SIG Officers 2021-2023

James E. Pustejovsky

Pronouns: he/him/his

I am a statistician and associate professor in the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I teach in the Educational Psychology Department and the graduate program in Quantitative Methods. My research involves developing statistical methods for problems in education, psychology, and other areas of social science research, with a focus on methods related to research synthesis and meta-analysis.

Joshua R. Polanin

Pronouns: he/him/his

I am a principal researcher in the Human Services division at American Institutes for Research (AIR). I am a quantitative methodologist working across education, criminology, public health, and methodology. I have several projects ongoing, including, as Principal Investigator, a National Science Foundation project Effects of the Engagement, Exploration, Explanation, Elaboration, and Evaluation Instructional Model: Systematic Review and Innovation Through New Meta-Analysis Methodology, which is conducting a comprehensive review of the 5E instructional model as well as creating the first open-source, collaborative relational database specifically for conducting systematic reviews. In 2020, I won the Early Career Award from the Society for Research on Educational Evaluation.

Qi Zhang

Pronouns: he/him/his

I’m a researcher in the Research and Evaluation Division at American Institutes for Research (AIR). I provide quantitative methodological support for program and policy evaluation in education. My research interests include the evidence synthesis, design and analysis of experiments and quasi-experiments, multi-level statistical modeling, and power analysis for multi-level moderation and mediation. My research has been published in journals including AERAOpen, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, and Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness. I hold a Ph.D. in Evaluation, Measurement, and Research in Education from Western Michigan University.

Sunyoung Park

Pronouns: she/her/hers

I am an Assistant Professor in Graduate Psychology and the Master of Science Program in Clinical Psychology at California Lutheran University. I joined CLU’s faculty in 2018 as assistant professor. I have served as a committee member of Graduate Academic Standards at CLU. I received my bachelor’s degree in Korean literature and psychology from Sogang University. And, I received master’s degree in measurement and statistics from Korea University and master’s degree in program evaluation from University of Texas at Austin. Then, I worked at Institute of Education Sciences grant, Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk, and Department of Educational Psychology as graduate research assistantship where I earned a doctoral degree in 2018 from the Educational Psychology department specializing in quantitative methods. I have expertise in quantitative methods as applied to the social behavioral sciences including meta-analysis and multilevel models.

Laura Michaelson

Pronouns: she/her/hers

I’m a senior researcher in the Human Services division at the American Institutes for Research (AIR). I use quantitative modeling and evidence synthesis to improve the use and translation of evidence in youth development. I also develop interactive data visualizations and open-source software tools to support systematic review and meta-analysis methods. My research has been published in academic journals including Psychological Science, Developmental Science, and Behavioral and Brain Sciences, and has also been featured in the popular press, such as Medium. I have worked on multiple evidence clearinghouse entities including the What Works Clearinghouse and Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development and am a co-founder of the Methods of Synthesis and Integration Center (MOSAIC) at AIR.

Megha Joshi

Pronouns: she/her/hers

I am a Quantitative Researcher at the American Institutes for Research. I have a PhD in Quantitative Methods from The University of Texas at Austin. For my dissertation, I examined methods to handle dependent effects sizes in meta-analysis with a small number of studies. I have also consulted on applied meta-analyses in education and political science providing methodological and programming support to analyze data with complex structures. Moreover, I have experience organizing for graduate student rights at UT Austin.