By Stephen M. Gavazzi, Ph.D.

The Latest News, Views, and Announcements

What's New at CHRR

This month, we welcome Jungbae An, who will join CHRR as a fulltime Researcher in January 2027. He comes to us from Ohio State's Department of Political Science, where he recently defended his dissertation on congressional deliberation (we also are benefiting from the fact that Jungbae is being allowed to work for CHRR on a parttime basis this month through December). Dr. An’s project turned 138 years of the Congressional Record into analysis-ready data and uses network analysis and causal inference to study how members of Congress engage across party lines. He spent four years as a graduate research associate at the Institute for Democratic Engagement and Accountability (IDEA) on survey projects — consulting with researchers on questionnaire design, programming and testing instruments, and constructing and analyzing study data. His coauthored paper on a nationally representative field experiment on deliberative town halls between citizens and House committee members used data collected by CHRR.

Before coming to Ohio State in 2020, Jungbae spent a decade in Seoul in research and program operations — coordinating a multi-country archival project on the early development of the Internet in Asia, helping run an Asia-Pacific training program on Internet governance, and authoring commissioned reports for university, government, and international organizations. He holds a B.A. in Sociology from Yonsei University. Jungbae shares, "I'm excited to learn from a team that has been running large-scale surveys for decades, and to contribute to data that researchers can rely on to explore new questions."

Please join us in welcoming Jungbae to the CHRR team!

CHRR’s Leadership Team

Over the past several months, CHRR’s Leadership Team has been engaged in a strategic planning process designed to clarify our priorities, identify future opportunities, and position the center for long-term success. Building on CHRR’s longstanding strengths in longitudinal research, survey science, data infrastructure, and public engagement, the team has been working to develop a framework that will guide decision-making and investments over the coming years. The resulting strategic framework emphasizes both stewardship of CHRR’s core programs and the pursuit of new opportunities that expand our impact. While the plan remains focused on supporting the center’s mission, it also highlights emerging areas for growth, including data infrastructure, innovative research platforms, artificial intelligence applications, and stronger connections between research and public decision-making. We look forward to sharing additional details as this work continues to move forward.

CHRR Team Member Celebrations

"If you take out the team in teamwork, it’s just work. Now who wants that?" -Matthew Woodring Stover, American novelist

This month we are observing the work anniversaries of five valued employees:

• Clare Jellick, 3 years of service to CHRR.
• Rosella Gardecki, 30 years of service to CHRR.
• Canada Keck, 33 years of service to CHRR.
• Nick Ramser, 23 years of service to CHRR.
• Nicki Stassen, 41 years of service to CHRR.

That’s a total of 130 years of service to our center (and an average of over 26 years). Thank you for your commitment to the CHRR mission!

 

Things You Might Want to Know

CHRR’s Secure Research Tools Gaining Strong Social Media Presence

Clare Jellick and Laura Rusnak more recently have been creating a strong social media presence for CHRR’s secure research tools. For example, in response to a new information session hosted by the Research Commons inside Ohio State’s University Libraries, there was a rather nifty video posted on LinkedIn that covered good-fit scenarios, protections, and cost information. Check it out on CHRR's LinkedIn profile.