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Erin Tanenbaum

Pronouns: She/Her

Senior Statistician
Erin is a nationally recognized expert in statistics.

Erin is a senior statistician in the Statistics & Data Science department at NORC, where she provides analytic oversight and direction for public health and education research at NORC. She has over 15 years of experience conducting research with applied statistics in the areas of modelling, survey research, program evaluation, data science, record linkage, small area estimation, and outcome analytics. Her findings have informed state and federal programs and policies in education and health. Erin’s research areas focus on improving quality and usefulness of statistics with visualizations and analytic toolkits. 

Erin has lead dozens of analyses from small rural health studies to large cross-functional evaluations. She was the project director for the Clinical and Community Data Initiative (CODI) with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a study designed to enhance data capacity for researchers interested in exploring the efficacy of weight-related intervention and prevention strategies. Currently, Erin leads analyses for the Research, Monitoring, and Evaluation Support contract for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Center for State, Territorial, Local, and Tribal Support (CSTLTS).

Prior to joining NORC, Erin worked as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and Director of Statistical Resources at the Nielsen Company where she conducted analytic research. Among her achievements, Erin led a quality improvement project for the Retail Establishment Survey (RES) across Asia. The endeavor improved statistical data collection and analysis of 3.5 million surveys. Erin led a cross-department team of statisticians, field workers, regional leaders, and executives through a lean six sigma project which increased response rates and productivity, while reduced sampling, selection, and measurement error rates.

Education

MA

University of Michigan

BA

Kalamazoo College

Appointments & Affiliations

President | 2022 - 2023

Washington Statistical Society

President-Elect | 2021 - 2022

Washington Statistical Society

Standards Committee Member | 2019 - 2022

AAPOR

Chair | 2018

American Statistical Association (ASA) Quality and Productivity Section

Student Travel Award Committee Chair | 2017 - 2021

Washington Statistical Society

Chairperson | 2015 - 2016

Committee on Applied Statisticians, American Statistical Society

Board Member-at-Large | 2015 - 2016

Washington Statistical Society

Vice-Chairperson | 2010 - 2014

Committee on Applied Statisticians, American Statistical Society

Contributing Editor | 2010

Amstat News Magazine, American Statistical Society

Honors & Awards

Exceptional Service Letter of Recognition | 2020

Committee on Applied Statisticians, American Statistical Association

Rural Health Fellow | 2017

National Rural Health Association

Rural Health Recognition Award | 2016

NORC at the University of Chicago

Team Recognition Award | 2015 - 2016

NORC at the University of Chicago

Pinnacle Award | 2009

The Nielsen Company

Project Contributions

College Mentoring Programs Evaluation

Assessing ways to increase college completion rates for historically underserved students

Client:

ECMC Foundation

Publications