Don has over 25 years of experience managing and directing large-scale national federal statistical projects and methodological research associated with federal statistics programs. Don leads a group of statisticians and data scientists with expertise in design and analytic techniques necessary for social science research. He helped his team establish roles in complex sample designs, experimental and observational study designs, data collection and processing, and statistical inference. In the wake of big data and data analytics, he led his group to augment their roles by expanding modern capabilities in data analytics, advanced statistical computing, Bayesian modeling, data mining, and machine learning. As research embraces more timely and cost-efficient data to include newer research methodologies, such as data analytics and rapid-cycle evaluation, so have the services and resources offered by the Data Science group he leads. His vision to bring data scientific and statistical values to evidence-based social science research and informed decision-making has continued to be realized under his leadership. Through seamless integration with NORC’s research team, our Data Science group can implement high-level, high-quality methodologies, providing a strong statistical framework for every research project.

Don’s longtime commitment to supporting the National Science Foundation’s NCSES programs dates back to his tenure at Mathematica. Don has led all statistical tasks for the Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System (SESTAT) project since 1996. The SESTAT database integrates data collected through three national sample surveys supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF): the National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG), the Survey of Doctorate Recipients (SDR), and the National Survey of Recent College Graduates (NSRCG). For that project, Don has led all activities needed for statistical support of the SESTAT system, including linking multiple survey data; optimum sample allocation to meet several statistical precision goals; dynamic, streamlined, real-time data processing for data editing, imputation, and model-based weighting production for large scale data collection, developing SESTAT variance estimation methodologies, constructing longitudinal weights for longitudinal data analysis, and providing general statistical consultations to NSF and data collection contractors.

Don led the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)’s data innovation projects to help create new data products that fill crucial data gaps and inform health care policy and research to address the nation’s emerging health issues. Data products include Synthetic Healthcare Database for Research (SyH-DR), Social Determinants of Health Research Database (SDOH-RD), and Physician and Physician Research Database (3P-RD).

Don is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association, an Elected Member of the International Statistical Institute, and the current Chair of the Survey Research Methods Section of the American Statistical Association for the 2024 term. He served on the ASA board of directors from 2018 to 2020. He also served as President of the Korean International Statistical Society from 2019 to 2020. He was a board member of Hope Nicaragua from 2007 to 2018.