Senior Research & Data Analytics Leader | Higher Education Instructor
I have over 19 years experience in hands-on, real world applications in data collection, analysis, and interpretation, specializing in advanced statistics, research methodologies, and big data. My passion is in helping businesses, government agencies, and academic institutions with their research and data analysis to inform their strategic goals and operations.
2024 to Present - RESEARCH, POLICY, AND QUALITY ASSURANCE ADMINISTRATOR
Social Services Agency, County of Orange, CA
Executive Leadership & Team Management
Team Leadership: Manage a high-performing research division, including a Supervising Research Analyst and Senior Research Analysts, fostering an innovative, collaborative, and results-oriented environment.
Operational Excellence: Set strategic work priorities, delegate initiatives, evaluate performance, and coach team members to deliver high-quality, timely, and professional outcomes.
Research, Program Evaluation & Data Governance
Program Evaluation: Design and execute complex social services research projects and direct agency-wide quality improvement initiatives across multi-level public programs.
Big Data Governance: Utilize enterprise databases containing millions of rows of social services records, establishing rigorous processes to guarantee data accuracy, confidentiality, and analytical integrity.
Technical Direction: Provide high-level technical guidance to research staff in advanced statistical analysis, predictive modeling, and data manipulation.
Stakeholder Communication & Strategic Reporting
Executive Briefings: Translate complex multi-level program outcomes into actionable insights, written reports, and presentations for executive management, county administrators, contracted providers, and public stakeholders.
Cross-Functional Leadership: Chair key research committees and collaborate with internal and external agency departments to support policy formulation and strategic planning.
Experimental Psychology (PSYC A280 | 4-Unit In-Person Lecture & Lab): Instruct students in advanced research methodologies, experimental design, psychometric survey development, and APA-style proposal/report writing. Guide students through hands-on statistical data collection, hypothesis testing, and oral presentations of research findings.
Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences (PSYC A160 | 4-Unit Hybrid and Online Courses): Deliver rigorous instruction in descriptive and inferential statistics. Topics include mathematical foundations, probability theory, hypothesis testing, z/t-tests, ANOVA, linear regression, and non-parametric analyses.
Psychology of Personality (PSYC A220 | 3-Unit Online): Facilitate a comprehensive analysis of classical and contemporary personality theories, research designs, and cross-cultural applications.
Psychobiology (PSYC A250 | 3-Unit In-Person): Lectured large-format classes (75+ students) on neuroanatomy, brain-behavior relationships, neurological disorders, and physiological measurement.
Introduction to Psychology (PSYC A100 | 3-Unit Global Distance Learning): Designed and launched an international online curriculum to support displaced global students during emergency distance learning initiatives.
Instructional Innovation & Digital Delivery
Custom Course Infrastructure: Built and maintain dedicated online instructional portals (loraconnor.com/psych-instruction) to house lectures, lab toolboxes, datasets, and accessibility resources, ensuring seamless remote and hybrid learning environments.
Learning Management Integration: Expert in Canvas, MindTap, and Blackboard Learning Management System (LMS) deployments, interactive online student engagement, automated scoring frameworks, and digital accessibility compliance.
Enterprise Database Management: Extracted, cleaned, and synthesized enterprise datasets containing millions of rows using complex SQL queries in Oracle Developer and SQL Server environments.
Advanced Quantitative Analysis: Conducted descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate statistical analyses using IBM SPSS and Excel. Built predictive models, time-series forecasts, ANOVA, multiple/logistic regressions, and probability sampling frameworks to evaluate large-scale social service programs.
Geospatial & Business Intelligence: Developed interactive performance dashboards and location intelligence visualizations using Microsoft Power BI (DAX) and ESRI ArcGIS (Pro and Online) to monitor regional demographics and operational metrics.
Program Evaluation & Technical Execution
Evaluation Plan Architecture: Partnered with division directors and program managers to design comprehensive research and evaluation frameworks that measured program efficacy and client outcomes.
Data Quality Assurance & Pipeline Development: Built custom evaluation databases, implemented strict data validation protocols, and conducted continuous quality assurance to guarantee analytical accuracy and regulatory compliance.
Strategic Stakeholder Communication: Authored technical reports and delivered executive briefings for agency deputies, executive directors, and county board stakeholders to guide policy decisions and resource allocation.
Inter-Agency Liaison & Ad-Hoc Data Request Management: Handled complex, high-priority data inquiries from state regulatory bodies, public safety partners, and internal leadership under tight deadlines.
Legislative & Policy Analysis: Maintained up-to-date knowledge of federal, state, and local social service regulations to ensure agency analytical initiatives remained compliant with changing statutory mandates.
2013 to 2015 - GRADUATE RESEARCHER (MASTER’S THESIS)
California State University, Long Beach — Department of Psychology
End-to-End Quantitative Research: Designed and executed original empirical research examining personality traits, physiological symptoms, and environmental stress factors.
Digital Survey & Data Pipeline: Developed custom HTML/CSS web landing pages and embedded SurveyMonkey instruments to manage participant consent and data collection.
Statistical Analysis & Publication: Performed multivariate statistical modeling in IBM SPSS and presented peer-reviewed findings to thesis committee leadership.
Psychometric Scale Validation: Assisted in psychometric research evaluating the Stress Overload Scale (SOS) for clinical health interventions.
Field Research & Team Supervision: Led undergraduate field researchers in data collection, survey administration, participant recruitment, and dataset cleaning in SPSS.
2008 to 2011 - RESEARCH ASSISTANT & PROJECT COORDINATOR
Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF)
Grant & Cross-Functional Operations: Managed field and office operations for the $1.3M multi-agency Discovery Project in collaboration with UNC, NHTSA, and DMV leadership.
Resource & Budget Optimization: Developed a participant return rate tracking model that streamlined testing schedules, significantly lowering operational testing costs.
Research & Co-Authorship: Co-authored a published MSF standards research study, conducted literature reviews, and authored technical reports using SPSS statistical analysis and charts. Developed and administered surveys using SurveyMonkey, statistically analyzed data using SPSS, and wrote reports on survey outcomes.
