Assisted the research director and associate research director with research operations and management, and provided research support primarily in the areas of education and corrections.

The Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute housed at Gothenburg University's political science department is an ambitious big data social science project that spans across universities in every continent. The project brings a systematic, historical, and disaggregated approach to better conceptualize and measure different indicators of democracy for 206 countries over time, from 1900 to the present. The Institute collaborates with governments, researchers, and NGOs. I assisted in data collection and management, survey design, conference and workshop presentations, and both quantitative and qualitative data analysis. (www.v-dem.net)

At NASUAD I focused on U.S. aging and long-term care policies, especially Medicaid and Medicare reforms under the ACA; organized trainings for State Unit on Aging Directors and Executive Staff that offered state aging departments guidance and technical assistance; and organized and created content for the clearinghouse for home and community-based services (HCBS) materials at hcbs.org. In addition to my daily activities at NASUAD, I participated in weekly seminars at the NASI offices with leading experts from the social insurance policy world, including leaders in the Social Security Administration and Congressional Budget Office (CBO). An important aspect of my role was to increase visibility for aging and disability issues in political spheres.

At PUP I helped design and implement curriculum for over 20 different higher education courses in the social sciences, humanities, math, and science. All coursework is accredited towards an Associates Degree; PUP operates as an extension of Patten University. Many of my tasks were tied to the processing of student’s applications, maintaining transcripts, and ensuring all course materials are ordered and approved for use in prison classrooms. I assisted in fundraising–event planning, mailers, grant writing. Prison University Project was featured on NPR: http://www.npr.org/2011/06/20/137176620/inside-san-quentin-inmates-go-to-collegeAlso, a short film about PUP:http://vimeo.com/111180719

Prisoner Legal Services operates through the SF Sheriff’s Department. My time at PLS involved research pertaining to a wide variety of subjects, including comprehensively conveying SF County's policies surrounding parole, jail conditions, and all offenses ranging from drug possession to homicide. Most of my time was spent inside the jails speaking with inmates about their specific cases, then helping them gain information on precedents and previous cases pertaining to their situation. A considerable amount of my time with PLS was then spent researching alternative solutions to imprisonment and presenting them to our clients. I also undertook other bureaucratic procedures such as filing appropriate claims with several different departments (i.e. Clerk of City and County of San Francisco) on inmates’ behalf.Another important aspect of my time spent was corresponding with various programs- especially drug treatment, transitional housing, and violence reparation- to organize pick-ups of particular inmates upon their release; this is one of the ways PLS helps to decrease recidivism.