Sarah E. Zapolsky

17 Sunset Drive, Alexandria, VA 22301 ■ (p): 703-684-5430 ■ E-mail: szapolsky@gmail.com

Relevant Experience

AARP, Washington, DC June 1994 - Present

Senior Research Advisor – Membership and Social Impact (03/03 – Present)

Within the issue areas of economics, disabilities, work, demographics, pensions and long term care I:

• Design and manage complex research projects, and translate results into a variety of descriptive and background reports, action memos and other written materials and presentations;

• Collaborate with teams throughout AARP on all phases of research to ensure the quality of various research project, conduct peer review of others’ reports, including those prepared by vendors, and manage survey components of policy research in other departments;

• Communicate results of AARP research to internal and external audiences, representing AARP to media and other organizations in such venues as press conferences and professional meetings, through written articles, briefs, presentations, action memos and interviews;

• Supervise and conduct empirical data analyses that affect the quality of life for people as they age by creating research that informs AARP’s legislative agenda. These include bivariate analysis, multivariate analysis, and other complex statistical techniques focused on the economics, demographics, and social processes;

• Contributed to revitalizing “Brown Bag” lunch series to facilitate sharing research methods, results, topics and challenges across AARP non-profit divisions.

Research Analyst - Membership (10/1997 – 3/03)

• Managed or contributed to research projects in the areas of demographics, media analysis, and geo-demographics to support AARP’s legislative and member value agendas; worked with clients throughout AARP to identify their research needs and develop appropriate methodologies to support their goals;

• Informed internal clients on changing socio-demographic realities of an aging population and addressed ways for AARP to better serve a new generation of members;

• Supervised 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 projects;

• Designed and co-wrote the “Boomer Briefing Book,” (including three updates) which is widely used throughout the Association;

• Provided support to Association users with several large government data sets including the Current Population Surveys, Census SF3s, General Social Survey and the BLS Survey of Consumer Finance;

• Served as interim Management Lead for the Demographic Information Systems team.

Research Technician II –Public Policy Institute - Economics Team (1/96 – 10/97)

• Collected and processed raw data, designed and constructed appropriate databases and tested economic models for use in Public Policy Institute analyses on Social Security reform, older women’s financial issues, and demographic effects on retirement security;

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

• Reviewed literature, edited draft research reports and papers, fact checked and proofed externally produced research projects and publications.

Research Consultant (6/94 – 1/96)

• Pioneered use of Geographic Information Systems to address analysis needs of AARP resulting in techniques which became widely adapted throughout AARP and revolutionized the use of general demographic and member data in program planning;

• Assisted in cartographic design and production, and database management tasks related to analyzing all congressional districts by age and other socio-demographic variables.

Freelance Writer, Washington, DC September 1988 - February 1991

• Wrote and presented before the Congressional House Subcommittee on Environment and Labor, a statement addressing High Technology Opportunities for Hispanic Small Businesses for the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE).

• Edited and contributed to several SHPE grant proposals, and wrote and distributed press releases and fact sheets for various events.

Recent Public Release AARP Projects

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 - 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/work/retirement/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

EDUCATION

Johns Hopkins University

Master of Arts in Non Fiction Writing, Expected Fall 2008.

University of Maryland, College Park, MD

Five semesters of full tme doctoral work in Departments of Geography and American Studies, with emphasis on Urban Demography. 1994-1996.

Florida State university, Tallahassee, FL

Master of Science in Geography, 1994

Thesis Title: Exurban or Just Ex-rural? An Examination of Metropolitan Growth in the U.S. - Two Case Studies.

Clark University, Worcester, MA

Bachelor of Arts; Major in Geography, Minors in Biology and in Comparative Literature, 1988.

AWARDS and Certification

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

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

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

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

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

• Winner of The 1995 Meredith Burrill Graduate Research Paper Award - The Association of American Geographers Mid-Atlantic Division.

MEMBERSHIPS

• COPAFS, Current AARP General Representative and Past Board Chair 2007.

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

• Population Association of America.

• American Association of Public Opinion Research.

• Population Reference Bureau.

• Marketing Research Association.

COMPUTER PROFICIENCY

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

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