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Douglas E. Himberger
Himberger to Head New Department
Formerly a Vice President and Partner with Booz Allen Hamilton, Himberger has expertise in solutions for federal agency clients in homeland security, emergency management, defense, safety, and threat analysis.
Himberger holds a Ph.D. and a Masters Degree in Physics from Georgetown University and a B.S. degree in Physics from Nebraska Weslyan University.
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| PEOPLE |
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Davern to Direct Public Health Research Group
Michael Davern, noted public health data expert, was named the new Vice President and Director of NORC's Public Health Research Department.
Davern has a distinguished career in public health research and strong working relationships with producers of population-based health data at the national level. A major focus of his work involves applying state-level data to health policy issues and helping states monitor trends in health insurance coverage rates.
Davern holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Notre Dame, a M.A. in Sociology from Colorado State University, and a B.A. in Sociology from Saint John's University.
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| CONFERENCES |
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NORC Co-Sponsors Conference on 2010 Census in Chicago
On February 26, 2010, NORC, along with the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration, the Harris School, Chapin Hall, and the Population Research Center, will sponsor a one-day conference on the 2010 Decennial Census.
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| IN THE NEWS |
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Survey of Earned Doctorates Notes Number of Electronic
Dissertations is Increasing
The Science community website redOrbit noted on December 11 that the number of dissertations being filed electronically has increased, with the University of California, Berkeley filing the most (856). This trend was identified from data collected by NORC for the Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED), which is sponsored by the National Science Foundation and five other federal agencies. | |
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| RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT |
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NORC Research Helps Resolve Indian Trust Dispute
 The work of a team of NORC researchers provided critical information and analysis to the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) in its efforts to end a long-running class action lawsuit, Cobell v. Salazar, which claims that the federal government mismanaged individual Indians' trust accounts. After an extensive review of accounting records, administrative data, and statistical analyses provided by NORC and other researchers, the DOI announced a settlement agreement on December 8, 2009 between Individual Indian Money (IIM) beneficiaries and the Department of the Interior. The Settlement will create a $1.4 billion Accounting/Trust Administration Fund, a $2 billion Trust Land Consolidation Fund, and an Indian Education Scholarship fund of up to $60 million. NORC provided statistical assistance to the Department of the Interior as part of a larger team assembled by the Department. NORC Senior Fellow Fritz Scheuren and a team of researchers analyzed records from the Individual Indian Money accounts. Among the project's larger efforts was a NORC-designed and selected sample of thousands of transactions from the period 1985-2000 for reconciliation. Scheuren also provided testimony on the complex statistical techniques used in the analysis of the records and on a separate analysis of accounting data obtained from government reports. Documents and data from the case are available for review and download. To learn about the role played by NORC in analyzing data related to the case, visit the NORC project website, Historical Analysis of Individual Indian Money Accounts. |
| HEALTH RESEARCH |
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Noted Policy Analyst Cheryl Austein Casnoff Joins NORC as Senior Fellow
Casnoff has a distinguished career in government, including work on Capitol Hill and at the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). She was responsible for designing and implementing the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) in 1997, which provides insurance for millions of low-income children. She later served as Director of the Division of Public Health Policy in the office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation and Director of the SCHIP Program at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Casnoff most recently was Associate Administrator for Health Information Technology (HIT) with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). She also served as a member of the President's Task Force for Health Care Reform and as a Senior Legislative Fellow in the Office of Senator Dave Durenberger.
As an expert in both health care financing and delivery and public health, she will work with researchers in both of NORC's health research departments: Health Care Research and Public Health Research. Casnoff will be based in NORC's Bethesda, MD office. |
| NORC SENIOR FELLOW LEADS THE HARRIS SCHOOL |
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NORC Senior Fellow Colm O'Muircheartaigh has accepted the position of Dean at the University of Chicago's Irving B. Harris School for Public Policy Studies. Dan A. Black, also a NORC senior fellow, is Deputy Dean. Both hold joint appointments at NORC and the University of Chicago.
O'Muircheartaigh played a major role in such pivotal projects as the National Social Life Health and Aging Project (NSHAP), the National Children's Study (NCS), and the General Social Survey (GSS), along with his innovative work building NORC's national sampling frame using the US Postal Service list of addresses. He is one of the world's most forward-thinking statisticians, with special interests in survey research methodology, sample and questionnaire design and analysis, response and nonresponse error, and data quality.
Black also has made major contributions to NORC as Principal lnvestigator for the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997 Cohort (NLSY97) and as the associate project director for the larger NLSY program. He is one of the preeminent experts on urban labor markets, human capital, and measurement error. |
| THE NORC DATA ENCLAVE |
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Secure Data Repository Provides Workshop and Scholarships to Researchers
The NORC Data Enclave is a confidential protected remote access platform that allows authorized researchers secure remote access to sensitive microdata.
With the current Administration's focus on openness, transparency, and evidence-based policy, it is not surprising that many new policy initiatives focus on data collection, analysis, and evaluation. The NORC Data Enclave responds directly to these needs. Since it began offering services in 2006, it has evolved from a secure data repository to a vibrant virtual researcher collaboratory that promotes communication between data users and data producers and creates a deeper knowledge infrastructure than would be the case in an isolated research setting.
In September, the Economic Research Service and the National Agricultural Statistical Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) awarded two scholarships (each worth $5,200) toward researcher access to the NORC Data Enclave. USDA also funded a collaboration incentive program to promote researcher interaction within the enclave and a pilot project to investigate technologies to provide secure remote data access stations in university settings to junior researchers. NIST also provided funding to expand the infrastructure of the enclave and to build customized analytic tools.
In October, the National Science Foundation awarded NORC a 5-year contract to house and provide authorized NSF researchers access to Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) and Survey of Doctoral Recipients microdata. NORC also will develop a tabulation engine specific to the SED microdata.
In November, enclave staff held a workshop on microdata access that featured select research achievements and collaborations. The workshop allowed data users, producers, and others in the research community to learn more about how NORC is leveraging cutting edge technologies to provide secure remote data access and suggestions for new approaches.
 Take a tour of the NORC Data Enclave by clicking on the button to the left. The NORC Data Enclave is sponsored by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the National Institute for Standards and Technologies, the USDA Economic Research Service and National Agricultural Statistics Service, the Kauffman Foundation, and the National Science Foundation. |
| NORC GEARS UP FOR NATIONWIDE ENERGY SURVEY |
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Beginning in February 2010, NORC will conduct an important national research project -- the Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) -- for the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The information collected from residential households is used by the EIA for policy planning and forecasting energy consumption in the United States. To field the survey, NORC will hire about 450 in-person interviewers. Learn more about the project job opportunities here. |
| GRANTS |
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Center on Aging Receives NIA Funding
The National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health, today announced that it has renewed financial support for the next five years for the Center on the Demography and Economics of Aging at NORC and the University of Chicago.
The Center is part of a network of universities and organizations leading innovative studies on the characteristics of the aging population. It conducts research on aspects of health and health care, the societal impact of population aging and the economic and social circumstances of older people and it is pioneering work on the biodemography of aging. The Center's research focuses on social relationships, family, and biological measures.
Center research has yielded groundbreaking knowledge about older Americans as part of the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project (NSHAP). NORC Senior Fellow Linda J. Waite, Ph.D., directs the Center and serves as its Principal Investigator. |
| IN THE JOURNALS and IN THE NEWS |
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| Journals of Gerontology and the New York Times Highlight Data from National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project
The well-respected Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences published a supplement in November based entirely on research from the National Social Life Health and Aging Project (NSHAP). The study, funded by the National Institute on Aging, is a comprehensive longitudinal study that provides information on older Americans and their social relationships. Data from the NSHAP enables researchers to explore links between social relations and engagement as they relate to good health, longevity, and lower mortality. NORC staff members and research associates, University of Chicago faculty members, and other researchers contributed papers to the issue.
The New York Times also featured a December 14, 2009 Op-Chart of data from the study, featuring facts about Older Americans that became known as a result of the study. |
| CONFERENCES |
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| Presentation Explores Dynamics of Meth Markets
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NORC conducts scientific surveys for its clients on a wide variety of topics, some of which involve sensitive and controversial issues. NORC does not advocate specific positions or points of view on political issues but, rather, seeks to be a source of reliable and accurate information for government policy makers, the public, the media, and others interested in important social issues.
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