CHICAGO, IL (January 2, 2018) — Susan Schechter, a senior fellow in the Health Care department of NORC at the University of Chicago has been named the 2017 recipient of NORC’s Norman Bradburn Career Achievement Award.

The award recognizes individuals who, over the course of their career and in the course of working for NORC, have made a significant contribution to the field of social science research and methodology. In receiving the honor, Schechter was recognized for the entirety of her highly productive career, which has included important bodies of work for the Federal Statistical System, the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, the National Center for Health Statistics, and the Statistical and Science Policy Office at the Office of Management and Budget, as well as the U.S. Census Bureau and NORC. "The Bradburn Award was created to honor those who have made a serious and lasting contribution to our field,” said Dan Gaylin, president and CEO of NORC. “No individual more fully reflects its intent than Susan Schechter. Her highly productive 35-year career has been devoted to improving the federal statistical system and tackling challenges with equal parts scientific excellence and operational pragmatism."

Schechter was honored at NORC’s annual staff appreciation events held at its Bethesda and Chicago locations.

“No individual more fully reflects its intent than Susan Schechter. Her highly productive 35-year career has been devoted to improving the federal statistical system and tackling challenges with equal parts scientific excellence and operational pragmatism."

Schechter was honored at NORC’s annual staff appreciation events held at its Bethesda and Chicago locations.

"I am deeply honored to receive the Norman Bradburn Award,” said Schechter. “The advent of cognitive research methods pioneered by Norman and his many colleagues has had a lasting impact on improving data quality and social science research. Throughout my career, I have been committed to advancing the work of the federal statistical system because of its importance in improving our understanding of the human condition and in shaping policy designed to help the lives of all Americans."

Schechter currently serves as the project director for the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS), carried out by NORC for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The MCBS provides essential data for determining expenditures and sources of payment for all services used by Medicare beneficiaries and to trace health outcomes over time. She joined NORC in 2010 as a key member of the National Children’s Study leadership team during which she worked closely with the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to implement new protocols for informed consent and collection of sensitive data. A signature contribution to the national data infrastructure was her leadership of the American Community Survey (ACS), which she led between 2006 and 2010. The ACS data are the main demographic data resource used by the federal, state, and local governments for policy and planning purposes, as well as helping document the American experience. A distinguished survey methodologist and researcher, she is author of dozens of papers, many of them sharing the results of pioneering tests of how to reduce response error through improvements in survey and questionnaire design. A graduate of the University of Maryland with a degree in criminology, she received her master’s degree in human development research from Antioch University.