Investigators

He received his Ph.D. in Sociology from Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. Dr. Couper is an international expert on the use of technology in survey data collection, particularly regarding web-based data collections. His research over the past 25 years has been devoted to understanding and improving survey data collection to maximize data quality and minimize inferential risks. He has directed several large data collection efforts, including the National Survey of Family Growth, and he serves as Co-Investigator on several ongoing national studies located in the University of Michigan’s Survey Research Center. His current research focuses on the use of mobile devices (e.g., smartphones) for survey data collection. As a collaborating investigator, Dr. Couper brings his expertise in web-based (including mobile device) data collection to the MTF Panel Study, collaborating on the design, implementation, and analysis of the sequential mixed-mode web-based survey data collection.

He received his Ph.D. in Biostatistics from the University of Michigan. Dr. Heeringa has over 40 years of statistical sampling experience in the development of the Survey Research Center’s National Sample design, as well as research designs for ISR’s major longitudinal and cross-sectional survey programs. He is a widely recognized expert in survey sampling and other methodological efforts, is the author of many publications on statistical design and sampling methods for research in the fields of public health and the social sciences, and has been an active participant in MTF design work for many years.

Katherine focuses her research on life course epidemiology with particular attention to substance use and psychiatric disorders. Her empirical research has documented a narrowing gender gap in the prevalence and course of alcohol abuse and dependence over time, as well as the effects of changing social norms on birth cohort effects in marijuana and alcohol use in adolescence. Dr. Keyes is an expert on methodological issues in age-period-cohort effect estimation and has conducted age-period-cohort analysis on a range of health outcomes, including autism, obesity, breast cancer, and substance disorders. Her work has highlighted and extended several existing age-period-cohort methods, most notably including the median polish method. Dr. Keyes also has explored the effects of early life exposures on adolescent and adult health, documenting long-term consequences of child maltreatment on internalizing and externalizing psychiatric disorders in adulthood and the sensitizing effects of childhood maltreatment on exposures to stress in adulthood.

She received her Ph.D. in Psychology from Macquarie University in Australia. Dr. Smith is an international expert on life course/lifespan developmental psychology emphasizing gerontology; her expertise spans many aspects of functioning in midlife and old age including health, well-being, and cognition. As a collaborating investigator, she brings her expertise on survey measurement of health, well-being, and cognition in middle-aged and older adults to the group, consulting with MTF on development of the new age 65 MTF Panel survey and improvements to the current middle adult surveys.

He received his Ph.D. degree in Psychology from the University of Michigan in 1975 and has been associated with the Monitoring the Future project since then. His publications deal with alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use and related attitudes and beliefs. His research interests include causes and consequences of drug use, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, social epidemiology of drug use, and longitudinal survey data analysis techniques.

He received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1962. In 1965 he initiated the Youth in Transition project, which he directed for a decade. That research led him to conceive and propose the Monitoring the Future project, which he and Lloyd Johnston designed in the early 1970s, and launched with funding in 1974. He authored three books and many articles and chapters based on Monitoring the Future Research. His scientific publications focused primarily on youth and social issues, including drug use and attitudes about drugs, as well as other values, attitudes, and behaviors of youth. Other research and publications dealt with the all-volunteer force and views about the military, as well as Michigan citizens’ and physicians’ views about physician-assisted death.

Institute for Social Research Memorial: https://myumi.ch/6179V

John Schulenberg was a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and served as Associate Director of the Institute for Social Research’s Survey Research Center (2003-2006 and 2010-2014) and President of the Society for Research on Adolescence (2014-2016). He was a member of the Monitoring the Future (MTF) leadership team for 32 years. From 2017 to 2022, John served as the Principal Investigator for the MTF Panel Study, following nationally-representative samples of 12th grade students longitudinally from ages 18 to 60.

Institute for Social Research Memorial: https://myumi.ch/xwgg9