The primary role of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) is to review and provide ongoing feedback on Feeding America research projects in order to ensure our ability to deliver the highest quality of information to food banks and other service providers within the Feeding America network. TAG Members also collaborate with us to conduct new research on emergency food assistance, program evaluation, client studies, etc.
Craig C. Gundersen Soybean Industry Endowed Professor of Agricultural Strategy
Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics
University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana
Ph.D., University of California, Riverside
B.A., University of Notre Dame
Craig Gundersen is the Soybean Industry Endowed Professor in Agricultural Strategy in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois and Executive Director of the National Soybean Research Laboratory. He is also a member of the Technical Advisory Group of Feeding America and is the lead researcher on the Map the Meal Gap project. Previously, he was at the Economic Research Service of the USDA and at Iowa State University. Dr. Gundersen's research is primarily focused on the causes and consequences of food insecurity and on evaluations of food assistance programs. Among other journals, he has published in Journal of the American Statistical Association, Journal of Human Resources, Journal of Health Economics, Journal of Econometrics, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Journal of Nutrition, Pediatrics, Demography, Obesity Reviews, Journal of the American Dietetic Association, and American Journal of Public Health. His work has been supported by over $10 million in external funding from various government and non-government sources including, among other sources, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), National Institutes of Food and Agriculture (NIFA); ConAgra Foods Foundation; Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR); American Beverage Association; US Agency for International Development (USAID); USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS); Merck Foundation; Urban Institute; National Foundation to End Senior Hunger (NFESH); and USDA, Food and Nutrition Service (FNS).
Alison Jacknowitz Associate Professor
School of Public Affairs: Public Administration and Policy
American University
Ph.D., RAND Graduate School
M.P.P., The College of William & Mary
B.A., Colgate University
Alison Jacknowitz (PhD, Policy Analysis) is an Associate Professor of Public Administration and Policy and Associate Chair of the Department of Public Administration and Policy. She regularly teaches Quantitative Methods for Policy Analysis, Social Policy and Programs, and Public Program Evaluation. Jacknowitz has been the recipient of the University’s Outstanding Teaching in a Full-Time Appointment award as well as the Innovative Use of Technology in Teaching award. She conducts research on issues related to poverty, the elderly, and children and families. Jacknowitz’s research has been supported by the University of Kentucky’s Center for Poverty Research, the United States Department of Agriculture, the Institute for Research on Poverty, and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Her work has appeared in a variety of scholarly journals including: Contemporary Economic Policy, Demography, Journal of Nutrition, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Pediatrics, Maternal and Child Health Journal, Social Service Review, The Journal of Human Resources, Women & Health, and Women’s Health Issues. Jacknowitz is a Research Affiliate at the University of Michigan’s National Poverty Center.
Robert Santos Chief Methodologist
The Urban Institute
M.A., University of Michigan
B.A., Trinity University in San Antonio, TX
Rob is the Chief Methodologist at The Urban Institute (UI) in Washington DC, where he engages in a variety of policy research areas and contributes statistical and methodological enhancements to research design, implementation and analyses. He has served the public opinion and survey research industry for the past 35 years as a sampling/survey statistician, methodologist, project director, and senior administrator. Over his career, Rob has participated in academic, nonprofit and commercial research industries. Besides two appointments at UI, he has held leadership positions at NORC (Vice President of Statistics and Methodology; Director of Survey Operations, 1996-1999); the University of Michigan Survey Research Center (Director of Survey Operations, 1989-1996); and ISR Temple University (Sr. Sampling Statistician, 1982-1989). He also enjoyed a five-year sojourn in the private sector as a co-owner and Executive Vice President of NuStats, a survey research firm in Texas (2001-2006). Rob was trained in survey sampling at ISR Michigan and holds a Master’s degree in Statistics from the University of Michigan. Rob maintains a deep passion for serving the public opinion research community, especially the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) and the American Statistical Association (ASA). He first joined AAPOR in 1983, and has since served on Executive Council as its President (2012-2015), and as Conference Chair (2010-2011), (Secretary-Treasurer, 2000-02), and served as chapter president (DC-AAPOR, 1999-2001), He served on POQ’s Editorial Board (1996-2003; 2009-2013). For ASA Rob was elected Vice President (2015-2018), Chair of the Social Statistics Section (2013-2015), and served as program chair of the Social Statistics Section (2000) and the Survey Research Methods Section (1993). Rob is an elected Fellow of the ASA (2004) and the 2006 recipient of the ASA Founder’s Award for excellence in survey statistics and contributions to the statistical community. In the broader research community, Rob has been appointed to numerous National Academies’ Panels for the Committee on National Statistics, the Transportation Research Bureau and the Institute of Medicine. He has held memberships on: the Census Advisory Committee, and the AHCPR Health Quality Research Study Section.
