Activate Research, Inc.

Staff Spotlight!

Steve Bahr, BS, is a Research Scientist at Activate. Steve provides statistical support for a variety of projects and works as a technical reviewer to ensure that reports and publications are accurate and adhere to the National Center for Education Statistics Statistical Standards. Prior to joining Activate, Steve was a research associate with the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and spent five years in the Office of Admissions at the University of Iowa. Steve earned a BS in statistics from the University of Iowa and has extensive experience in reviewing federal publications and working with large and complex nationally-representative datasets.

Staff Spotlight!

Kim Curtis, PhD, is a Senior Research Scientist at Activate. She is trained in both quantitative and qualitative research methods and has more than 10 years of experience working in the areas of study design, instrument development, data collection, data analysis, and the reporting and presentation of research findings. In addition to her research skills, Kim has extensive experience recruiting and convening expert panels on a wide variety of education policy matters. Kim has conducted research that focuses on state education policymaking, school finance, teacher accountability, and international basic education. She holds an MA and a PhD in education policy studies from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Staff Spotlight!

Tim Oltman, MS, is a Data Scientist at Activate. Tim is experienced in data analysis, statistical methods, and user experience (UX) research. He writes code to automate and create efficiencies in projects involving data analysis web scraping, and quality assurance. Tim’s data analysis work has included developing hierarchical Bayesian models, survival analysis, and other predictive models. He has also written code to parse and transform human readable tables into machine readable formats. Tim also has experience with qualitative and quantitative research design for UX research. His code has successfully scraped over 1 million unique URLs, and he has developed automated data quality assurance tasks by accessing files in various formats and performing data consistency checks. Tim is also skilled in data visualization and has developed displays that communicate compelling stories found in the data.

Prior to joining Activate, Tim used quantitative and qualitative research methods to improve mobile applications and web surveys. The methods included designing cognitive interview studies and A/B tests. Tim holds an MS in survey research and methodology and an MS in economics. He is trained in research methods including questionnaire development, statistical analysis and research design.

Staff Spotlight!

Melissa Patton, MPP, is a Research Scientist at Activate. She has a background in quantitative analysis and is an R enthusiast. Melissa utilizes her analytical skills at Activate on a variety of projects, including developing and executing programming scripts to identify discrepancies in survey data, assisting with the creation and review of tables for the Digest of Education Statistics, and collaborating with colleagues to produce publications related to post-secondary education data.

​Melissa is passionate about turning data into insight. She believes that high-quality research drives better decisions and that data visualizations should always tell an honest story. Her policy and research interests include education, child welfare, and economic justice.

Prior to joining Activate, Melissa worked at health advocacy non-profit Research!America. She has a BA from American University’s School of Public Affairs and a Master of Public Policy from George Washington University.

Staff Spotlight!

Taisha Ali has been with Activate since the beginning – that’s nearly 12 years! As Business Development Manager, she provides managerial and administrative assistance to all contract and business development activities, as well as serving as project coordinator on numerous client projects.

Taisha has a strong interest in the proposal management process. She applies capture planning knowledge and proposal development methodologies to help Activate produce clear, compliant, and compelling submissions that align with client goals and organizational standards.

In 2024, Taisha earned her CF APMP (Foundation-level Certified Proposal Professional) credential, demonstrating her commitment to excellence in proposal management and business development. Prior to Activate, Taisha had a decade of experience working with companies in the areas of data collection, data processing, budgeting, event management, and office management.

Staff Spotlight!

Taylor Elop, MPP, is a Research Scientist at Activate. Taylor assists with the technical review of all data products and supports qualitative data collections. Her areas of interest include education research and policy, child advocacy and welfare, public health, reproductive rights, and social justice.

“Working at Activate Research has strengthened my ability to analyze and interpret data, improved my capacity to work both independently and collaboratively, and deepened my understanding of ethical research practices.”

Taylor is a graduate of The George Washington University, where she earned an MPP. She also possesses a BS in political science from the University of Oregon. Prior to joining the Activate team, Taylor served as a graduate teaching assistant at GWU for a Research Methods and Applied Statistics course.

Activate Research, Inc. is honored to lead U.S. participation in OECD's Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) — the world’s largest study capturing the perspectives of teachers and school leaders worldwide.

✨ TALIS 2024 shines a light on classroom experiences, working conditions, professional growth, AI in education, and increasingly diverse classrooms — helping educators and policymakers shape the future of teaching.

🌍 280K teachers • 17K schools • 55 education systems

📖 Read the full report "Results from TALIS 2024: The State of Teaching"
https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/results-from-talis-2024_90df6235-en.html

Activate is proud to have worked with Public Library Association (PLA) on its 2024 Public Library Staff Survey.

Activate staff recently gathered in Washington, DC, for a day of team building. It’s no surprise that we completed surveys to help drive our agenda and goals!