Lucy Mackey Bilaver MPP 1993

Senior Researcher, Chaplin Hall Center for Children—A research center at the University of Chicago, Chapin Hall focuses on the needs, potential, and problem of children, as well as the service systems designed to foster their development. Using predominately administrative data, Bilaver's research questions concerning the health and well-being of children, including those in foster care, those from families living in poverty, and those living with disabilities.

"Public Policy seemed a natural field for me because I have family in public service and always thought of it as a possible career choice. Then while I was in college, I helped work on a large research project on child support. Public policy research appealed to me as something I might want to pursue.

"When I can to the Harris School, I really didn't have any background in statistics and quantitative analysis. I hadn't even taken math since high school, but I really go into it. I discovered that I loved the math and statistics in the core courses, and that they are a real strength for me. In fact, I'm about to start a master's program in statistics.

"The program gave me the skill set I need for my career and the opportunities to demonstrate that I could use those skills in a research environment. When I applied for a research position at Chapin Hall after graduating I knew that I could do it because I had done quantitative research through the curriculum at the Harris School. During my second year, I did an independent study project on child support. I had gone through the whole process of asking for the data set, configuring my variables, running the regression, and writing up a report. These are skills that I use every day. The Harris School trained me very well to do exactly what I am doing."