Jiwon Nam-Speers
assistant professor
School of Public and International Affairs
Contact Information:
Phone: 410.837.5539
E-mail: jnam@ubalt.edu
Ph.D., M.S., Florida State University
Ph.D., Seoul National University
M.Ed., B.Ed., Seoul National University of Education
Jiwon Nam-Speers' C.V. (.pdf)
I am an assistant professor of predictive analytics at the University of Baltimore. Before coming to the UB, I was a post-doctoral researcher at Florida International University. I received a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration from the Florida State University.
While I was a graduate student at FSU, I also served as a psychometrician and data analyst in the Florida State Department of Education. We administered the Florida Comprehensive Assessment and Test to K-12 students in Florida, scored the exams and analyzed trends on demographics. Particularly, my interest was developed in terms of subgroup statistics on inequalities/disparities at the time.
I have also worked on several grant projects related to the Institute of Education Sciences in the U.S. Department of Education, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation. I have served as a reviewer of the Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) Grant Program of the NSF since 2018.
My research deals with public policy issues, focusing on educational outcomes for low-performing minority at-risk students and social factors using large-scale national databases. I am also working on issues in community resilience in local, state, federal and/or global settings. I am interested in how governance in the broad sense affects each phase of policy—from agenda-setting and public-service delivery to policy outputs and outcomes, in particular with coproduction.
My doctoral dissertation is titled “Citizen Perception of Risk Acceptability: Mediating and Moderating Effects in a Nuclear Facility Siting Process.” The collected data were analyzed to develop measurement models of the determinants of acceptable risk using a full structural model. The results of citizen surveys demonstrated that the impact of a collectively shared concern for nuclear stigmatization on trust in local government depended on trust in the national government. The findings enriched my understanding that national and local governments played different roles in promoting citizens’ risk acceptability of a nuclear power plant, at least in the planning stage of the facility. The dissertation research has appeared in Social Science Journal recently. Additionally, several working papers of mine are either currently under review or in preparation for submission soon.
I teach advanced analytical techniques, such as general linear models, structural equation modeling, meta-analysis, hierarchical linear modeling, propensity score matching, and regression discontinuity design, as well as a doctoral research seminar. I have taken more than 100 graduate-level credit hours focused on methodologies and program evaluation techniques.
I have a Ph.D. in administration and policy studies, and an ABD (all but dissertation) in measurement and statistics. Therefore, if you have a topic and don't know how to implement it academically, find me and share the story. As you approach the realization of your dream at UB, I am sure I will be the definitive cornerstone.