Experimental Evaluation Design for Program Improvement

About Laura R. Peck

Laura R. Peck Ph.D. is a principal scientist at Abt Associates and has spent her career evaluating social welfare and employment policies and programs both in research and academic settings. A policy analyst by training Dr. Peck specializes in innovative ways to estimate program impacts in experimental and quasi-experimental evaluations and she applies this to many social safety net programs. Dr. Peck is currently the principal investigator co-PI or director of analysis for several major national evaluations for the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services Labor and Housing and Urban Development and over her career has been part of more than 35 informative evaluations of nonprofit local state and federal programs and policies. Peck is a co-author of a public policy textbook and is well published on program evaluation topics. Prior to her work at Abt Associates Dr. Peck was a tenured professor at the Arizona State University School of Public Affairs and also served as the founding associate dean of the Barrett Honors College Downtown Phoenix campus. She earned her PhD from the Wagner Graduate School at New York University.