Rupa Datta PhD 2001

Building Foundations for Future Research

As the academic year swings into full gear Rupa Datta, PhD’01 takes the helm of the University’s Alumni Board of Governors. Also a 1990 graduate of the College and long-time University volunteer, Datta happily accepted the role of board president when she was nominated. “This University is a place that I have tremendous respect and passion for, and I find it incredibly rewarding and fulfilling to do what I can for it,” she said.

Datta’s day job is also tied to the University; she serves as vice president and senior survey director at NORC, focusing on labor and education. There for 16 years, Datta now balances the managerial demands of big budgets and complex schedules with the scientific demands of study design and analysis.

NORC collaborates with education institutions, government agencies, and foundations and other nonprofit organizations to run large-scale surveys and research projects. Many of these studies produce reports and results that government agencies need to monitor specific programs or generate key statistics.

But Datta often works on a different type of project where the aim is to produce data that will enable future, unspecified research. “These studies build infrastructure for social science research, kind of like highways and bridges for empirical economics and sociology,” she explained. “We really have the potential to change the way people understand human behavior.”

An example of such a project is the Design Phase of the National Study of Child Care Supply and Demand, for which Datta serves as project director. This study will be the first profile of the national childcare landscape in nearly twenty years, a period that has seen dramatic changes—such as welfare reform and an increase in child care subsidies to low-income families.

The challenge for Datta and her colleagues is to anticipate what type of data and policy angles will be of interest 10, 15, or even 25 years from now. That includes understanding what disciplines will be interested in the subject, what estimation techniques researchers might want to use, and even what policies government officials might be considering.

Datta has been an active volunteer for the University since she started her own college career. She has raised funds, served on advisory boards, interviewed prospective students, and began a term on the alumni board five years ago.

“I think the University community can be meaningful to people in a variety of ways throughout their life,” she explained. “A business school alumnus may want opportunities for networking and career development early on, then later develop a passion for improving public education or supporting the arts.”

So, in an effort to help more alumni “tap into all their current interests,” the board is thinking about new and different ways alumni can interact with one another and with the University. Part of this initiative involves creating a cross-campus outlook—ensuring that graduates know about work happening throughout the University as well as helping alumni renew their connections and create others.

“We’d like alumni to leave campus and continue whatever multidimensional experience they’ve had, so they’ll feel very much not just a graduate of the Harris School, but a graduate of the University and a member of the full community,” she said. “That’s 150,000 people and that’s a great group to be part of.”