From early childhood to school to work to communities across America, Abt builds the evidence base for stronger systems that support economic mobility and public safety. Our landmark national studies and technical assistance in education, childcare, job training, and criminal justice have made us a trusted partner to U.S. federal and state agencies and local organizations invested in social and economic well-being.
Our rigorous research, practical expertise, and data-driven solutions improve education, child/family well-being, workforce and justice programs to achieve better outcomes for Americans. We help clients improve services, build capacity, respond to changing needs, and strengthen pathways to stability for individuals, families, and communities.
Evaluated a national apprenticeship initiative, finding that workers’ earnings increased by 49% and employers saw a 44.3% ROI.
Modernize and connect complex federal justice data across agencies, turning fragmented administrative records into accessible, decision-ready intelligence.
Evaluated a statewide early childhood initiative that strengthened leadership, educator supports, and practices across 135 providers.
Abt helps clients improve their policies and programs with objective research and implementation support in the areas of employment, income supports, education, housing and health.
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) launched the American Apprenticeship Initiative (AAI) to expand registered apprenticeships in the U.S. into sectors with few apprenticeships, such as healthcare and information technology (IT).
In 2018, Congress permanently authorized the RESEA program, which aims to help Unemployment Insurance (UI) claimants return to work more quickly. As a result, RESEA now requires that states use evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of their programs.
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For 40+ years, Abt has advanced justice through research, strategic technical assistance, data-driven evaluation, and digital innovations.
For 40+ years, Abt has advanced justice through research, strategic technical assistance, data-driven evaluation, and digital innovations.
Abt is making federal justice data more user friendly through better visualization and filtering capabilities.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) faced the challenge of streamlining access to information, tools, and resources for farmers, ranchers, and landowners.
Prospects for young adults without postsecondary credentials have steadily worsened in recent decades. With few chances at well-paying jobs, millions give up on school and withdraw from the labor force. Helping low-skilled young adults access training…
To date, evidence on the effectiveness of school voucher programs is mixed. That’s why the U.S. Congress mandated an evaluation of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP), the only federally funded voucher program. The Department of Education’s…
The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is transforming the field of child welfare by supporting communities’ efforts to prevent child maltreatment, rather than only respond once it occurs. ACF funded two cohorts of grantees under the Child…
A new Abt-developed webtool supports analysis of criminal justice expenditures and employment.
The DOL-funded Clearinghouse for Labor Evaluation and Research (CLEAR) has several goals. It makes research on labor topics more accessible to practitioners, policymakers, researchers, and the public. It also provides information to inform decisions…
In the last 20 years, parental substance use disorder (SUD) has become an increasingly prevalent reason for children to enter foster care. Recovery coaching is a promising strategy to support parents’ recovery and help keep families safe and together…
Abt is a Gold Sponsor of APPAM 2026. Catch us in Boston, in our sessions and at booth 304, or connect with the team here!
Work requirements are expanding and budgets are not. Let's build an employment program that meets you where you're at.
Locally led infrastructure and governance approaches have stabilized access to clean water, supported schools and rural markets, and built long-term community ownership.
Lauren Pittenger comes to Abt with more than 20 years of experience working in or as a consultant to federal government agencies. She has strong grounding in research and research-based consulting to government clients. She also has extensive experience leading and growing business, managing technical and scientific projects, and coaching and supporting account teams. She has served as a director at Guidehouse, scientific program manager at Booz Allen Hamilton, and lab manager at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She has worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Canadian Public Health Laboratory Network, the Gates Foundation and the Association of Public Health Laboratories.
In her new role, Pittenger will focus on engagement with the broad spectrum of our human services clients, including the Departments of Labor, Agriculture, and Education; the Social Security Administration; and the Administration for Children and Families. She will be responsible for developing a strategic and operating plan for the human services portfolio to boost sales and revenue. Through her contacts with clients, she will translate their priorities into our strategy and execution plans. She also will help address client needs by including in our solutions, when appropriate, our capabilities in research, monitoring, and evaluation; technical assistance and implementation; digital and data services.
Pittenger comes to Abt from Guidehouse, where she led a team that developed training for laboratories doing COVID-19 work. The project also developed a strategic plan to strengthen the public health workforce by training communities. She led another team that analyzed an organization in preparation for a reorganization effort. At Booz Allen, Pittenger worked on a range of projects for the FDA that involved bioinformatics, quality and safety systems, the inventory control and information management system, and Lean Six Sigma training. CDC work included quality systems implementation and working with state public health labs on pandemic preparedness and testing of vaccine preventable diseases. She served as the lab manager for the Agricultural Research Services, Bacterial Epidemiology and Antimicrobial Resistance research unit. In that role, Pittenger launched and managed the DNA sequencing center shared by several research units. She also collected, cleaned, and analyzed original data for publication in scientific journals and presented research at an international meeting.
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Lauren Pittenger comes to Abt with more than 20 years of experience working in or as a consultant to federal government agencies. She has strong grounding in research and research-based consulting to government clients. She also has extensive experience leading and growing business, managing technical and scientific projects, and coaching and supporting account teams. She has served as a director at Guidehouse, scientific program manager at Booz Allen Hamilton, and lab manager at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She has worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Canadian Public Health Laboratory Network, the Gates Foundation and the Association of Public Health Laboratories.
Allan Porowski joined the Social and Economic Policy Division of Abt Global in 2014 as a principal associate. He is a leading expert in the design, execution and analysis of randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental studies and national cross-site evaluations of education, health and other social interventions.
He is the co-lead methodologist on the literacy reviews for the U.S. Department of Education’s What Works Clearinghouse. He is also a member of the Analysis and Reporting team for the National Evaluation of Investing in Innovation (i3) and principal investigator of a formative evaluation of Pay for Success grants for the Corporation for National and Community Service.
Prior to joining Abt, Porowski was a fellow at ICF International, conducting national evaluations for federal and state government agencies including the U.S. Department of Education, Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services, Corporation for National and Community Service, Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Texas Education Agency. He has served as principal investigator on several high-profile evaluations. including the Drug-Free Communities, Communities In Schools, Social Innovation Fund, and Accelerating Connections to Employment national evaluations.
Allan Porowski joined the Social and Economic Policy Division of Abt Global in 2014 as a principal associate. He is a leading expert in the design, execution and analysis of randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental studies and national cross-site evaluations of education, health and other social interventions.
Dr. Daniel Litwok is an economist with over a decade of experience studying career pathways, workforce development initiatives, postsecondary education programs, and K-12 education initiatives. His expertise is in evaluation design, research methods, and data analysis, and he frequently applies these skills to large, complex experimental and quasi-experimental evaluations. Clients have included a variety of U.S. federal agencies: the Institute for Education Sciences (IES) at the Department of Education (ED), the Department of Labor (DOL), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Litwok currently serves as principal investigator for two evaluations funded by Education Innovation and Research grants (ED). He also provides evaluation technical assistance to five evaluations of teenage pregnancy prevention programs funded by HHS’s Personal Responsibility Education Program, guiding them to conduct high-quality experimental and quasi-experimental evaluations. He regularly serves as a technical quality reviewer for Abt projects including projects that study workforce development, K-12 and postsecondary education, justice-involved populations, and housing and homelessness.
Litwok has served as principal investigator for the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG 2.0) COVID-Cohort Impact Study, an experimental evaluation of a healthcare career pathways program sponsored by HHS. He was also the co-principal investigator of DOL’s Sectoral Strategies and Employer Engagement Portfolio Services, which aimed to generate evidence on effective strategies for engaging employers in workforce development. He has authored dozens of federal reports and scholarly articles and frequently participates in conferences targeting researchers, practitioners, and policymakers.
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David Kaz, a principal associate in Abt’s Social and Economic Policy Division, has nearly 20 years of experience providing technical assistance, training, research, and policy analysis. He has worked on a wide range of programs and policies that affect low-income populations. He has directed, designed, and conducted both large- and small-scale, multi-faceted technical assistance projects for federal and state agencies and other clients and stakeholders. Clients have included the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service, Washington State’s Department of Social and Health Services, King County, and the City of Seattle. He has worked on workforce legislation with members of Congress.
The projects he has worked on chiefly involve collaborating with clients on programs that span workforce development, post-secondary education, and human services. He also has helped build effective platforms for learning and the dissemination of practical tools, resources, and best practices. Kaz also has expertise in designing and conducting qualitative research and analysis and translating these into practical tools, trainings, and recommendations for practitioners.
Kaz leads Abt’s Workforce and Economic Mobility technical assistance portfolio. He focuses on such issues as workforce development, work and income supports, postsecondary education, and social and human services. He leads the development of technical assistance and implementation projects in this area. Kaz is working on a project to provide strategic planning consulting to MidPen, a California housing provider, related to economic mobility for its residents. He also developing a quarterly series of webinars for Workforce & Economic Mobility to showcase Abt’s research findings and experience and provide peer learning and practical solutions to improve service delivery.
Before Abt, Kaz served as director consulting professional services and policy at Seattle Jobs Initiative (SJI). Over the course of 17 years there, he led numerous projects related to program evaluation and design, labor markets, and workforce development and postsecondary education research. He also led data collection and analyses and development of tools and resources to increase workforce program and college access and attainment for low-income adults. In addition, Kaz led SJI’s team that provided training and technical assistance for federal, state, and local government agencies and private contractors to improve workforce development and human services systems and programs across the U.S.
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David Kaz, a principal associate in Abt’s Social and Economic Policy Division, has nearly 20 years of experience providing technical assistance, training, research, and policy analysis. He has worked on a wide range of programs and policies that affect low-income populations. He has directed, designed, and conducted both large- and small-scale, multi-faceted technical assistance projects for federal and state agencies and other clients and stakeholders. Clients have included the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service, Washington State’s Department of Social and Health Services, King County, and the City of Seattle. He has worked on workforce legislation with members of Congress.
Robin Koralek is a seasoned evaluator and project director with over 30 years of experience in evaluating federal and state social welfare programs. Her expertise spans areas such as food assistance, employment and training cash assistance, and barriers to employment, including for those recovering from substance use disorders. She has worked with various governmental and non-profit organizations, focusing on program design, implementation, and outcomes.
In her current role, Robin aligns Abt’s expertise with client priorities and plays a pivotal role in fostering partnerships.
In her previous roles, Robin has spearheaded numerous projects, such as the Evaluation of Technology Modernization for SNAP Benefit Redemption, where she led an integrity evaluation of online purchasing pilots. Her work as Project Director on multiple projects in Abt’s Health Profession Opportunity Grants evaluation portfolio, helped build evidence on career pathways for Americans with low incomes.
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Robin Koralek is a seasoned evaluator and project director with over 30 years of experience in evaluating federal and state social welfare programs. Her expertise spans areas such as food assistance, employment and training cash assistance, and barriers to employment, including for those recovering from substance use disorders. She has worked with various governmental and non-profit organizations, focusing on program design, implementation, and outcomes.
Radha Roy is a mixed-methods researcher and senior evaluation leader with over 16 years of experience designing and directing large-scale federal evaluations of workforce development, income support, and education programs. Skilled in quantitative and qualitative research, she has led randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental impact studies, implementation evaluations, and systematic evidence reviews for U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), U.S. Department of Education (ED), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA, National Science Foundation (NSF), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Her expertise centers on understanding how complex human services systems, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), workforce development, and education programs, interact to support economic mobility across life stages and populations, with a strong commitment to rigorous, inclusive research and evidence-building.
Currently, she serves as Principal Investigator for the Sectoral Training Evidence-Building Project, a mixed-methods evaluation of FareStart's culinary sector workforce programs, examining which program components and employer engagement strategies drive stronger employment outcomes for participants facing significant barriers to employment. She also leads DOL’s RESEA 2 Evidence Building Project Selection Model Study Task, directing a multi-partner study that examines the state unemployment insurance claimant selection models. As Task Lead for AI-Assisted Systematic Evidence Reviews on DOL's CLEAR ARISE project, she leads the design and implementation of AI-assisted study review protocols, positioning Abt at the frontier of evidence synthesis innovation.
Previously, Roy served as Project Director for the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Wave 4 Surveys, the most comprehensive national study of FMLA use and leave-taking in over a decade, overseeing a two-survey study of employees and employers for the DOL Chief Evaluation Office, including all aspects of data collection, analysis, and reporting. She directed the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) 2.0 National Evaluation COVID-Cohort Study for ACF/HHS, managing a complex survey-based study of healthcare career pathways participants to assess program effectiveness before and after the pandemic. For ED, , she has contributed to major federal evaluations for the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), including the Study of Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants (Title IV, Part A), a national study of covering a census of states and a nationally representative sample of school districts; the Comprehensive Center Program Design Research Project, an implementation evaluation of ED’s capacity-building grants to state and local education agencies; and the TRIO Upward Bound evaluation, a study of college access services for low-income and first-generation college students. Her career also includes a decade-long leadership role in the HPOG National Implementation Evaluation and the evaluation of NASA's Space Grant College and Fellowship Program.
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Radha Roy is a mixed-methods researcher and senior evaluation leader with over 16 years of experience designing and directing large-scale federal evaluations of workforce development, income support, and education programs.
Dr. Heinrich Hock is an economist with 19 years of experience conducting research on labor, education, disability employment, and social insurance. His work focuses on producing results that help policymakers and program staff understand outcomes for priority populations and research-based options for improving outcomes. He develops rigorous and feasible plans for research designs, data collection and analysis, and dissemination of findings. Hock has led work on over a dozen labor-related projects for the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and other funders to assess the outcomes for groups such as dislocated workers, youth and adult jobseekers with disabilities, and veterans, among other groups. Hock also has played a key role in U.S. Department of Education (ED) studies to identify solutions for improving career outcomes among special education and adult education participants.
Hock helps advance Abt’s portfolio of evaluation studies to grow the evidence base on effective employment and training programs. He is the co-Principal Investigator of DOL’s Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessments Evidence Building project, and co-Principal Investigator of the Fiscal Year 2024 Disability Innovation Fund Program Evidence Building Support project for ED. He also contributes to the DOL-funded Unemployment Insurance (UI) Research and Evaluation Portfolio project and Employment Transition Models Evaluation. Through these and other projects, he is helping federal clients develop, conduct, and support new research studies to improve and innovate on key workforce programs.
Before joining Abt, Hock led impact evaluations for DOL focusing on a new self-employment training model for laid-off workers and new workforce services for adult and youth jobseekers with disabilities. He also led analysis for DOL to assess expansions to the UI system in the wake of the Great Recession. For ED, he led initial impact analyses for a study of English Learner reclassification policies and co-led the design of a study to identify and test promising strategies to improve the adult outcomes of high school students with disabilities. He also contributed to an evaluation of a framework ED promoted to help adult learners gain skills for personal and workplace success. In addition, Hock led evaluation activities for a Social Security Administration test of new rules about work for disability beneficiaries.
This work was conducted while Hock was at Westat, the American Institutes for Research, and Mathematica Policy Research. He was also previously an assistant professor of economics at Florida State University.
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Dr. Heinrich Hock is an economist with 19 years of experience conducting research on labor, education, disability employment, and social insurance. His work focuses on producing results that help policymakers and program staff understand outcomes for priority populations and research-based options for improving outcomes. He develops rigorous and feasible plans for research designs, data collection and analysis, and dissemination of findings. Hock has led work on over a dozen labor-related projects for the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and other funders to assess the outcomes for groups such as dislocated workers, youth and adult jobseekers with disabilities, and veterans, among other groups. Hock also has played a key role in U.S. Department of Education (ED) studies to identify solutions for improving career outcomes among special education and adult education participants.
Lori Hunter is a Project Management Professional and a Certified Scrum Master with 20 years of experience working in systems analysis, functional requirements analysis, user-centered design and user experience, database administration and design, and web design and development. Her projects and experience represent a range of complexities, including administrative and evaluation data collection and reporting systems analysis and visualization, clearinghouses, websites, technical assistance tracking, evaluation data collection, interactive online tools and libraries, communities of practice, and Section 508 compliance. She has been the lead project manager for several large CMMI-3 IT implementations. Her responsibilities have included directing project team personnel; managing scope, schedule, budget, and risk; ensuring contract compliance; and serving as the interface with the customer and customer stakeholders.
As the Lead of the Enabling Technologies Practice at Abt, Hunter currently directs the design, development, operations, and maintenance of the new Runaway and Homeless Youth Homeless Management Information System. Capturing data on runaway and homeless youth being served by the Family and Youth Services Bureau’s (FYSB) more-than-600 RHY grantees, this system, built on AWS Aurora Serverless with Lambda step functions, implements reporting and data visualization on a national scale. Data captured by the system includes information on homeless youth’s critical issues, services, demographics, and other characteristics. Within this system, she is responsible for obtaining a FISMA Moderate Authority to Operate (ATO). Her effort also includes annual presentations at grantee conferences, Training and Technical Assistance to the federal team and grantees, as well as the operation of a help desk.
Before coming to Abt, Hunter dedicated more than 15 years to providing senior level management and oversight at ICF, where she led the team responsible for the design and development of the National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD) reporting system. The development of this system encompassed all phases of the software development cycle. Accomplishing its successful launch required close collaboration between Hunter’s team and policy/implementation staff to fully understand regulation and map out data interdependencies. While at ICF, Hunter also was responsible for budget management, resource allocation, and master work plan deliverables.
Lori Hunter is a Project Management Professional and a Certified Scrum Master with 20 years of experience working in systems analysis, functional requirements analysis, user-centered design and user experience, database administration and design, and web design and development. Her projects and experience represent a range of complexities, including administrative and evaluation data collection and reporting systems analysis and visualization, clearinghouses, websites, technical assistance tracking, evaluation data collection, interactive online tools and libraries, communities of practice, and Section 508 compliance. She has been the lead project manager for several large CMMI-3 IT implementations. Her responsibilities have included directing project team personnel; managing scope, schedule, budget, and risk; ensuring contract compliance; and serving as the interface with the customer and customer stakeholders.
Sarah Gibson is a project-management specialist with 23 years of experience in public policy research. She has more than 20 years of experience managing complex projects, implementing random assignment studies and researching and analyzing policy for clients such as the Social Security Administration and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. She is proficient in project management, including resource management, budgeting and quality control. She develops process improvement recommendations, identifies end-user system requirements, and designs and delivers training. She helps federal agencies implement regulations and track progress toward meeting goals.
Gibson serves as the Implementation Director and Project Director for two large-scale random assignment studies testing alternative benefit offset formulas for the Social Security Disability Insurance program. Gibson leads a team designing and implementing the data system, delivering training and technical assistance, developing and implementing procedures, monitoring compliance with the evaluation design, and developing internal and external communications materials. She manages the project budget and development of policies and procedures and oversees a team of more than 20 subcontractors.
Gibson served as project director for five quick-turnaround research projects for the Social Security Administration. These projects required rapid-startup, strong collaboration, and flexible approaches to deliver the information requested in the abbreviated timeframe. Gibson was deputy project director on the Comprehensive Compliance and Monitoring Initiative, for which she developed tools for Department of Housing and Urban Development field office staff to assess adherence to regulations and policies. As a project manager for the New York City Housing Authority, she advised the prime contractor on regulations and policies for the development of the housing authority’s resident property management system.
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Sarah Gibson is a project-management specialist with 23 years of experience in public policy research. She has more than 20 years of experience managing complex projects, implementing random assignment studies and researching and analyzing policy for clients such as the Social Security Administration and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. She is proficient in project management, including resource management, budgeting and quality control.
Daniel Gubits conducts research in the areas of housing, homelessness, economic self-sufficiency and disability policy. Gubits’ expertise is in econometric modeling, data analysis, and random assignment program evaluation.
Gubits serves as the director of analysis for the Family Options Study, conducted for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). He is also leading the impact analysis work for the Social Security Administration’s Benefit Offset National Demonstration (BOND) project. Both of these are random assignment impact evaluations.
In previous work, Gubits led the analysis of employment, earnings and benefits receipt for the Effects of Housing Vouchers on Welfare Families study, a random assignment impact evaluation conducted for HUD. He also co-authored the impact and implementation reports for the Supporting Healthy Marriage Study, conducted for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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Daniel Gubits conducts research in the areas of housing, homelessness, economic self-sufficiency and disability policy. Gubits’ expertise is in econometric modeling, data analysis, and random assignment program evaluation.
Gubits serves as the director of analysis for the Family Options Study, conducted for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). He is also leading the impact analysis work for the Social Security Administration’s Benefit Offset National Demonstration (BOND) project. Both of these are random assignment impact evaluations.
Brian Freeman is a social science researcher and evaluation leader with more than 14 years of experience working on research, evaluation, evidence synthesis, and survey projects in education, workforce development, and housing and asset building. He has led and advised studies for federal, state, and nonprofit organizations. His capabilities span quantitative methods, systematic evidence reviews, survey design and administration, and meta-analysis. He also has experience translating complex findings into actionable guidance for policymakers and practitioners.
Freeman’s current work positions clients to make defensible decisions grounded in rigorous evidence. For the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse, he is leading an expert panel to develop an evidence-to-practice guide on case management. He also ensures the accuracy and quality of several independent evaluations of federal Education Innovation and Research (EIR) grants. As a lead people manager, he fosters the professional growth of nearly three dozen early career researchers.
Previously, Freeman directed the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) What Works Clearinghouse evidence synthesis projects that produced educator practice guides and intervention reports. He also led an EIR evaluation of a school leadership intervention and directed technical assistance for IES Learning Acceleration Challenges finalist teams. He directed a 25-country review of more than 280 studies on inclusive education that generated an evidence summary cited over 800 times.
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Dr. Sandra Jo Wilson is a social science researcher with more than 25 years of experience designing and conducting rigorous research, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses across education, workforce development, and human services. She has led large-scale federal clearinghouses and research initiatives, disseminating that work to federal agencies, state and local governments, and practitioners across the United States and internationally. Her work spans dozens of projects and emphasizes translating complex evidence into actionable guidance. Dr. Wilson has pioneered innovative methods for identifying core components of effective programs and advancing evidence standards used widely by policymakers and researchers.
Dr. Wilson currently serves as Project Director of the Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse and Principal Investigator for multiple federal contracts, including the Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse and the What Works Clearinghouse. She leads multidisciplinary teams to conduct systematic reviews, develop evidence standards, and produce accessible tools used nationwide. Her work has resulted in widely adopted standards, evidence clearinghouse websites, and technical assistance products for evaluators. She has also led meta-analyses identifying core components of effective interventions, with findings now being tested in randomized trials and informing practice guidelines for programs serving children and families.
Prior to joining Abt Global, Dr. Wilson was Associate Director and Research Assistant Professor at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody Research Institute, where she led major federally funded research and meta-analysis projects. Her work included large-scale studies on school readiness, dropout prevention, and early childhood interventions, as well as methodological advances in research synthesis. She served as editor for Campbell Systematic Reviews and led international reviews for governments and foundations. Across her career, Dr. Wilson has directed or contributed to hundreds of studies, producing influential findings that have shaped evidence-based policy, program design, and evaluation practices across education and social policy sectors.
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Dr. Sandra Jo Wilson is a social science researcher with more than 25 years of experience designing and conducting rigorous research, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses across education, workforce development, and human services.
Shelby Hickman is a mixed methods research and evaluation professional with 14 years of experience in program evaluation, training and technical assistance, and analysis of criminal and juvenile justice administrative data. Dr. Hickman has expertise in overseeing studies funded by the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services. She has experience in causal inference methods for both random assignment and quasi-experimental designs. Additionally, she is proficient in qualitative methodologies, such as semi-structured interviews, focus groups, cognitive interviews, and observations. Hickman is also an expert in forced labor and human trafficking.
She currently is playing a critical role in a number of projects. She is project director for a randomized control trial of Veterans Treatment Court programs. She is the project director for two quasi-experimental evaluations of violence intervention programs. Hickman is the evaluation and continuous quality improvement lead for the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program training and technical assistance center, focused on research and evaluation. She also is leading a study to develop recommendations for human trafficking prevalence estimation for the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Hickman has led implementation evaluations for more than five teen pregnancy prevention programs, including one focused on justice-involved young men. She has also conducted survey development for the federal government, including developing measures for quality of early childhood care providers in English and Spanish. She received a Fulbright award to carry out research on forced labor in Brazil and co-authored a textbook on human trafficking. Hickman has worked with over 70 law enforcement agencies as a training and technical assistance provider and consent decree monitor. She has also led five quasi-experimental evaluations of justice system interventions, including two evaluations of reentry programs.
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Shelby Hickman is a mixed methods research and evaluation professional with 14 years of experience in program evaluation, training and technical assistance, and analysis of criminal and juvenile justice administrative data. Dr. Hickman has expertise in overseeing studies funded by the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services. She has experience in causal inference methods for both random assignment and quasi-experimental designs. Additionally, she is proficient in qualitative methodologies, such as semi-structured interviews, focus groups, cognitive interviews, and observations. Hickman is also an expert in forced labor and human trafficking.
Abt identifies what works and puts evidence into practice to help America’s children, youth, families, and learners thrive. Our expertise spans early childhood, K–12 and postsecondary education, child and family well-being, youth development, and pathways to economic opportunity. By connecting insights, we improve learning and development, strengthen families, expand pathways to opportunity, and build more responsive systems for evolving needs.
Abt helps build evidence to strengthen programs and opportunities for children, youth, and families.
Abt Global partners with federal, state, local, tribal, and nonprofit organizations to modernize operations and protect public safety. Our work spans key areas including substance use response, criminal justice data infrastructure, human trafficking research, and program evaluation.
Abt Global partners with federal, state, local, tribal, and nonprofit organizations to modernize operations and protect public safety. Our work spans key areas including substance use response, criminal justice data infrastructure, human trafficking research, and program evaluation.
Abt strengthens America's workforce in partnership with federal, state, local, and Tribal workforce agencies, education and training providers, employers, and community organizations. We evaluate what works, strengthen program delivery, build workforce system capacity, and turn data into action.
From apprenticeships and career pathways to reemployment services and emerging workforce needs, we help clients respond to changing labor markets and build skills and connections. We combine rigorous research with hands-on technical assistance, data and digital solutions, and deep workforce expertise to improve outcomes for workers, employers, and communities.
Abt builds evidence and identifies promising practices to help workers find and retain jobs and advance to higher-paying positions.
Our work for public, private and non-profit organizations reflect our shared values and steadfast commitment to quality standards, best price, and lasting impact.
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