Dr. Shepherd is the President and CEO of Midwest Evaluation in Emporia, KS. With more than 20 years of experience, Dr. Shepherd has a tremendous impact on the organizations that Midwest Evaluation partners with and on the problem areas in which it works. Having overseen and provided technical assistance to more than 500 evaluation projects for programs within the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Justice, and Foundations, Dr. Shepherd is a nationally recognized expert in program evaluation. Dr. Shepherd also provides consultation on evidenced-based practices, healthy relationship and fatherhood programming, and public health infrastructure. Some of Dr. Shepherd’s accomplishments include:

• Interviewed as an expert for regional newspapers, radio, and television

• Provided expert testimony before Kansas State Legislature Committees and crafted bills and testimony submitted to the U.S. Senate

• Prepared reports used as handouts by the Obama Administration

• Created a community/systems level framework for employing low-income, low-skilled individuals that was used to allocate $750 million dollars in federal funding

• Helped partners win more than $50 million in federal grant funding

• Conducted Random Control Trial (RCT) evaluations for federally funded program evaluations

Dr. Girard is an assistant professor and Program Director for the Brain, Behavior & Quantative Science Program at Kansas University. Dr. Girard studies how emotions are expressed through verbal and nonverbal behavior, as well as how interpersonal communication is influenced by individual differences (e.g., personality and mental health) and social factors (e.g., culture and context). This work is deeply interdisciplinary and draws insights and tools from various areas of social science, computer science, statistics, and medicine.