Dr. Melanie LaForce has twenty years of experience in research and evaluation. She has developed many grant proposals, academic journal articles and conferences presentations, and practitioner-focused publications. She is an expert in research design, project management, analysis and synthesis. Dr. LaForce was the principal investigator of multiple large-scale grants at the University of Chicago, where she worked for 12 years. Her work has influenced public policy at the district, state, national, and international level. LaForce has a human-centered perspective on research, developing comprehensive methods that best capture and describe the experiences of those we serve. LaForce has broad experience in program evaluation, particularly quasi-experimental and mixed-methods designs. A social psychologist, LaForce develops social research measures (such as surveys, interviews, and secondary data analysis) with a focus on precision and power.