CONSULTANTS

Dr. Joel Miller

Professor, Rutgers University
School of Criminology.

Dr. Miller teaches graduate-level advanced research methods courses, has published widely on data and analysis methods, has expertise in juvenile justice and child welfare, and has consulted with Action Research on methods and substantive issues for several years. He received his BA from Oxford and his MA and PhD from Surrey University.

Dr. Yuk (Erica) Pang

Senior Research Area Specialist,
Survey Research Center - Youth and Social Issues, University of Michigan

Erica Pang is a human development and family studies researcher interested in the role of race, class, and gender among families of color, as well as adolescent and young adulthood development.  Erica consults with Action Research on New York City Administration for Children’s Services projects to improve the recruitment, training, support, and retention of New York City foster caregivers.  She also works on evaluating the effects of interdisciplinary approaches to legal representation for parents involved in child abuse and neglect cases, and data analyses in support of child welfare class action litigation in Oklahoma.  Erica is currently a Senior Research Area Specialist at the University of Michigan and has prior experience as a graduate research assistant at the Iowa State University Child Welfare Research and Training Project while obtaining her doctorate.  She conducted training evaluations trainings and contributed to a study of the AmeriCorps Partnering to Protect Children (APPC) program in Iowa.  She received her B.S. in Psychology, M.S. and PhD. in Human Development and Family Studies from Iowa State University.

Synia Wong

Former Executive Director for the Administration for Children’s Services - City of NY

Synia Wong is the leading expert in New York State and New York City child welfare data. She joined Action Research with over 30 years of experience in the child welfare field, most recently as an executive director in the Division of Policy, Planning, and Measurement in New York City’s child welfare agency, the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS). Over three decades, Synia played a central role in building and leading ACS’s analytic arm, a group widely recognized as the nation’s premier team of public child welfare agency analysts. Under her leadership, her team provided technical and analytic supports to all program areas within ACS as well as other New York City government agencies. The team also developed and produced critical management, operational, and performance reports in support of ACS’s initiatives and policies. In addition to her substantive expertise, Synia is an expert level programmer in SQL and SPSS, and an experienced user of Oracle database applications.Synia holds a master’s degree in Social Research and a bachelor's degree in Psychology/Sociology from Hunter College, City University of New York.

Jessica Pak Mortega

Researcher

Jessica Pak Mortega is a researcher with interests in child and family well-being. She consults with Action Research on data analyses for child welfare litigation in New Mexico and Michigan. With over a decade of project management experience, she also provides strategic support on project management-related initiatives. Jessica’s background includes training at Swedish Medical Center, where she provided evidence-based behavioral health interventions to perinatal women. She has also contributed to research examining how experiences of stress and trauma affect child development in Dr. Katie McLaughlin’s Stress and Development Lab at the University of Washington. She holds an MSW with a specialization in Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health and a BA in Communications from the University of Washington.