The ARC research and academic evaluation experts specialize in both quantitative and qualitative data collection, analysis, and reporting to help our clients communicate impact and make data-driven decisions for accountability, continuous improvement, program planning, and policy development.
In addition to University of Missouri faculty and researchers, we serve a variety of clients through our academic evaluation services in fields such as education, environment, law, social services, health care, and agriculture.
Our approach to your project will depend on your specific needs.
Contact us to discuss how our academic evaluation services can help you.
Dr. Kelly L. Adams received her Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Missouri-Columbia (MU) in 2022. She has served in various roles on research projects over the past eight years, including as support, evaluator, and PI. The projects included subject areas such as media, diversity, and food insecurity. She served as research support on a Media and Diversity grant-funded project through the Media and Diversity Center at MU where the team was creating a media literacy intervention for college students. Kelly served as a regional research coordinator on a statewide grant-funded project with the Interdisciplinary Center for Food Security at MU exploring food insecurity and the use of food pantries across Missouri and Kansas. Her background in communication and psychology has provided her with opportunities for a wide variety of research projects, from surveys and experiments to interviews and focus groups. Two of her greatest strengths as an evaluator are data visualization and creating an impactful story using research outcomes. She takes research outcomes and provides actionable results that clients can use to create sustainable change. Dr. Adams has published her work in several prestigious journals.
Nahida Begum, Ph.D., M.Sc., has more than 15 years of research and evaluation experience in multisectoral policy areas including education, energy efficiency, environment, and youth development. Previously, she worked in Pakistan conducting formative and summative evaluations of community development programs funded by USAID, USEPA, the World Bank, and other development agencies. As a Fulbright grantee, she graduated from UNC Charlotte in 2018 with a Ph.D. in Public Policy concentrating on education and environment policies. Later, she served as a postdoctoral scholar with the Center for Social and Behavioral Research at the University of Northern Iowa. She also has a M.Sc. degree in Planning and Development from the University of Guelph, Canada. Dr. Begum has experience in designing and operationalizing evaluation and research in remote regions as well as nationwide surveys. She has applied participatory, qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches to her research and evaluation work.
For the past 15 years, Dr. Soo-Yeon Cho has been a researcher and evaluator on federally and state-funded projects. In that time, she has applied rigorous quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods to a range of projects in K-12 education, higher education, and public health with a recent focus on educational programs. She has conducted all stages of evaluation: design, collection, analysis, and reporting of evaluation data. She currently serves as an external evaluator for Linking Science and Literacy for All Learners (NIH-SEPA #R25OD023780-01); Linking Science, Math and Literacy for All Learners (NIH-SEPA #1R25GM146287-01); and for the STEM and Literacy Project (NSF DRK-12 # 2010312). She ensures the fidelity of program implementation, monitors how well program plans and activities are working, and offers timely feedback with project research teams. Previously, in the MU College of Education & Human Development (CEHD), Dr. Cho served on the team that gained the college’s national accreditation by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). She conducted performance evaluation of teacher training programs on P-12 student learning, teaching effectiveness, and the satisfaction of employers and completers.
She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Missouri.
With 20-plus years of program development and evaluation experience, Steven Henness has served in PI, project management, and evaluation roles on Federal, state, local agency, and private foundation grant awards. His applied research and evaluation experience ranges in scope from local community initiatives to multi-state and multidisciplinary projects in Extension, K-16 and community-based education, national service, and youth and community development. As an applied social scientist and evaluator, his experience includes survey development, interviews, focus groups, ripple effects mapping, case studies, and mixed methods approaches. Steve is a PhD candidate (2023) with a graduate certificate in Society & Sustainability (2021) and received his MS in rural sociology (2000) from the University of Missouri.
Amy Lake, MS, has more than 20 years of experience in project development, management, and evaluation. Her areas of expertise include rural health (community health needs assessment and planning; participatory research; agricultural health and safety, American Indian health and regional rural health collaborations); economic development; and community development. Ms. Lake’s ability to translate quantitative and qualitative data into actionable information for policy-makers and community leaders has earned her a reputation as a reliable and informative project partner and manager. She has worked with dozens of communities on community-based projects in the Midwest addressing health and local economic development issues.
Dr. Melissa Maras received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Miami University in 2008 and completed her internship at The Consultation Center at the Yale School of Medicine. Her scholarship focuses on improving education and service delivery systems by building capacity, strengthening partnerships, and leveraging resources among local schools and communities. Dr. Maras was the lead developer of a statewide evaluation capacity-building framework designed to enhance and sustain effective evaluation practices among school counselors in the state. Dr. Maras has disseminated her scholarship broadly to interdisciplinary audiences. She has received local, state, and federal funds to support her applied research agenda.