policy developers and evaluation teams.

Communicated results of AARP research to internal and external audiences. Facilitated partnerships with cooperating organizations by representing AARP to media, policy makers and other organizations in such venues as press conferences and professional meetings, through written articles, briefs, presentations, action memos or interviews.

AARP

601 E. ST, NW

Washington, DC 20049

Supervisor: Dr. Bob Prisuta, Research Director, (202) 434-6293, may contact.

Contributed to or managed statistically representative surveys and research projects in the areas of demographics, media analysis, and social welfare to support AARP’s legislative and member value agendas. I worked with clients throughout AARP to identify their research needs and develop appropriate methodologies to support their goals.

Examined extant national surveys and data sources where appropriate to save research dollars and increase the value of new research performed. Some of the large government data sets used included the Current Population Surveys, Census SF3s, General Social Survey, and the BLS Survey of Consumer Finance among others.

Supervised AARP relationships with several external vendors and consultants, managed the 1999 and 2000 “AARP Membership Demographics Surveys,” the 1997-2006 EBRI Retirement Confidence Surveys, the CARMA Media Analysis program for national media tracking, and the Media Relations VMS Tracking project. All these projects were completed on time and on budget. Clients provided very high satisfaction ratings or appreciation awards and my annual updates were always rated “Exceeded Expectations.” Served as interim Management Lead for the Demographic Information Systems team.

601 E. Street, NW

Washington, DC 20049

Supervisor: Dr. Laurel Beedon, (202) 512-5620, may contact.

Collected and processed raw data from existing government surveys using a variety of spreadsheet and statistical packages, mainly Excel and SPSS. I designed and constructed appropriate databases and tested economic models for use in Public Policy Institute analyses on Social Security reform, Medicare and older women’s financial issues and demographic effects on retirement security. These efforts resulted in several presentations by senior policy advisors, policy recommendations and inputs to several program design models.

Assisted with information visualization and analysis tasks; found and tested new software packages; produced presentation materials for conferences with membership or press.

Reviewed literature, edited draft research reports and papers, and conducted verification and proofing for externally produced research projects and publications.

Washington, DC 20049

Supervisor: Dr. Joel Reaser, (Retired.)

In the statistics, methods and research technologies department, I helped pioneered use of Geographic Information Systems within AARP resulting in techniques that were widely adapted by the Association. This resulted in a huge increase in the use of general demographic and member data in program planning throughout the Association. Assisted in cartographic design and production, and database management tasks related to analyzing all congressional districts by age and other socio-demographic variables. Represented the team in briefings to program designers and project team leads of cooperating departments.

EDUCATION

Master of Arts, Non Fiction Writing 2008

Johns Hopkins University

Master of Science, Geography 1994

Florida State University

Bachelor of Arts, Geography 1988

Clark University, Worcester, MA

Minors in Biology and Comparative Literature

Other Post Graduate

University of Maryland, College Park, MD

Three years Ph.D. work in the Department of Geography

30 credit hours statistics, urban economics and database management. 1995-1997.

Relevant coursework included classes on Database Systems, Urban Demography, Quantitative Spatial Analysis, Sociology Research Methods and Data Archives, and Marketing Research Methods.

AWARDS AND CERTIFICATION

Professional Researcher Certification. Level: Expert. Marketing Research Association, 2006.

URISA-GIS-Corps Certificate of Appreciation: Assignment: Washington Parish, La –911 System FEMA Mapping Project, Hurricane Katrina Recovery Mission, 2005.

AARP Sustained Excellence Award in Creativity, for research in the ‘Beyond 50’ series, 2001.

Three AARP Certificates of Recognition for Outstanding Performance, 1996, 1997 and 2001.

Nominated for two AARP Association Awards for sustained Excellence and Creativity, 1999.

MEMBERSHIPS

• Past Chair, Board of Directors COPAFS, (Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics) 2005-2006

• Population Association of America

• American Association of Public Opinion Research

• Population Reference Bureau

COMPUTER PROFICIENCY

• Statistical software: SPSS, SAS, S-Plus, MapInfo with SQL

• Microsoft Office, Lotus, and LEXUS/NEXUS, Windows and Macintosh operating system.

Provided major contributions to the Recent Public Release AARP Projects Below
 

AARP. (2007). The State of 50+ America 2007. Stock # D18779.

http://www.aarp.org/research/reference/agingtrends/fifty_plus_2007.html

AARP. (2006). The State of 50+ America 2006 Research Report - Economic Trends. Stock # D18469.

http://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/econ/fifty_plus_2006.pdf

AARP. (2004). The State of 50+ America 2004. Stock # D18051.

http://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/general/fifty_plus_2004.pdf

Prisuta, B. (2004). Enhancing Volunteerism among Aging Boomers. In M. Gerteis, (Ed.), Reinventing Aging: Baby Boomers and Civic Engagement (pp. 47-89). Boston, MA: Harvard School of Public Health.

http://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/general/boomers_engagement.pdf

AARP, S. Zapolsky. (2004). Baby Boomers Envision Retirement II: Survey of Baby Boomers' Expectations for Retirement. Washington, DC: AARP.

http://www.aarp.org/research/surveys/stats/demo/boomers/articles/aresearch-import-865.html

AARP. (2004). Pension Participant Knowledge about Plan Fees Research Report. Pub ID: DD105.

http://www.aarp.org/research/financial/pensions/pension_participant_knowledge_about_plan_fees.html

Zapolsky, S. (2003). Baby Boomers and Retirement. In The Encyclopedia of Retirement and Finance. (Vol. 1, pp. 59- 62). Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press.

AARP. (2003). Beyond 50.03: A Report to the Nation on Independent Living and Disability. (Washington, D.C.: AARP, 2003). Stock # D17817.

http://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/il/beyond_50_il.pdf

AARP. (2002). Beyond 50.02 A Report to the Nation on Trends in Health Security. (Washington, D.C.: AARP, May 2002). Stock # D17682.

http://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/health/beyond_50_health.pdf

AARP. (2001.) Beyond 50: A Report to the Nation on Economic Security. (Washington, D.C.: AARP). Stock # D17682.

http://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/econ/beyond_50_econ.pdf