CSDE Welcomes Ayala as *New* Executive Director of the Northwest Federal Statistical Research Data Center (NWFSRDC)
Posted: 6/16/2023 ()
During the spring quarter, CSDE welcomed Dr. Sofia Ayala as a Research Scientist and Executive Director of the Northwest Federal Statistical Research Data Center (NWFSRDC). She joins our team of experienced research scientists whose mission is to facilitate population research among CSDE Affiliates and Graduate Trainees. The NWFSRDC offers a secure access-point for qualified researchers with approved projects to conduct research using restricted-use micro data from the U.S. Census Bureau and other government agencies and entities across the U.S. federal statistical system. Sofia assumes this leadership role from our Dr. Mark Ellis, who spearheaded the NWFSRDC’s establishment in 2012 and has been its executive director since then. We deeply thank Mark for his service to the NWFSRDC and the national FSRDC program and look forward to his continued advice to expand research that uses restricted-use microdata at UW and other Pacific Northwest institutions.
Sofia holds a doctorate in public policy and a master’s degree in economics from The University of Texas at Austin. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in economics with a minor in mathematics from the University of Texas—Pan American (now, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley). Prior to joining the University of Washington, Sofia was an economist in the Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics at Social Security Administration (SSA) in Washington, DC, where she conducted administratively-sensitive research on SSA’s disability programs and their beneficiaries using administrative and restricted-use microdata. Previously, she was a researcher in the Bureau of Business Research at IC2 Institute in The University of Texas at Austin. Sofia’s research examines economic and health disparities, including those related to disability, across space, time, and socio-demographic groups. Her research also studies the barriers or conditions that limit work and well-being across subpopulations.
Please join us in welcoming Sofia to our research community, and we invite you to reach out to her for questions about accessing federal restricted-use microdata for research via her email sgayala@uw.edu.