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Biography

I'm a Social Demographer, received my Ph.D. from the Department of Sociology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. I study social change, family and demography, population and environment dynamics and research methods. My interest in understanding social change and its influence on family emerged from my experiences working on development projects aimed at bringing positive change to the lives of the poorest of the poor in Nepal. I have a methodological focus on development of context-specific measurement, and state-of-the-art primary data collection and longitudinal analyses.

Research Interests

Understanding social change and its influence on family.

Family formation, population mobility and dynamics, education, health and welbeing.

Understanding the interplay between population and environmental processes population change, migration, public health and land use, agriculture and agricultural productivity, terrestrial biodiversity, environmental degradation, and household energy use.

Consequences of social and ecological changes in population health (both psychological and physical health) and wellbeing.

Development of context-specific measurement, and state-of-the-art primary data collection and longitudinal analyses.

Research

August 2016 -July 2018

Columbia University
Female Labor Force Participation and Child Outcomes.

October 2017 -September 2020

Department for International Development (DFID) – Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
Improving Learning: Developing Measures of Accountability and Evaluating their Association with Students' Gains in Achievement in Nepal

July 2016 -March 2017

MEASURE Evaluation at University of North Carolina
Strengthening Health Facility Operation and Management Committees (HFOMCs) Endline Quantitative Data Collection in Nepal.

Teaching
  • Mixed Method Data Collection Methods (Co-taught with Lisa Pearce) Course # Survey Methodology 653, Summer 2013.
  • Mixed Method Data Collection Methods (Co-taught with Axinn) Course # Survey Methodology 653, Summer 2010, 2013-2018.
  • Nursing Research: Survey Design and Analysis Using Mixed Methods 2015
  • Introduction to Survey Research (short course in Nepal), 2010-2011.
  • Survey Data Analysis (once a year), 2010-2018.
  • Data Analysis (Nepal Data Users’ Workshops), 2005, 2010-2011.
  • Event History Calendar Data Collection Methods 2019