Data Customer Service

Frank R. Lawrence

Summary: I currently work as an associate level biostatistician in the Detroit area. I serve as the lead statistician on a multisite study of impact statins have on lymphoma. In my current position I have authored six manuscripts which are working their way through the approval and review process.

As an employee of SRA, International, Inc, I was the senior statistical modeling team member (consultant) assigned to the Analysis and Modeling team of the Defense Manpower Data Center’s (DMDC) Human Resources Strategic Assessment Program (HRSAP). In this capacity, I am responsible for performing detailed, in-depth, theoretically sound analyses of complex survey data using appropriate statistical software (e.g., SAS, R, Mplus, SPSS). Results of my analyses are used to help HRSAP officials inform DoD policy makers on issues relevant to force management such as retention, performance, and mental health. Over the two years I have worked at DMDC, force policy decisions have resulted in retention rates approaching 90%, turning around a pernicious trend that had resulted in the imposition of legal constraints on military members prohibiting separations of select individuals.

Prior to my job at DMDC, I was an assistant professor at the Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania and a statistical methods consultant at the Penn State Methodological Center. While there, my work in research spanned a wide range of disciplines including nutrition, family conflict, communication, language development, drug use, health and medical issues, and epidemiology. For my work in these and other areas, I used several advanced statistical methods including hierarchical linear models, structural equation models, growth models, and generalized linear models. The upshot of these efforts was over 40 manuscripts published in top tier refereed journals and approximately 100 presentations accepted at national and international conferences.

Most recently, I have written about the effects of manipulating key psychological variables in the retention of military members, use of multiple imputation in complex survey data sets, and described methods for analyzing sub-groups within complex survey data. Additionally, I have compared and contrasted the analytic results obtained from three commercially available complex survey analytic programs showing how the programs yield only approximately similar results.

Education

Ph.D., Educational and Psychological Measurement and Statistics, Auburn University, Auburn, AL. Awarded: 1998

DPA, Public Administration, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL. Awarded: 1992

MA, Computer Resource Management, Webster University, Saint Louis, MO. Awarded: 1988

MA, Logistic Management, Webster University, Saint Louis, MO. Awarded: 1988

MA, Business Administration, University of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines.

BS, Biology, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA.

Experience

2011 – Present

Biostatistician III in Detroit area health system.

• Lead statistician on multi-site statin and lymphoma study

• Used advanced statistical modeling techniques to produce six first author manuscripts

o Growth mixture modeling of fruit and vegetable intake

o Cross-domain modeling of fruit and vegetable intake trajectories

o Latent class growth modeling of hysterectomy patient quality of life

o A study of the bias in analysis of BMI data when using WHO categorization

o Markov modeling of the transtheoretical change process for MENU participants

o Using non-ignorable missing data to estimate disease risk

2010 – June 2011

Self-employed statistical consultant. Worked with seven faculty members and researchers at six different universities on a variety of research projects.

Epidemiological studies involving dietary instruments and national databases.

Language studies focusing on Latino students and their development in the Head Start program

Media application to curtail illicit drug use

2008-August 2010

Statistician with SRA International, Inc., Fair Lakes Court, Fairfax, Va.

Senior member of statistical modeling team, Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC), Human Resources Strategic Assessment Program (HSRAP).

Collaborated with key members of the management, survey, and data management departments to develop a statistical model of the relationship between military member responses to the question asking retention intention and the member’s actual behavior as recorded in the administrative data base for participants in the status of forces survey of active duty members (SOFA) in 2006.

Expert presenter - described statistical model of military member retention to the senior service personnel managers at the conference of the Inter-service Survey Coordinating Committee (ISSCC) in a way that forged consensus on changes to future policy

Authored internal paper on use of multiple imputation with complex survey data

Authored internal paper on the correct procedures for subsetting and analyzing complex survey data

Provided critiques to director HRSAP on manuscripts drafted by RAND National Defense Research Institute members.

Possess strong communication, customer service and organizational skills, which increased customer satisfaction from 85% to 98% and realized 100% on-time delivery of assigned projects.

Possess strong commitment to team environment dynamics with the ability to contribute expertise and follow leadership directives at appropriate times.

2000-2008 Pennsylvania State University

University Park, PA

Assistant Professor

Consultant with the Penn State Statistical Methodology Center

- Advised over 50 researchers on correct use of statistical methods for nationally funded research projects

- Wrote the statistical methods and data analysis sections for over 30 grant projects. Eight were funded grants in an environment where the expected the rate of successful funding was less than 10%.

Teach

HDFS 312 – Undergraduate Research Methods

HDFS 519 – Methods of Statistical Analysis

HDFS 597 – Applied Longitudinal Data Analysis

Stat 580 – Statistical Consulting

Other

Responsible for teaching select graduate level statistics courses in applied longitudinal data analysis, regression, and analysis of variance. Instructional skill rated an average of 6.2 on a 7.0 scale (89%) by 1500 students over a five year period. Second highest in the department.

Lead data analyst for Fast Track grant: Ten year longitudinal study of child behavior.

Statistical consultant to the Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly project. Multi-site quality of life study.

Statistical consultant to the Australian Longitudinal study of Behavioral and Emotional Disturbance in Children and Adolescents with Intellectual Disability. Five-year multi-site study.

Methodological consultant to Organ Donations in the Cleveland Clinic Health System, Five year longitudinal study of organ donations in a large scale health system. The goal is to increase organ donations. Process changes implemented as a result of this study increased organ donations 10%.

1998-2000 University of Alabama Birmingham, AL

Research Professor

-Taught three graduate statistics courses each year

- Influenced the quality and direction of research of over 150 graduate students attending the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

-Statistical consultant to Transition Demonstration Project, eight year multi-site study of child development.

-Lead data analyst for Alabama Reading Initiative. Statewide project to improve reading skills.

- Reading scores in Alabama were 40% higher following release of our report.

-Consultant to the Alabama school accountability project. Develop model for school accountability

Publications

Lawrence, F. & Hancock, G.R. (1998). Assessing change over time using latent growth modeling. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 30(4), 211-224.

Lawrence, F., Halpin, G., & Halpin, G. (1998). Modeling asymmetric hypotheses with log-linear techniques. Research in the Schools, 5, 61-68.

Lawrence, F. & Hancock, G.R. (1999). Conditions affecting integrity of a factor solution under varying degrees of overextraction. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 59(4), 549-579.

Hancock, G.R., Kuo, W., and Lawrence, F. (2001) Second order latent growth models. Structural Equation Modeling Journal,8,470-489.

Hancock, G.R., Lawrence, F., & Nevitt, J. (2000) Type I error and power of latent mean methods and MANOVA in factorially invariant and noninvariant latent variable system. Structural Equation Modeling Journal, 4, 534-6.

Lawrence, F. & Blair, C. (2003). Factorial invariance in preventive intervention: Modeling the development of intelligence in low birth weight, preterm infants. Prevention Science, 4, 249-261.

Lin, H-L, Lawrence, F, Gorrell, J. (2003). Kindergarten Teachers’ Views Of Children’s Readiness For School. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 18, 225-237.

Blair, C., Peters, R., & Lawrence, F. (2003). Family dynamics and child outcomes in early intervention: The role of developmental theory in the specification of effects. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 18(1), 446-467.

Lawrence, F., & Hancock, G. (2005). Using Latent Variable Growth Models to Evaluate Change. In G. Hancock & R. Mueller (Eds.), A second course in latent variable growth modeling. University of Wisconsin Press.

Bailey, R. L., Gutschall, M. D., Mitchell, D. C., Miller, C. K., Lawrence, F. R., & Wright, H. S. (2006). Comparative strategies for using cluster analysis to assess dietary patterns. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 106(8), 1194-1200.

Slater, M.D., Kelly, K.J., Edwards, R.W., Thurman, P.J., Plested, B.A., Keefe, T.J., Lawrence, F.R., & Henry, K.L. (2005). Combining in-school and community-based media efforts: Reducing marijuana and alcohol uptake among younger adolescents. Health Education Research, 21(1), 157-167.

Loeb, S.J.,Steffensmeier, D.J., & Lawrence, F.R. (2008) Comparing incarcerated and community-dwelling older men's health . Western Journal of Nursing Research, 234-249.

Fick, D. M., Hodo, D. M., Lawrence, F. R., & Inouye, S. K. (2008) Assessment of nursing recognition of delirium superimposed on dementia utilizing case vignettes. Journal of Gerontological Nursing.

Miller, C.K., Gutschall, M.D., & Lawrence, F.R. (2008) The development of self-efficacy and outcome expectation measures regarding glycemic load and the nutritional management of type 2 diabetes. Public Health Nutrition.

Hammer, C. S., Rodriguez , B. L., Lawrence, F. R., & Miccio, A. W. (2008). Puerto Rican Mothers' Beliefs and Home Literacy Practices. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools.

Beard JL, Murray-Kolb LE, Lawrence F, Felix A, del Mundo A, Haas JD. (2008). Sources of variation in the diets of Philippine women over 9 months of continuous observation. Food and Nutrition Bulletin.

Rodriguez, B.L., Hammer, C.S., & Lawrence, F.R. (2008). Parent Reading Belief Inventory: Reliability and validity with a sample of Mexican-American mothers. Early Education and Development

Slater, M.D., Lawrence, F. R., & Comello, K. J. (2008). Media Influence on Alcohol Control Policy Support in the U.S. Adult Population: The Intervening Role of Risk Judgements and Issue Concern. Human communication research.

Mitchell, M.D., Lawrence,F.R. (2009). The Consumption of Dry Beans and Peas Could Improve Diet Quality in the U.S. Population. Journal of the American Dietetic Association

Slater, M.D., Lawrence, F.R., Comello, N.P. (2009). Media Influence on Alcohol-Control Policy Support in the U.S. Adult Population:

The Intervening Role of Issue Concern and Risk Judgments. Journal of Health Communication,14(3),262-275

Hammer, C.S., Lawrence, F.R., & Miccio, A. (2009). Diverse paths to literacy: Family factors and program effects among preschool-aged children. Scientific Studies in Reading.

Gutschall, M.D., Miller, C.K., Mitchell, D.C., & Lawrence, F.R. (2009). A randomized behavioural trial targeting glycaemic index

improves dietary, weight and metabolic outcomes in patients

with type 2 diabetes. Public Health Nutrition, 12(10), 1846–1854.

Bailey, R., Mitchell, M.D., Paige, M., Lawrence, F.R., Wright, H.S. (2009). A dietary screening tool identifies nutritional risk in older adults. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 90, 177-83.

Mason, M.J., Mennis, J., Valente, T., Lawrence, F.R., Pate, P. (2009). The relationship of place to substance use and perceptions of risk and saftety in urban adolescents. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 29(4), 485-92

Mason, M., Valente, T., Coatsworth, J.D., Mennis, J., Lawrence, F., & Zelenak, P. (2010). Place-Based Social Network Quality and Correlates of Substance Use Among Urban Adolescents. Journal of Adolescence, 33(3), 419-27.

Slater, M.D., Kelly, K., Lawrence, F.R., Stanley, L., & Comello, M.L. (2011). Assessing media campaigns linking non-use with autonomy and aspirations: “Be Under Your Own Influence” and ONDCP’s “Above the Influence”. Prevention Science, 12(1), 12-22.

Scarpino, S., Lawrence, F., Davison, M., & Hammer, C. (2011). Predicting Bilingual Spanish-English Children's Phonological Awareness Abilities from their Preschool English and Spanish Oral Language. Journal of Research in Reading, 34(1), 77-93.

Hammer, C.S, Lawrence, F.R., Rodriguez, B.L., Davison, M., and Miccio, A. (2011). Changes in language usage of Puerto Rican mothers and their children: Do gender and timing of exposure to English matter? Applied Psycholinguistics 32(2), 275-97.

Mitchell, D.C., Tucker, K. L., Maras, J. Lawrence, F.R., Smiciklas-Wright, H., Jensen, G.L., Still, C.D., Hartman, T.J. (in press) Relative Validity of the Geisinger Rural Aging Study Food Frequency Questionnaire. Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging.

A.N. Mudryj, B.N. Yu, T. J. Hartman, D. C. Mitchell, F.R. Lawrence, H.M. Aukema (in press). Pulse Consumption in Canadian Adults Influences Nutrient Intakes. British Journal of Nutrition. (I realize the listing of the authors does not conform with APA style. The lead author is Canadian and she assures me that it is consistent with their style manual).

Hancock, GR, Harring, JR, & Lawrence, FR (in press). Using latent variable growth modeling to evaluate longitudinal change. In Hancock, G. R., & Mueller, R. O. (Eds.). (2013). Structural equation modeling: A second course (2nd ed.). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc.

Submitted

Lawrence, FR, Havstad, SH, Johnson,CJ. Growth mixture modeling of fruit and vegetable intake: A Multi-site study. Journal of clinical epidemiology.

Lawrence, FR, Havstad, SH, Johnson,CJ. Cross-domain modeling of fruit and vegetable intake in a multi-site web-based intervention. American Journal of epidemiology.

Lawrence, FR, Havstad, SH, Johnson,CJ. A study of the effects of BMI categorization using the WHO model. European journal of epidemiology.

Lawrence, FR, Havstad, SH, Johnson,CJ. Modeling an application of the transtheoretical model as a Markov process. Epidemiology

Lawrence, FR, Havstad, SH, Wegienka, G.. Post operative patient well-being: Patient-centered outcome research with latent categorical variable models. Obstetrics and gynocology.

Working Papers

Hammer, C. S., Lawrence, F. R., & Miccio, A. W. Modeling Repeated Measures of Bilingual Children in Head Start Using Fixed Effect Models.

Hammer, C. S., Lawrence, F. R., & Miccio, A. W. Multi-state Modeling of Home Language Measures in Bilingual Children.

Hammer, C. S., Lawrence, F. R., & Miccio, A. W. Cross-Domain Modeling of Correlated Language Growth Curves for Bilingual Children

Hammer, C. S., Lawrence, F. R., & Miccio, A. W. An Application of Random-Effects Pattern-Mixture Models to TVIP Standard Scores for Bilingual Children.

Hammer, C. S., Lawrence, F. R., & Miccio, A. W. Growth Curve Modeling of Bilingual Children’s Developmental Curves for Standardized Receptive Language.

Hammer, C. S., Lawrence, F. R., & Miccio, A. W. Using Censored Regression to Model Development of TVIP Scores for Bilingual Children in Head Start

Hammer, C. S., Lawrence, F. R., & Miccio, A. W. Finite Growth Mixture Modeling of Language Development Among Bilingual Head Start Children.

Presentations

Lawrence, F. & Hancock, G.R. (1996, April). Conditions affecting integrity of a factor solution under varying degrees of overextraction. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association.

Lawrence, F. & Hancock, G.R. (1997, March). Power of structured means modeling, MIMIC modeling, and MANOVA approaches for detecting construct mean differences in factorially invariant and noninvariant latent variable systems. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association.

Hancock, G.R., Kuo, W., and Lawrence, F. (1997, March). Second order latent growth models. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association.

Lawrence, F., Halpin, G., & Halpin, G. (1997, November). Cross-domain modeling of pre-engineering mathematics and history grades. Presentation at the annual meeting of the Mid-South Educational Research Association. Submitted for outstanding dissertation competition.

Lawrence, F., Halpin,G., & Halpin, G. (1997, November). Modeling asymmetric hypotheses with log-linear techniques. Presentation at the annual meeting of the Mid-South Educational Research Association. Submitted for outstanding paper competition.

Lawrence, F., Halpin, G., & Halpin, G. (1997, November). Hierarchical linear growth model of 1991 pre-engineering student math grades. Presentation at the annual meeting of the Mid-South Educational Research Association. Submitted for outstanding paper competition.

Lawrence, F. & Hancock, G.R. (1998, April). Differences in Wald test, Lagrange Multiplier test, model Chi-square, and z-test as a result of model miss-specification. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association.

Lawrence, F., & Akey, T. (1998, April). The effect of non-normal data on multi-level models. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association.

Lawrence, F., & Nevitt, J. (1998, April). Effects of non-normal data on MIMIC models. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association.

Lawrence, F., Halpin, G., & Halpin, G. (1998, April). Multi-group cross-domain modeling of growth in mathematics and history for pre-engineering students. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association.

Lawrence, F., Halpin, G., & Halpin, G. (1998, November). Comparison of the General Linear Model and the Generalized Linear Model in the presence of non-normal data. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Mid-South Educational Research Association.

Lawrence, F. (1999, April). Effect of Level-1 non-normality on Level-2 Standard Errors in Generalized Linear Models. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association.

Lawrence, F., & McLean, J. (1999, November). Rules-of-thumb for number of observations per hierarchical linear model level-1 and level-2 predictors. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Mid-South Educational Researcher Association.

Lawrence, F, & McLean, J. (2000, November). Examination of fit statistics for growth mixture models. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Mid-South Educational Researcher Association.

Lawrence, F., & O’Neal, M. (2000, November). Comparison of growth mixture model and hierarchical linear model using Alabama Reading Initiative data. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Mid-South Educational Researcher Association.

Lawrence, F. (2002, May). Longitudinal data analysis with finite mixture models. Paper presented at the 5th Annual Meeting of the International Developmental Science Institute.

Lawrence, F., & Foster, E.M. (2003, March). Longitudinal mixture modeling of child aggression scores. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD).

Lawrence, F., & Wagstaff, D. (2003, April). Sample Size Requirements for General Growth Mixture Models. Paper accepted for presentation at the 84th Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association.

Lawrence, F., & Wagstaff, D. (2003, April). A Comparison of the Performance of Three Missing Data Methods on Parameter Estimates for Longitudinal Finite Mixture Models. Paper accepted for presentation at the 84th Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association.

Lin, H, Lawrence, F., & Vazin, T (2003, October). Factors Associated with Teens’ Sexual Experience. Paper accepted for presentation at the Mid-South Educational Research Association Annual Meeting.

Mitchell, D.C., Lawrence F.R., & McMahon K.E. Chewing gum consumption was inversely related to waist circumference in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, NHANES 1999-2002. Presented at Experimental Biology 2006, San Francisco, CA.

Davison, M., Hammer, C.S., Miccio, A.W. & Lawrence, F.R. (2006, November). Associations of Language & Reading Outcomes of Bilingual Preschool Children. American Speech-Language Hearing Association Convention, Miami, FL.

Hammer, C.S., Miccio, A.W., & Lawrence, F.L. (2006, November). Bilingual Children's Emergent Literacy Development During Head Start & Kindergarten. American Speech-Language Hearing Association Convention, Miami, FL.

Mason, M. , Valente, T., Coatsworth, J.D., Mennis, J., Lawrence, F., & Zelenak, P. (March 2009). Place-Based Social Network Quality and Correlates of Substance Use Among Urban Adolescents. Paper presented at annual meeting of the International Network of Social Network Analysis, San Diego, CA.

Lawrence, F.R. (October 2009). A structural model of military member retention in 2006. Paper presented at the semi-annual meeting of the Inter-service Survey Coordinating Committee (ISSCC), Arlington, Va.

Scarpino, S.E., Lawrence, F.R., Davison, M.D., & Hammer,C.S.( March, 2011). The effect of preschool oral language skills on kindergarten phonological awareness in bilingual Spanish-English speaking children. Developing Language and Literacy in Second-Language Learners. Paper Symposium presented at the Society for Research in Child Development’s Biennial Meeting, Montreal, Canada.

A.N. Mudryj, B.N. Yu, T. J. Hartman, D. C. Mitchell, F.R. Lawrence, H.M. Aukema (April 2011). Consumption of Pulses is associated with improved diet quality in Candadians. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Experimental Biology, Washington DC.

Slater, M., Kelly, K., Lawrence, F., Stanley, L., Comello, M. (May 2011). Assessing Media Campaigns Linking Marijuana Nonuse With Autonomy and Aspirations: “Be Under Your Own Influence” and ONDCP’s “Above the Influence”. Paper presented at the annual meeting at the International Communication Association annual conference, Health Communication Division, Boston MA.

Professional Development

Path Analysis Lite: Soft Modeling with PLSPath. Minicourse presented at AERA [1996]. Instructors: James Campbell & John Keeves.

Multivariate Statistics I: MANOVA and Descriptive Discriminant Analysis. Minicourse presented at AERA [1997]. Instructors: Bruce Thompson & Carl Huberty.

Multivariate Statistics II: Predictive Discriminant Analysis and Canonical Analysis. Minicourse presented at AERA [1997]. Instructors: Bruce Thompson & Carl Huberty.

Hierarchical Linear Modeling. Minicourse presented at AERA [1998]. Instructor: Steve Raudenbush.

Bayesian Predictive Modeling for Classification. Minicourse presented at AERA [1998]. Instructors: H. Tirri & T. Silander.

Advanced Structural Equation Modeling. Minicourse AERA [1999]. Instructor: Peter Bentler.

Successful Grant Writing. Course presented at University of Alabama at Birmingham, 21 - 22 October 1999 by David Bauer.

Analysis of Longitudinal Data Using Mplus: Mincourse AERA [2000], Instructors: Bengt & Linda Muthen, UCLA

Discretionary Grant Programs: Helpful Hints in Preparing Proposals for the 21st Century : Mincourse AERA [2000], Ram N. Singh, OERI, U.S. Department of Education

An Introduction to Graphical and Exploratory Data Analysis: Mincourse AERA 2000, John Behrens, Arizona State University

Robust/Resistant Statistical Procedure with Application to Multiple Regression Analysis and Analysis of Variance: Mincourse AERA [2000], Huynh Huynh, Holmes Finch, University of South Carolina

Accessing and Analyzing NCES Databases: Creating Knowledge Through the Use of National Data Sources : Mincourse AERA [2000], Samuel S. Peng, NCES, Department of Education

Statistical Analysis of Data from Sample Surveys with Emphasis on Design Methdods. Presented by Dr. Paul Levy, University of Chicago, [March 2001].

Longitudinal Data Modeling . Presented by Drs. Bengt and Linda Muthen, UCLA., [May 2001]

Missing Data in Longitudinal Studies. Presented by Dr. J. L. Schafer, Pennsylvania State University. [May 2002]

Linear and non-linear mixed effects models. Presented by Dr. Jose Pinheiro, author of the book by the same title. [October 2002]

Analyzing developmental trajectories: A group based Approach. Presented by Daniel Nagin. [February 2003]

Finite mixture models. Course taught at Pennsylvania State University by Dr. Bruce Lindsay. [2003]

Applied Longitudinal Data Analysis. 3-day course presented by Drs. Singer and Willett at Pennsylvania State University. [May 2003].

Hierarchical Linear and Non-linear Modeling. 3-day course presented by A. Bryk and S. Raudenbush, Chicago, Ill. [June 2003].

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