Our Staff

Thomas I. Miller, Ph.D. is the president of National Research Center, Inc. He received a Ph.D. in research and evaluation methods from the Laboratory of Educational Research at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He has worked in state and local government and as a consultant to human service agencies since 1977.

With Michelle Kobayashi, he wrote, Citizen Surveys: How to do them, how to use them, what they mean, published in 2000 by the International City and County Management Association, Washington, D.C.

Tom founded National Research Center, Inc. in 1994. He has designed, overseen and written results of hundreds of research and evaluation projects and presented his findings to a wide variety of audiences, both academic and lay. Not only has he written about survey research in journals and books devoted to public management, including Public Administration Review, Journal of the American Planning Association, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Planning Commissioners Journal, Management Science and Policy Analysis, Handbook of Practical Program Evaluation, Handbook of Social Intervention, and Governing, he was co-founder of Evaluation Systems International, a health care outcome research and software company. Consequently, he has published in journals and books devoted to health outcomes including: Risk Analysis, Measuring Outcomes in Speech-Language Pathology, ASHA, Behavioral Health Management, Inside Case Management, Health Span and Journal of Personnel Psychology. Tom was co-author of Benefits of Psychotherapy, a book published by Johns Hopkins University Press. Tom also has been a journalist and acting director of communication for local government.

Michelle Miller Kobayashi, MSPH, (unrelated to Tom), is vice president of NRC, Inc. Not only has she conducted numerous complex statistical weighting procedures for our survey research, Michelle has developed statistical models from our survey results to understand the risk factors predicting resident behaviors and attitudes and the need for community services. Her statistical expertise extends far beyond the standard descriptive and inferential statistics required by frequency distributions and cross-tabulations. She has built statistical models using logistic regression, performed risk analyses using adjusted odds ratios and validated survey instruments using factor analysis. To prove she speaks English, too, Michelle has made scores of presentations to public managers, elected officials and staff and she has designed and overseen a wide variety of surveys on topics that include citizen satisfaction with government services, public trust, growth and land use planning, urban renewal, transportation, open space and fair market rental rates. She co-authored Citizen Surveys: How to do them, how to use them, what they mean with Tom Miller and worked as chief project manager on a variety of health care outcome projects with Evaluation Systems International, Inc. Her work includes integration of research outcomes on cancer risk estimates for exposure to powerline electromagnetic fields, published in Risk Analysis.

Alana Aziz, B.A., administrative assistant, earned her bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from the University of Memphis, with a focus on cultural and urban anthropologies. Her duties at National Research Center general office organization and filing, directing telephone calls, assistance with printing and binding outgoing documents, ordering necessary supplies, assistance with billing procedures, entering archived material into databases, setting up deliveries and making travel itineraries.

Jeff Bognar, B.A., research assistant, graduated from Eastern Washington University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology and a minor in Music. His responsibilities at National Research Center include assistance with data collection, document formatting, coordination with various vendors and general research for project development. He is an avid guitar player and outdoorsman, having extensively hiked the Cascade and Appalachian mountain ranges.

Erin Caldwell, MSPH, is a senior research associate at NRC. Erin has earned a master’s degree in public health with an emphasis in research methods and statistics. Erin has designed and conducted scores of needs assessments, policy studies and program evaluations. She has published in The American Journal of Public Health on the health and quality of life of ethnic minorities living in Colorado's San Luis Valley. Other analytic work has included formulation of measures of acculturation for use in a rural bi-ethnic population. Erin has overseen and performed a variety of research in local government and human services. Much of her emphasis has been on outcome monitoring and program evaluation. Erin has over 10 years experience as a senior researcher and research manager. As Senior Research Associate for the national submetering study, Erin focused on developing and implementing the apartment manager and resident surveys, supervising coding all survey responses, statistical analysis of data sets including multiple regression and benefit-cost analysis, and final report preparation.

Rachel Cooper, M.A., research associate, has a master’s degree in Clinical Sociology from the University of Northern Colorado as well as a B.A. in Sociology from South Dakota State University. Along with clinical work in the criminal justice field, she has extensive research experience with local governments and nonprofits. Rachel participated in management of the Louisville, CO Library Survey in 2003, as well as managed the Louisville Citizen Survey the following year. She also has participated in management of several NRC custom citizen surveys throughout the Front Range and across the nation including, but not limited to, the following projects: Longmont, CO Citizen Survey, Arvada, CO Citizen Survey, Broomfield, CO Citizen Survey and Rockville, MD Citizen Survey.

Wendy M. DuBow, Ph.D., research associate, earned her doctorate in English and American Literature from the University of North Carolina. She brings to NRC a depth of professional experience in writing, teaching, editing, communications and information technology. Her skills as a researcher are also multifaceted; Wendy has designed and conducted program evaluations as well as needs assessments, outcome assessments and literature reviews. She is familiar with Web-based research and has administered maintained and provided technical support for numerous Web-based projects. Wendy is adept at descriptive, inferential statistical and qualitative analysis.

Shannon Hayden, M.A., senior research associate, has a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and a master’s degree in Educational Psychology (emphasis on research and evaluation methodology). Her background includes a number of years in marketing. Shannon has been involved in more than 100 citizen surveys and other projects at NRC, working as a project manager and on all aspects of the projects, including survey instrument development, overseeing data collection and analyzing and reporting the data, as well as making presentations on results. She helped develop The National Citizen Survey™ and oversaw the Beta Site testing of this project. She serves as a mentor for many of the research associates at NRC, and has designed the “NRC University” series of in-house trainings designed to help our associates learn new research and statistical techniques from articles and textbooks, and from each other.

Heather Locke, M.A., is The National Citizen Survey™ Director. Heather earned a master’s degree in Religious Studies from the University of Colorado at Boulder and undergraduate degrees in Religion and French. Her experience is in research, management, coordination, customer service and teaching. Heather manages all of the NCS™ surveys; including working closely with interested jurisdictions and those who participate. She oversees the survey process through questionnaire customization, data collection and report writing, as well as post-report consultation on interpretation of results and next steps.

Damema Mann, B.A., The National Citizen Survey™ Associate Director, earned her bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Vermont. Her experience and skills include marketing, management and customer service. Damema is involved in all aspects of The NCS™ from customizing surveys to data analysis and report creation. She also maintains the normative database for NRC.

Paula M. Noble, M.A., research associate, has a master’s degree in experimental psychology from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and a Bachelor of Science in psychology from Missouri State University. Paula’s expertise includes a thorough understanding of research methods with experience overseeing data collection, entry, analysis and reports. Additionally, Paula has developed and designed specialized measurement tools and is proficient in a variety of statistical processes including cross-tabulation, t-tests, correlations, analysis of variance and regression.

Michelle Prohov, B.Ed., Office Manager, earned her bachelor’s degree in Family and Human Services from the University of Oregon, with a focus on volunteerism and non-profit management. Her responsibilities at National Research Center include general office management as well as accounts receivable and accounts payable communications.

Debbie Puder, research assistant, joined NRC in 2008. She has 10 years of experience in market research, providing support for both quantitative and qualitative studies for a variety of clients including non-profit businesses and industry associations. Debbie’s duties at NRC include document formatting, assistance with survey data collection, instrument and mailing material design and background research for citizen surveys and evaluation studies. She has an associates degree in arts and sciences from North Lake College.

Lee Tyson, B.A., research associate, has a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and English from the University of Connecticut. Companies such as IBM and Bose have utilized her extensive technical skills, where she has provided customer support, Internet/Intranet design, and database expertise. Lee has assisted NRC principals on projects with myriad topics including parks and recreation, older adult needs assessments, transportation, policy studies and code enforcement. Her responsibilities on these projects ranged from data collection and analysis to report and presentation design. Lee also has extensive experience in programming, administering and analyzing Web-based surveys.

Laurie Urban, B.A., research associate, earned a bachelor’s degree in Speech Communications with a focus in Public Relations from Miami University. Since 2002, Laurie has gained experience in both survey and evaluation research at NRC. She specializes in data collection, instrument design, data analysis using SPSS, report writing, editing and formatting. As project manager, Laurie fosters good client relations through her enthusiasm and natural aptitude for communication. Most recently, she has lent these skills to The Century Council’s Alcohol 101 Plus evaluation, The Colorado Trust’s After School Initiative evaluation and the Minneapolis, MN Citizen Survey.

Noelle Vaillancourt, B.A., research assistant, graduated from Regis University with a degree in English and a minor in Psychology. Noelle has worked as a freelance writer, administrative specialist, and desktop publisher; as such, she has extensive experience in document design, composition and database management. Noelle’s duties at NRC include document formatting, assistance with survey data collection, instrument and mailing material design and background research for citizen surveys and evaluation studies.

Nick Weaver, research assistant for The National Citizen Survey™ , joined NRC in 2007. Coming from a background in customer service, Nick is adept at identifying problems and finding creative solutions. Nick’s duties include managing the data collection process for NCS clients and assisting staff in report production.

Sonya Wytinck, M.S., research associate, earned a master’s degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Alberta and is a SAS Certified Professional. She comes to NRC with an extensive amount of survey design, testing, implementation and analysis experience. Her professional background spans the gamut, including work with rural student transportation issues, tribal and non-tribal fisheries in the Great Lakes, recreational damage on the Kalamazoo River and water distribution in the Mae Taeng Irrigation Project (Thailand). Sonya extends these skills across yet another border (the US-Canadian) to join NRC after serving as an economist for Alberta Health and Wellness.

Non-resident Senior Fellows

Sue Bozinovski, Ph.D., non-resident senior fellow, has worked in the Colorado Aging Network since 1982. During the last decade, she was the Director of the DRCOG Area Agency on Aging. In this capacity she oversaw a $10 million annual budget for senior programs, including federal, state, local, and private grant funding. Program experience includes senior nutrition, transportation, volunteer programming, as well as other senior services. In this role, she facilitated many community and public meetings, culled through the input, and developed a number of strategic plans. She also has experience with the development and carrying out of inter-governmental agreements.

Gregg G. Van Ryzin, Ph.D., non-resident senior fellow, is an Associate Professor in the School of Public Affairs and Administration, Rutgers University. He is a widely published authority on citizen surveys and citizen satisfaction with government and works with NRC on New York City's customer satisfaction survey, methodological studies involving NRC data, and other projects. He was formerly on the faculty of Baruch College/The City University of New York, where he served for eight years as director of its survey research unit. Gregg's expertise is in survey research methods, program evaluation and performance measurement, and innovative approaches to the analysis of citizen survey data.