Psychometric Lab
Our graduates are finding success in the work in which they engage. We are proud of our former Laboratory members.
Bruce Austin
Bruce Austin is a research associate in the Learning and Performance Research Center and a faculty member in Educational Psychology at WSU. His research includes working on the analysis of the TALIS-PISA data, a worldwide study by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), aimed at improving policies and outcomes for teachers and students in member countries.
Jessica Beaver
Jessica completed her master degree in 2013 with a focus on understanding teacher perceptions of the Washington State Teacher Evaluation System. She currently works as a research analyst for the State of Idaho.
Danny Breidenbach
Danny earned a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology in 2009 with an emphasis in research, evaluation, and measurement. Danny joined Applied Measurement Professionals, Inc. in May 2008. He is a program director and psychometrician, managing certification and licensure examination programs for client organizations in a wide array of content areas. Danny and his family live in Overland Park, Kansas.
Chad Gotch
Chad earned a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology in 2012 with an emphasis in research, evaluation, and measurement. He is an associate professor in the Learning and Performance Research Center and a faculty member in Educational Psychology at WSU. His research focuses on maximizing effective and proper use of educational and psychological measurements. He examines assessment/measurement literacy among teachers, score reporting, and building validity arguments from both technical and non-technical evidence. Dr. Gotch was named 2018 Academic Advisor of the Year at Washington State University by ASWSU.
Juan Antonio Valdivia Vazquez
Juan Antonio earned a PhD in Educational Psychology in 2014 with an emphasis in research, evaluation, and measurement. His research focuses on cross-cultural measurement and personality measures. Dr. Valdivia Vazquez also won the 2019 Early Career Psychologist Award by the American Psychological Association.
Hafize Sahin
Dr. Sahin earned a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology in 2018 as a Fulbright Scholar. She has contributed to projects covering a mix of topics and research methodologies, allowing her to leverage her quantitative skills while also deepening her knowledge of measurement issues. Her most recent experience includes contributing to food security research at Georgetown University in Qatar, and data analysis consultancy to Reach out to Asia provided in the context of migrant worker integration initiative evaluations. Her research interests include instrument design, measurement invariance across cultures, factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Hafize is currently on maternity leave and based in London, UK, with her husband and son.
Hsiao-Ju Yen
Hsiao-Ju earned a PhD in Educational Psychology in 2013 with an emphasis in research, evaluation, and measurement. She has diverse interests in quantitative modeling and research methods.
Mo Zhang
Dr. Zhang earned a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology in 2012 with an emphasis in research, evaluation, and measurement. Mo is employed at ETS in Princeton, NJ. She is a research scientist at ETS and continues to work on automated scoring related projects and the evaluation and design of automated scoring systems. Dr. Zhang also was awarded the 2019 Bradley Hanson Award for Contributions to Education Measurement from the National Council on Measurement in Education.
David Alipzar
Dr. David Alpizar graduated in 2021. Dr. Alpizar was the first in his family to obtain a college degree. He received his B.A. and M.A. at California State University Northridge (CSUN), and his PhD from WSU. He is also a former National Institute Health (NIH) RISE, a former NIH Maximizing Access to Research Careers Scholar, and completed a summer internship with ETS. He is interested in statistics, methods, and measurement, examining equivalence issues of widely-used scales, and accounting for assumptions underlying CTT and IRT frameworks. Dr. Alpizar is a Psychometrician with CAI Cambium Assessment Inc.
Andrew Iverson
Dr. Andrew Iverson graduated with his PhD in 2017. Andrew earned his B.A. and M.A. in psychology at University of California, Irvine and California State University, Fullerton respectively. Andrew won the Three Minute Thesis in the College of Education at WSU and was a key member on many projects in the Psychometric lab. He is an outstanding programmer! Dr. Iverson completed a summer internship with the American Institutes of Research, Washington DC. Dr. Iverson is a research analyst in the Research and Data Analysis (RDA) Division with the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services.