Areas of specialization: Education evaluation, labor economics, behavioral and experimental methods
I specialize in equity and program evaluation for higher education, especially using institutional data. I follow (and recommend) the QuantCrit Education literature. Current projects with the Center for Educational Effectiveness include a survey measure for inclusion and dashboards for department chairs. I am the local PI for the SEISMIC collaboration. I also serve on the UC Davis Institutional Review Board for Social and Behavioral projects.
Peer Reviewed Publications
“Companion Classes as a Support Model in Introductory Biology and Chemistry”, Journal of the First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, with Joel Ledford, Susan Keen, Nicole Sharpe, and Xinyi Hou, Fall 2020.
“Evaluating Preparatory Writing and Writing Placement at a Large Public University”, with Sattik Ghosh and Emily Watkins, LAK 19 Companion Proceedings, Society for Learning Analytics Research, March 2019
“Personality Traits and Low Wealth at Retirement”, Eastern Economic Journal, August 2018.
“The Effects of Health Shocks on Employment and Loss of Health Insurance: The role of employer-provided health insurance,” with Cathy Bradley and David Neumark. International Journal of Health Care Finance and Economics, 12(4):253-67, December 2012.
White Papers and Other Publications
“Insights from Spring 2020 Remote Instruction: Results from surveys on remote learning and teaching”, Center for Educational Effectiveness report with Marco Molinaro, Tiffany Hodgens, and Young-A Son, September 2020. https://cee.ucdavis.edu/news/insights-spring-2020-remote-instruction-results-surveys-remote-learning-and-teaching
“Modeling Transfer Student Success in Engineering”, Center for Educational Effectiveness interim report with Xinyi Hou, May 2018.
Working Papers and Works in Progress
“Performance payments, task type and productivity” with Jennifer Graves and Joaquín Artés Caselles, Revise and Resubmit at Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, re-submitted July 2021.
“Understanding the Distribution of University Leavers: Characteristics and Pathways”, accepted for presentation at the (cancelled) American Education Research Association 2020 conference, with Brad Velasquez and Marco Molinaro.
“Study of Greek and Latin Roots of Language Improves GPA for Biology Students”, with Susan Keen, Emily Albu, John Rundin, and Tiffany Johnson.
“Modified Supplemental Instruction in a High-Enrollment Upper-Division Biology Course Improves Student Outcomes” (working paper) with Marina Crowder and Sattik Ghosh
Recent Conference Presentations and Posters
“Measuring Inclusivity of the Classroom Environment in Undergraduate Courses”. Poster with Alyssa Borders, Tiffany Hodgens, and Marco Molinaro. UC Davis Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Conference, Davis CA (2021)
“A New System for Student Surveys at UC Davis” with Erika Jackson. California Association for Institutional Research Conference, Tahoe, California. (2021)
“Making the Most of Data Infrastructure in the Pandemic” with Matt Steinwachs and Marco Molinaro. California Association for Institutional Research Conference, Tahoe, California. (2021)
“What Happens to our Students? Connecting Grades, Units, and Retention” with Brad Velasquez and Marco Molinaro, Sloan Equity and inclusion in STEM Introductory Courses (SEISMIC) Summer Meetings, Ann Arbor MI (2019)
“Effects of Adjustment, Grading, and Class Size in Academic Equity” with Tiffany Johnson, HHMI Special Session on Inclusive Excellence, UC Davis Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Conference, Davis CA (2018)
“Exploring Factors in Course Grade Equity (and what we might do about it)” with Tiffany Johnson and Marco Molinaro, California Association for Institutional Research, Anaheim CA (2018)
“Modeling Transfer Student Success in Engineering” Poster with Xinyi Hou, California Association for Institutional Research, Anaheim CA (2018)
“Measuring the Impact of Remedial Writing” Poster with Sattik Ghosh, California Association for Institutional Research, Anaheim CA (2018)