Brown Bag Series

March 7, 2017
Green Growth
Rodney Schmidt, Ph.D.

February 16, 2017
The Benefits of Nutrition Investments for Older Adult Health
Erika Rogan, Ph.D.

July 19, 2016
Tackling Technical Debt
Carolyn Seaman, Ph.D.

July 1, 2016
Healthcare from a Physician's Perspective
Manoj Mathew, M.D.

May 19, 2016
The New ABC's of Research
Ben Shneiderman, Ph.D.

May 13, 2016
Costly Cost Savings: An Overview of The Flint Water Crisis
Sheldon Masters, Ph.D.

June 18, 2015
Access to public parks as a place-based health prevention strategy
Coline Dony, M.A.

April 30, 2015
Registered dietitians importance to weight management programs
Jo Zimmerman, Ph.D.

February 25, 2015
Conducting analysis despite low response rates
Shauna Sweet, M.S.

November 12, 2014
Fair trade: resistance to and collusion with the free market
Kelsye Turner, B.A.

February 26, 2014
The Contexts of Parenting in At-Risk Populations
Allison K. Holmes, Ph.D.

February 19, 2014
Designing a Self-Directed Service Program
Barbara Holt, Ph.D.

February 4, 2014
The Effects of the Earned Income Tax Credit on Child Achievement and Long-Term Educational Attainment
Michelle Maxfield

September 9, 2013
Key Methodologies in the Analysis of Labor Discrimination
Barbara Morgan, Ph.D.

July 31, 2013
Network Analysis in Cluster Development
Scott Dempwolf, Ph.D.

April 9, 2013
University of Maryland College of Information Studies (iSchool) Carol Boston to present “Motivation and technology for citizen science projects”
Carol Boston

March 13, 2013
Why Poor People Move (And Where They Go): Residential Mobility, Selection, and Racial Segregation
Stefanie DeLuca, Ph.D.

December 17, 2012
Traditional Entrepreneurs and Regional Resilience Policy
Jennifer Auer, Ph.D. (ABD)

June 27, 2012
Monthly Household Income Fluctuations, Material Deprivation and Health Outcomes in the U.S.
Neil Bania, Ph.D.

May 30, 2012
Intergenerational Educational and Occupational Mobility in Rural China: 1988 - 2002
Yan Sun, Ph.D.

January 23, 2012
University of Maryland's Health IT Initiatives and Collaboration
Kenyon Crowley

December 9, 2011
Neonatal Health Issues in South Asia
Muhiuddin Haider, Ph.D.

November 15, 2011
Model-Based Systems Engineering for Healthcare Organizations
Jeffery W. Herrmann, Ph.D.

June 22, 2011
Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems in Education
Sarah Newman, Research Analyst

June 1, 2011
A Discussion on the Diffusion of Information in Social Networks
William Rand, Ph.D

May 16, 2011
Tools for Measuring the Performance of Federal Policy Agencies
Donald Malcolm Smith, Ph.D Candidate, UB

May 13, 2011
Clarity in the Clutter: Automated Temporal Topic Organization in Social Media
Chris Yang, Ph.D

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Publications

The Evaluation of the U.S. Small Business Administration's Regional Innovation Cluster Initiative Year 3 Report Released

CMS Ombudsman 2013 Congressional Report Released

USAID Europe and Eurasia Regional Energy Security Evaluation Final Report

Partnership for Growth Cross-Cutting Report for Mid-Term Evaluations of El Salvador & The Philippines’ PFG Initiatives

Partnership for Growth El Salvador-United States (2011-2015): Mid-Term Evaluation Final Report

Asocio Para El Crecimiento El Salvador-Estados Unidos de América (2011-2015): Informe Final de la Evaluación de Medio Término

Partnership for Growth The Philippines-United States (2011-2015): Mid-Term Evaluation Final Report

Evaluation of WASHplus: Supporting Environments for Healthy Communities Project Final Report

Cost-Benefit Analysis of USAID/Ethiopia Selected Value Chains of Agricultural Projects in Ethiopia: AMDe, GRAD, LMD, and PRIME Projects: Summary Report

The Mid-Term Performance Evaluation of USAID/ Macedonia’s Investment Development and Export Advancement Support (IDEAS) Project

Cost–Effectiveness Analysis Of USAID/Rwanda Feed The Future Project, Nutrition: Behavior Change and Social Marketing Phase 1 Final Report

Mid-Term Performance Evaluation of the Junior Achievement of Armenia (JAA) Entrepreneurship And Civic Activism For Young People USAID/Armenia Final Report

Poverty Reduction by Increasing the Competiveness of Enterprises (PRICE) Final Performance Evaluation Final Report

USAID Liberia Feed the Future Population-Based Survey Final Report

Optimal presents at International SME Networking and Clustering (SNC) Project Conference

CMS Ombudsman 2012 Congressional Report Released

Measuring School Superintendant Efficiency

In-State Tuition Benefits and Non-Citizen Enrollment in Texas Universities Examined at the 81st Annual Southern Economic Association Conference

Poster Presentation at the 2nd Annual Improvement Science Summit on Real-Time Data Driven Analysis in Quality Improvement Research

Poster on Holistic Service Delivery Model to Enhance the Lives of Fathers and Families Presented at Annual Meeting of the Office of Family Assistance

Study on Extended School Days Presented at AEFP Conference

Employment Options for Low-skill Workers in the Baltimore, Maryland, Metropolitan Area. Viable Occupations, Local Dynamics, Workforce Training and Education: Issues and Challenges

Statistical Power Analysis in Education Research

Study of Teacher Preparation in Early Reading Instruction

The Role of Medicaid in Neonatal Quality Improvement Initiatives

The STEM Pipeline: The Role of Summer Research Experience in Minority Students' Graduate Aspirations

Report Evaluating Charter Schools Impacts Released by the Dept of Education

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Press Releases

International Education Progress Reporting Website Launched

USAID Approves Optimal’s Authority to Operate Education Strategy Progress Report

Optimal Supports APPAM - Sponsors 2016 Spring Conference

Optimizing Positive Social Impacts with Technology

Optimal launches National Women’s Business Council

Optimal Part of Winning CMS SPARC team

UMD’s Human-Computer Interaction Lab Launches 33rd Annual Symposium

Optimal Solutions Group, LLC is Awarded CMS Learning System Data Management Contract

Optimal, APPAM Sponsor and Policy Innovator

Optimal Staff Walk to San Francisco

Optimal Observes Medicare’s 50th Anniversary

Optimal’s CEO Provides Guidance to Small Business Owners at Dept of Energy Event 

Optimal Awarded Annual Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) Sponsor Tiering Determination Assessment for 2014

Optimal to Provide Evaluation Support for NIST’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership Business-to-Business Network Pilots

USAID Learning, Evaluation, and Analysis Project work in 22 countries

Optimal staffers pitch in for worthy causes

Bridging the gap between art and science

Release of results for final USAID evaluation of PRICE project

Innovative and sustainable methods to conduct a population-based survey

Release of results of cost-benefit analysis for USAID/Ethiopia interventions

Performance review report released of USAID youth-centered project in Armenia

Optimal Awarded Evaluation of the Summer Food Service Program Participant Characteristics

Optimal, APPAM Sponsor and Policy Innovator

Optimal participates in the USAID Global Education Summit

Systematic Reviews Used in Economic Development Analysis

Small Firms Fare Better in Clusters

Optimal to Co-sponsor 31st Annual Human-Computer Interaction Lab

Turner appointed to USM Board of Regents

Optimal Open House on January 31, 2013 for New Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center

CMS to Monitor and Identify Best Practices in Medicare Advantage and Part D Quality Improvement Initiatives

Optimal Awarded Evaluation of Graduate Nurse Education Demonstration

USAID to Assess International Education Strategy Goals with Optimal’s Support

UMD Social Sciences Business Plan Competition Students Visit Optimal

NCES Announces The Education Statistics Support Institute Network Awardees

Optimal Awarded International Development Evaluation

Optimal Wins MIPS Grant to Develop Virtual Collaborative System in Health Care

Demonstration of Dashboard Tools at 2011 National Forum on Education Statistics

Optimal Holds 5th Annual "Why be an Economist Day?"

Dr. Mark Turner Joins UM Health and IT Economics Board

Optimal Conducts Social Media Analysis Demonstration in Topic Detection

Optimal Wins Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services Small Business Research and Demonstration Award

Real-Time Systems Save Money for CMS and Other Federal Agencies

Quantifying Quality Improvement Cost Savings for Medicare

Optimal Contracted to Support SBA’s Regional Innovation Clusters Initiative

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