Connecting the Dots: Data, Technology, and Development

Amelia Haviland

Dr. Haviland’s research focuses on causal analysis with observational data and analysis of longitudinal and complex survey data applied to policy issues in health and criminology. For example, she recently led a team of researchers assessing the effects of high deductible account-based health insurance plans on health care costs, use, and disparities in the most comprehensive study on the topic to date. Other health policy work involves assessing mechanisms for health disparities for Medicare recipients and exploring connections between patient safety and recent reductions in medical malpractice claims. An example of her work in criminology is methodological work extending group-based trajectory modeling (semi-parametric longitudinal mixture models) to address causal questions with application to assessing the effect of gang membership on violent delinquency. She currently serves on the National Research Council Panel tasked with assessing the research evidence on whether there is a deterrent effect of the death penalty. This and other work of Dr. Haviland’s has been published in journals such as Psychometrika, Psychological Methods, Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Human Resources, Survey Methodology, Criminology, Health Affairs, Health Services Research, Medical Care, and the Forum for Health Economics and Policy.

Joseph Mertz

His teaching focuses on two threads: developing technical-professional leadership skills and using technology for development.

Since 1998 he has developed and taught a "Technology Consulting in the Community" course that has engaged highly talented students as technology consultants helping over 300 nonprofit organizations, schools, and businesses in the Pittsburgh region.

Using the same capacity-building IT consulting model, he directs the international program, Technology Consulting in the Global Community, that has sent over a hundred students to fourteen developing countries to help government ministries and NGOs improve their strategic use of technology.

Joe has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science (from Penn State and the University of Southern California), and a Ph.D. in Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon. Between degrees, he worked as a systems software developer for Bell Laboratories for 5 years.