About Me

I am an aspiring behavioural scientist and data vizualization enthusiast. I studied Economics & Psychology in university and am interested in the structures and processes of decision-making in governance institutions and applications of behavioural science in public policy. I have spent most of my career in research and global policy, contributing to projects in education, criminal justice, healthcare, and truth decay.

Some questions that are of particular interest to me: Are the structures and procedures of policy-making institutions conducive to equitable and precise judgement?, What factors in our society and policies perpetuate poverty?, How can public and private institutions provide an information system that better enables society to develop a shared consensus on the facts of issues central to public well-being?

Below is a sample of research projects to which I have contributed.

Research

Education

Whitaker, Anamarie A., Garrett Baker, Luke J. Matthews, Jennifer Sloan McCombs, and Mark Barrett , Who Plays, Who Pays? Funding for and Access to Youth Sports Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND Corporation, RR-2581-DSGF, 2019. Summary Summary To better understand sports participation rates for middle and high school–aged youths, the funding landscape, barriers and enablers to youth sports participation, and perceptions of the benefits and challenges of youth sports, RAND researchers launched three large-scale surveys of parents, school administrators, and community sports program leaders. A separate appendix provides detailed descriptions of survey and analysis methods, additional survey results, and survey protocols.

Herman, Rebecca, Susan M. Gates, Aziza Arifkhanova, Mark Barrett, Andriy Bega, Emilio R. Chavez-Herrerias, Eugeniu Han, Mark Harris, Katya Migacheva, Rachel Ross, Jennifer T. Leschitz, and Stephani L. Wrabel , School Leadership Interventions Under the Every Student Succeeds Act: Evidence Review: Updated and Expanded Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND Corporation, RR-1550-3-WF, 2017. Summary Summary This report describes the opportunities for supporting school leadership under ESSA, discusses the standards of evidence under ESSA, and synthesizes the research base with respect to those standards. The information can guide federal, state, and district education policymakers on the use of research-based school leadership interventions; help them identify examples of improvement activities that should be allowable under ESSA; and support the rollout of such interventions.

Grant, Sean, Laura S. Hamilton, Stephani L. Wrabel, Celia J. Gomez, Anamarie A. Whitaker, Jennifer T. Leschitz, Fatih Unlu, Emilio R. Chavez-Herrerias, Garrett Baker, Mark Barrett, Mark Harris, and Alyssa Ramos , Social and Emotional Learning Interventions Under the Every Student Succeeds Act: Evidence Review Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND Corporation, RR-2133-WF, 2017. — Research Brief Summary Summary This report discusses the opportunities for supporting SEL under ESSA, the standards of evidence under ESSA, and SEL interventions that meet the standards of evidence and might be eligible for federal funds through ESSA. Federal, state, and district education policymakers can use this report to identify relevant, evidence-based SEL interventions that meet their local needs.

Kaufman, Julia H., Susan M. Gates, Melody Harvey, Yan Wang, and Mark Barrett , What It Takes to Operate and Maintain Principal Pipelines: Costs and Other Resources Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND Corporation, RR-2078-WF, 2017. — Research Brief Summary Summary This report fills an important gap in the literature on school leadership by presenting an approach for understanding the district resources and expenditures required to put in place and operate comprehensive principal pipelines — pipelines for preparing, hiring, supporting, and managing school leaders — and by presenting estimates of those resources and expenditures.

Healthcare

Kapinos, Kandice A., Molly Waymouth, Mark Barrett, Cheryl K. Montemayor, Andrew W. Mulcahy, and Denise D. Quigley , Access to Medical Treatment for Injured Workers in California: Year 2 Annual Report California Department of Industrial Relations, RR-2748-DIR, 2018. Summary Summary The California Department of Industrial Relations commissioned RAND researchers to examine annual trends in access to care for injured workers in a three-year effort. This report documents findings from the second year of this effort. This Year 2 report updates the trends examined in the Year 1 report by including an analysis of medical claims data from 2012 to 2015 (which includes injured workers followed for 12 months following initial injury; i.e., into 2016), analysis from a RAND-fielded physician survey, and data from Medical Provider Network listings.

Criminal Justice

Hollywood, John S., Brian A. Jackson, Annie Brothers, Mark Barrett, Dulani Woods, and Michael J. D. Vermeer , A Database of Criminal Justice Needs for Innovation: Requirements for Developers and Funders: User Guide Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND Corporation, TL-352-NIJ, 2020. Summary Summary On behalf of the National Institute of Justice, the RAND Corporation, in partnership with the Police Executive Research Forum, RTI International, and the University of Denver, is carrying out a research effort to assess and prioritize technology needs across the criminal justice community. Since 2015, the Priority Criminal Justice Needs Initiative (PCJNI) has published more than 20 reports identifying and prioritizing criminal justice needs for innovation. Participants in all PCJNI efforts were selected based on their professional experience and expertise in an effort to assemble a distinguished group of experts reflecting different types of criminal justice agencies and civil society and technical organizations for the topics being considered.

This product includes a Microsoft Excel database that contains summaries of all of the PCJNI’s published studies and captures all of the needs for criminal justice innovation resulting from these studies.