We are a friendly group of statistical consultants who help people create top-notch scientific research.
We find the best ways to answer research questions. We wrangle data into meaningful results. We communicate in simple language.
And we love what we do.
OUR SERVICES
Research Design
Drawing on years of research consulting experience, we will help you to create the right research design for your project.
Statistical Analysis
Using advanced methods to analyze your data, we help you draw good conclusions and make the best policy and program decisions.
Program Evaluation
To justify investment in your projects, we help you measure, evaluate and communicate the real-world impact of your programs.
PROJECT SPOTLIGHT
OUR TEAM
Since starting our little firm in 2000, we’ve enjoyed consulting on research programs around the world. We specialize in statistics, population research, survey design, data visualization, and scientific writing. We’ve got geek cred, though our clients mostly appreciate our down-to-earth, easy-to-work-with professionalism.
Sound like you? Join our crew.

Dr. Philip (Phil) Hastings has provided statistical and research support to clients for over 20 years. His experience spans diverse topics from maternal & child health to behavioral and economic analysis. He brings expertise in evaluation studies and complex sampling, serving as the primary weighting statistician for several CDC surveillance projects. Phil previously served in scientific research positions for AT&T, the Federal Aviation Administration, and Singapore Aerospace. He earned his PhD in Industrial / Organizational Psychology with a concentration in statistics from the University of Houston.
Phil enjoys playing basketball, cycling, and schooling his son in games of pétanque.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
- Population health surveys
- Quasi-experimental design
- Complex sampling & weighting

Dr. Fei Dong has seven years of experience in applied statistical analysis with an emphasis on population surveys. She brings deep expertise in analysis of public use data sets, including complex sample surveys like the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System and the China Health and Nutrition Survey. Her doctoral work focused on childhood nutrition and physical activity, while her post-doctoral work entailed massive data array analysis in genetic epidemiology. She earned her PhD in Nutritional Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Fei enjoys family hangouts, classical music, and exploring the Chicago food scene to find authentic home-style Chinese cuisine.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
- Population health surveys and analysis
- Nutritional epidemiology
- Stata programming

Eric Booth has over 15 years of experience in research, evaluation design and multilevel modeling. His publications span topics such as education policy, behavioral programs and child health. He previously served as a researcher for Gibson Consulting within the Southwest Regional Education Laboratory. He held a dual appointment at Texas A&M as Sr Research Associate in the Public Policy Research Institute, and Lecturer in Graduate Research Methods in the Department of Health Policy and Management. He earned all but his dissertation towards a doctorate in Political Science and Policy Studies from Texas Tech University.
Eric grew up on cattle ranches in the Texas panhandle and now enjoys Austin city life. He plays guitar with his band and escapes on camping trips with his wife and two dogs.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE:
- Evaluations for education and public policy
- Probabilistic linkage for large datasets
- Stata analysis and programming

Dr. Kelli Dickerson earned her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology, with a specialization in Quantitative Methods, at the University of California, Irvine. She then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, with funding from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). Her research has centered on understanding the role of environmental experience in shaping brain and behavioral development in children. A core component of her work has also been evaluating interventions and practices aimed at promoting health and well-being in children and families. Kelli has experience using a wide variety of methods (e.g., biobehavioral assessments, surveys, administrative records) to characterize child and family health. She also has expertise in longitudinal modeling, analysis of mediated effects, and experimental and survey research design.
In her free time, Kelli enjoys hiking and traveling.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
- Longitudinal analysis
- Child and family health
- Mediation analyses

Dr. Xin Wei has applied experimental design, statistical and machine-learning techniques to evaluate and improve instruction, interventions, assessments, and policies. Currently, she is the principal investigator (PI) of an Institute of Education Sciences (IES) grant that uses statistical and machine-learning techniques to understand the test-taking behavior of National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) grade 8 learners with and without disabilities. Before joining Far Harbor, she was a principal research scientist at SRI International. She has designed and directed statistical analysis of more than 26 grants funded by the IES, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Justice, the National Institute of Health, the Education Innovation and Research Program, and others. She is the lead author of papers published in peer-reviewed journals on various topics on improving outcomes for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. She earned her PhD in Educational Psychology with a concentration in statistics and measurement and a MS in Statistics from Stanford University. She is the recipient of the prestigious AERA dissertation award, Stanford Graduate Fellowship, University of Wisconsin-Madison University Fellowship, and University of Wisconsin-Madison Jacqueline Wirth Fellowship.
Xin enjoys cooking and spending time with her family.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
- Experimental and quasi-experimental design
- Statistical and machine-learning modeling

Dr. Joseph (Joe) Pirozzolo received his PhD in Developmental, Cognitive & Behavioral Neuroscience from the University of Houston. In his graduate training he was advised by Drs. Donald Foss and David Francis and worked in the Texas Institute for Measurement Evaluation and Statistics (TIMES). Joe has experience in experimental and quasi-experimental research design, multi-level modeling, and item response theory, as well as content expertise in human learning, memory, and instruction. He has published in the Journal of Educational Psychology and presented at several scientific conferences including meetings of the Psychonomic Society and the Society for Research in Child Development.
Joe loves sports, especially baseball, which he played at St. Edward’s University in Austin. In his spare time, Joe analyzes baseball statistics and presents his findings to the modest audience of his wife and young daughter.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
- Multi-level modeling
- Item response theory
- Memory, cognition, and human learning

Ella Puga has sixteen years of experience in public health epidemiology at the community and state level. She has wide expertise in statistics and analysis with public use data sets, including complex sample surveys like the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, Youth Risk Behavior Survey, as well as Census Bureau products like the Decennial Census and American Community Survey. She earned her Master in Public Health from the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Prior to Far Harbor, Ella worked in the Office of Health Affairs at the University of Texas System and the Center for Health Statistics at the Texas Department of State Health Services.
Ella is an avid Ultimate Frisbee player and enjoys traveling with her family.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
- Medical claims data analysis
- Public health surveillance
- Data cleaning and weighting

Dr. Abel J. Koury is a developmental psychologist with over 15 years of experience in data analysis and research design. His work is broad but unified, centering on the roles of race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status in shaping life circumstances. Abel has expertise in working with large-scale, longitudinal datasets including the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study datasets (e.g., ECLS-K:2011). Abel worked at both non-profits and universities, before creating his own consulting company, Compelling Analytics. He joined Far Harbor to continue his mission of using best practice in data analysis and research design to help organizations deepen their impact through compelling storytelling. Abel earned his PhD in Developmental Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh.
In his free time, Abel enjoys checking out (too many) books at the library, drinking coffee, and doing the crossword with his partner and their two dogs (the dogs are not much help).
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
- Secondary data analysis
- Research design and methodology
- Early childhood development and education

Dr. Chien-Yu Huang has a PhD in Health Services, Outcomes and Policy from Purdue University, and his research interests fall within the areas of pharmacoepidemiology, health economics and outcomes research. He is a data-driven scientist, dedicated to investigating safety and quality-of-care topics across diverse patient populations using real-world evidence. His PhD dissertation focused on drug-associated outcomes in the field of cardiology for assessing the risk of arrhythmias in patients by utilizing medical claims and electronic medical records.
During his leisure time, Chien-Yu enjoys running, rock climbing, hiking, and hanging out with friends.
Area of expertise:
- Secondary data analysis
- Quasi-experimental study design
- Survival analysis

Dr. Jie Min earned her Ph.D. in Sociology and MS in Statistics at Rice University. Jie was a research assistant with the Houston Education Research Consortium (HERC), investigating crucial questions grounded in the needs of education practitioners. She gained exposure to nationally representative data as well as regional assessment data provided by partner school districts, utilizing multilevel and longitudinal quantitative methods. Jie was a 2019-2020 National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation fellow, and won the John W. Gardner Award for the Best Dissertation in Social Sciences.
In her free time, Jie enjoys watching documentaries and traveling.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
- Multilevel modeling
- Longitudinal analysis
- Quasi-experimental design

Pat Malone has worked in quantitative psychology for 25 years. His specific research topics in methodology include longitudinal modeling, analysis with latent variables, and analysis of mediated or indirect effects, with an interest in modern methods for causal inference. Pat has worked substantively in the areas of clinical child development, education policy, substance use and abuse, and adolescent health risk behaviors, among others. He has held affiliations with Duke University, the RAND Corporation, and the Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as been tenured faculty in quantitative psychology at the University of South Carolina. He earned his PhD in social psychology with a minor in research methods and statistics from the University of Texas at Austin.
In his free time, Pat enjoys reading science fiction, fantasy, and crime fiction and spending time with his wife and son and Hudson their Welsh Springer Spaniel.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
- Longitudinal analysis
- Latent variable modeling
- Mediation analysis

Erica Dauzacker is a graduate of UT Austin, earning a double major in Psychology and Social Studies Education. Originally from Brazil, she has lived around the world and has called Texas home since 2010. Erica has worked as a Social Studies high school teacher and went on to support an international non-profit focused on providing exemplar education in Cambodia. In addition to her passion for teaching and learning, she is a creative at heart with an ever-growing list of DIY projects. She enjoys arts & crafts, portrait photography, traveling to visit friends & family, and staying active around Austin.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
- Communications
- Administrative Systems
- Visual Design
THE X-TEAM
For a particular set of skills we call our league of super scientists.

Devrim Ikizler, PhD
Sr Research Economist

Ashleigh Hope, PhD
Research Statistician

Larry Price, PhD
Sr Research Statistician

Julie Paasche
Sr Survey Researcher

Sam Field, PhD
Sr Research Statistician

Katie Grooms, PhD
Sr Research Economist

Nate Marti, PhD
Sr Research Statistician

Ghaz Samandari, PhD
Sr Research Scientist

Charles Lindsey, PhD
Sr ML Statistician

Namrata Sanjeevi, PhD
Research Statistician
OUR CLIENTS
For over twenty years we’ve earned a reputation for excellence among government, nonprofit, and private-sector clients. Our firm is registered with Dunn and Bradstreet, the US Small Business Association and the US Central Contractor Registry. We are also proud members of the American Statistical Association and the Union of Concerned Scientists.


















