Aaron Schroeder

  • Research Associate Professor
Aaron Schroeder headshot
Contact
434-243-7335

Bio

Dr. Schroeder's overarching research focus is the enablement of Evidence-Based Policy-Making and Program Evaluation through the Secure Liberation, Integration and Analysis of Administrative Data.

Dr. Schroeder has extensive experience in the technologies and related policies of information/data integration and systems analysis, policy and program development and implementation, quantitative and qualitative methodologies of evaluation, and the general application of data and web technologies to the enhancement of public and private sector services.

A particular focus of Dr. Schroeder's research has been on the integration and analysis of education, health, social service and non-profit administrative data streams for the purpose of conducting policy analyses and program evaluations impacting a wide range of constituents, including: pre-K child social and health service recipients; child care service operators; primary, secondary, post-secondary and adult education service recipients; state workforce training service recipients; and, U.S. veteran health and social service recipients.

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  • Since beginning his research career at Virginia Tech, Dr. Schroeder has served as Principal Investigator on over $10M of research with funding provided from the federal government (National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Transportation), state government (Virginia Department of Social Services, Virginia Department of Education, Virginia State Police, Virginia Department of Emergency Services, Virginia Department of Transportation, Virginia Department of Veteran Services), foundations (Generations United (GU), MET Life Foundation, Virginia Early Childhood Foundation), and the private sector (Shenandoah Telecommunications Corporation).

  • High-profile information integration projects include:

    • Data Repurposing
    • Record Linkage/Entity Resolution
    • Organization Theory
    • Policy Analytics
    • Research Design
    • Quantitative & Qualitative Data Analysis
    • Information Policy
    • Privacy Law
    • Policy & Implementation Network Analysis
    • Information Management
    • Information Integration
    • Data Management
    • Big Data
    • Web-Enabled Public Services

  • (2013) Winner, Cross-Boundary Collaboration on IT Initiatives, Government Technology's annual Commonwealth of Virginia’s Innovative Technology Symposium (COVITS 2013). Awarded for creation of the Virginia Longitudinal Data System (VLDS), a multi-agency data integration system for Virginia.

    (2010) Invited participant to the Virginia Governor's Early Childhood Advisory Council (ECAC) on Cross-Agency Data Integration.

    (2009) Invited expert on methods of public-sector data integration and issues created by federal and state privacy laws for a workshop on Research Use of State Longitudinal Data Systems sponsored by the National Institute of Statistical Sciences (NISS) , the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), and the Institute of Education Sciences (IES).

    (1999) Nominated by the Association of State Governments for Award in Innovation in State Government for the design, development and deployment of Travel Shenandoah, a public-private partnership for Advanced Traveler Information Systems in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.

    (1999) Appointed Member of Congressional Commission on I-81 Truck Safety.

  • Ph.D. in Public Policy & Administration, Virginia Tech University

    M.P.A. in Public Administration, James Madison University

    B.A. in Psychology, University of Delaware

  • Co-director of the DSPG Young Scholars Program.

Three-State Data Science for the Public Good Innovation Network

The three-state Innovation Network was a first step to forge data science partnerships with Cooperative Extension professionals and stakeholders in communities across Virginia, Oregon, and Iowa. Research faculty and Cooperative Extension professionals worked closely with DSPG young scholars on issues facing rural communities including food security, health, nutrition, youth growth and development, forestry, agriculture, and natural resource management.
Night sky
Past Project

Attitudes of American Soldiers During WWII

During World War II, the U.S. Army conducted surveys to reveal attitudes toward, and between Black and White Soldiers. These responses hold insights regarding attitudes about race, gender, and family roles of the time. Our research team used computational text analysis and social network analysis of handwritten responses to learn about the dynamics and language of soldiers in the 1940’s.
Old written document from survey

Leveraging Department of Defense Data To Optimize Individual and Team Performance

Through modern data science techniques, we are uncovering the social characteristics of individual and unit performance that drives Soldiers to successfully meet the challenges of rapid technological change they may need to address in future wars. We are recategorizing these data in a social context to capture Army values and Warrior Ethos, such as courage, honor, loyalty, and empathy.
Woman soldier sitting in tank

Getting on the Grid: How Rural Property Values Benefit from Broadband

Working with the USDA’s Economic Research Service, our researchers are exploring the effects of U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Utilities Service (RUS) broadband programs on rural broadband availability, use, household income and property values, allowing policymakers to better understand the efficacy of their funding initiatives.
Rolling fields
Social and Decision Analytics
Presentation

Supporting Local Decision-Making through the Aggregation of ACS Demographic Estimates within Locally-Relevant Geographies

Schroeder A 2023;
Map of Washington D.C.
Data Science

UVA Biocomplexity Institute, MasterCard Center for Inclusive Growth to Aid Equitable Growth in Washington, DC, Metro Region

Washington, DC, metro-area stakeholders will soon have a new tool at their fingertips to inform equitable and sustainable growth, a critical issue for a region where more than 5.5 million people now live and strong growth is expected over the next 25 years. The unique data platform will emerge from the University of Virginia Biocomplexity Institute’s launch of a Social Impact Data Commons, an open curated knowledge repository that will co-locate data from various sources, including public datasets, administrative records, and private sources focused on the region.

Student presenting
Data Science for the Public Good

Biocomplexity Institute Helps Launch First All-Virtual Data Science for Public Good Young Scholars Program

Over the last five summers, students from across the country have come together at the Biocomplexity Institute’s Arlington, Va. location for the Data Science for the Public Good (DSPG) Young Scholars program – an 11-week immersive research program through which students gain world-class, hands-on professional experience combining data science and public service. This year, as the world continues to evolve due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the program has followed suit, adopting an entirely virtual format for the first time.