Students

After earning her BA in sociology from the University of North Carolina, Ashley Bowers earned a master's degree in survey methodology from the University of Maryland. She worked at the survey center at the University of North Carolina following her Masters' degree studies, and in 2004-05 worked as a research associate at Survey Research Operations. She is a second year PhD student with interests in establishment survey design and the impact of human resource management practices on survey data quality and cost.

Jack Chen comes to the Program in Survey Methodology after earning his master's degree in biostatistics at the University of Michigan. His undergrad work was done at the University of California at Berkeley, where he majored in applied math, statistics, and computer science. After finishing at Berkeley, he worked as a software engineer, and since coming to UM, he has been a graduate student assistant at the Institute for Social Research.

Marie Clay earned a BS in economics in 1996 from the University of Michigan-Dearborn, and an MA in applied economics in 2003 from Eastern Michigan University. She has been working as an economics and mathematics instructor and tutor at Cleary University (Ann Arbor, Michigan) and Washtenaw Community College (Ann Arbor, Michigan). Her interest will be in the statistical aspects of survey methodology and how to handle missing data issues.

Qi Dong earned his BS in mathematics in 2006 from the University of Science and Technology in Hefei, China, where he has also been a teaching assistant. He will be joining the program with an interest in the statistical aspects of survey methodology.

Donnalee Grey-Farquharson earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Toronto, and then went on to earn a master's degree in secondary education from Niagara University and a master's degree in educational studies here at the University of Michigan. She taught high school science and math for several years in the Toronto area. Ms. Grey-Farquharson is focusing on the social science aspects of survey methodology.

Huiliang Hao earned his bachelor's degree in international business from Yantai University in the People's Republic of China. Some of his interests lie in the areas of cognition and social psychology in terms of how respondents handle questions. He has worked in the pharmaceutical field for one year, and he hopes to go into market research in the future. Mr. Hao focuses on the statistical aspects of survey methodology.

Matt Jans received a BS in psychology from Central Michigan University in 1998. He then received a MA in applied developmental psychology from Boston College in 2000, and a MA in critical and creative thinking from the University of Massachusetts in 2005. Before coming to MPSM he worked as an assistant study director at the Center for Survey Research at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. He currently works with Fred Conrad on a study using computerized avatars as survey interviewers. His primary interests include interviewer-respondent interaction and measurement error.

Courtney Kennedy s a graduate student and research assistant at the Program in Survey Methodology. Her current research focuses on weighting and estimation issues in dual-frame telephone surveys and techniques for reducing measurement error in web surveys. She earned a Masters at the Joint Program in Survey Methodology and bachelor's degrees in statistics and political science at the University of Michigan. She has been employed as a project director at the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and as a research assistant at the U.S. Bureau of the Census and O'Neil Associates Public Opinion Research.

(Marcella) Marie Komanecky earned her BA in Anthropology from Washington University in St. Louis in 2002. During her studies there, she spent six months at University College, London. Since 2003 she has been working as a research assistant at Wayne State University in Detroit. Ms. Komanecky will study the social science aspects of survey methodology.

John LaFrance earned his BA in psychology from the University of Michigan. This summer he is working on campus in the summer orientation program for incoming undergraduate students. He looks forward to entering the Program so he can further synthesize his interests in the social sciences and statistics, and has become familiar with surveying methods through a recent research project.

Rachel Levenstein holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Massachusetts. She came to the PhD program at SMP after several years working as a research assistant at the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Social and Urban Research. She currently works as a graduate student instructor and a research assistant. Her research interests include mode effects, interviewer effects, and nonresponse.

Tien-Huan Lin holds a bachelor's degree in business administration form National Taipei University. Prior to joining the program she was a research assistant to a professor of economics in National Taiwan University. Ms. Lin has interest in the social science aspects of survey methodology, especially response scale, pretest, and nonresponse.

Brian Madden earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Michigan, and a master's degree in clinical psychology from Eastern Michigan University. After coming to UM, he worked for ISR where he helped develop and code various types of questionnaires. Subsequently, he began to work for ICPSR, where he continues to apply his interest in social science research. Mr. Madden is focusing on the social science aspects of survey methodology.

Before coming to Michigan, Zeina Mneimneh completed her bachelor's degree in environmental health in 1998 and her master's in public health in 2000, both from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. She then worked for five years as head of the research team in one of the nongovernmental organizations in Beirut. During her work, she led the World Mental Health project in Lebanon and became one of the international collaborator in the World Mental health Surveys. Zeina then joined the survey methodology program and graduated with a master's degree in 2007. She is now in her first year of the PSM PhD Program and hopes to develop her interest in adaptive survey design.

Rachel Orlowski has a BA in psychology and sociology from the University of Michigan. She has been a research assistant in several areas of the ISR, including serving as a summer intern in the Survey Research Center in 2005. She is currently working at the SRC Survey Research Operations. Rachel is studying the social science aspects of survey methodology.

Julie Pacer earned her BA in psychology from DePaul University in Chicago in 1998. She has marketing research experience with Synovate, first in operations and more recently as a senior research analyst on the SC Johnson account. Since 2004, Julie has been a survey specialist at the National Opinion Research Center. She has taken classes at the SRC Summer Institute and is currently working at SRC in Survey Research Operations.

Emilia Peytcheva has a bachelor's degree in Travel Industry Management from Concord College (West Virginia) in 2000. In 2003 received a master's degree from the Survey Research and Methodology Program at the University of Nebraska. She worked as a research assistant at the Gallup Research Center during her studies in the Nebraska program. She would like to pursue a survey methodology career in an academic environment.

Joseph Sakshaug is a recent graduate of the Master's program at PSM. Prior to coming to Michigan, he completed a BA at University of Washington, in mathematics. As a PhD student in the program, he is interested in studying statistical and social science aspects of survey methodology.

After earning a BA in Political Science from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, James Wagner earned a master's degree in political science from the University of Michigan. He has worked in various capacities with survey research organizations. James worked as a senior sampling analyst at Market Strategies. He is currently working as a survey director at Survey Research Operations within the Survey Research Center.

Mandi Yu received a bachelor of business administration in 1998 from Nankai University in China. She also received an MS degree in Survey Research from the University of Nebraska in 2004. Most recently, Ms. Yu worked for the Gallup Research Center as a Research Assistant.

After earning her BA in math for secondary education from Calvin College, Erica Zawacki has spent several years teaching middle school math in the Brandon School District, Ortonville, Michigan. She looks forward to combining her interests in statistics and social sciences in her studies in the program.

Chan Zhang completed her bachelor's degree in economics at Zhejiang University in the People's Republic of China. During her undergrad career, she also studied for a year at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She was drawn to survey methodology because she found that her interest in economics is based on understanding people's behavior, both in society at large, and in their responses to surveys. She hopes to make a contribution to the field of survey research as it develops in China. Ms. Zhang is focusing on the social science aspects of survey methodology.

DanDan Zhang earned her bachelor's degree in sociology from Beijing University. While studying there, she worked as an intern at the China National Labor Union, in the policy research department. She also interned with Coca-Cola Corporate Limited, where she researched consumer preferences. During the summer of 2006, she took Methods of Survey Sampling when Jim Lepkowski taught in Beijing. She hopes to combine what she learns in the Program in Survey Methodology, which her knowledge of China, to make a substantial contribution to China's progress. Ms. Zhang is focusing on the social science aspects of survey methodology.

Sonja Ziniel has received two degrees from the University of Konstanz in Germany. She completed a bachelor's degree in administration in 1999, and a master's degree in public policy in 2003. She studied research methodology during her graduate program, and attended the Summer Institute in summer 2002. She has been employed as a research associate in the Survey Methodology program since February 2003. She would like to have a career in academia, in a leading survey research institute, or in an international non-profit organization.