Diana C. Lavery

Quantitative Social Science Analyst

Practitioner of Demography, Sociology, Economics, Policy Analysis, & GIS

  • About DiaNA

    Expertise:

    • data engineering: cleaning/transforming/preparing for statistical analysis, mapping, or geoprocessing
    • measuring economic, demographic, and social trends
    • evaluating the effectiveness of programs and policies

    Diana loves working with data.

     

    She is an analyst with over 15 years of social science research experience with a focus on education and labor force dynamics. She has worked at the Population Reference Bureau, the RAND Corporation, and Esri, Inc., always in the capacity of informing public-interest decision makers with data and evidence. She is very comfortable working with large governmental and administrative data sets (e.g. Census' American Community Survey, Medicare data, California State University enrollment data for the 23 CSU campuses, Texas' Unemployment Insurance data). She is a Special Sworn Agent with the US Census Bureau, cleared to work in secure Research Data Centers with sensitive microdata. A SAS-Certified Base Programmer Specialist, Diana is proficient in SAS, ArcGIS, and STATA software packages, and is familiar with the basics of Tableau, R, Python, and Jupyter Notebooks.

     

    In addition to her technical work, she also possesses the strong written and oral communication skills necessary to facilitate meetings and present material. Diana has served as a project and proposal manager for both large and small projects. She has presented at conferences, client meetings, subcontractor/vendor meetings, and other settings. Many of her projects have included significant data security requirements and have involved multiple stakeholders. She also has experience with holistic software testing as well as preparing & delivering live software demonstrations.

     

    Her training is in statistical data analysis and econometrics, as she holds a BA in quantitative economics, minor in math, as well as an MA in demographic and social analysis (applied demography), both from the University of California, Irvine.

  • Technical Blog Posts and Materials

    Diana writes blog posts and creates tutorials to help ArcGIS users with specific issues. Selected pieces below:

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    Esri's ArcGIS Blog, Nov 2022

    Get a quick sense of how much you'll have to aggregate tracts together to get a reliable American Community Survey estimate.

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    Esri's ArcGIS Blog, May 2022

    Blur simply creates a "fuzzy" look in your map, which signals to your map's audience that there is some noise in the data.

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    Esri's ArcGIS Blog, August 2021

    Mapping data values with some uncertainty to them? Unclassed symbology honors this better than classed symbology.

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    Esri's ArcGIS Blog, July 2021

    Designing a survey and recruiting respondents can be challenging. Ethical considerations are a crucial part of this process.

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    Esri's ArcGIS Blog, June 2021

    UnemploymentPulse visualizes state and county unemployment rates as compact trend lines. Updated monthly.

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    Esri's ArcGIS Blog, May 2021

    Use the margins of error in an Arcade expression to highlight significant differences between two American Community Survey (ACS) estimates.

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    Esri's ArcGIS Blog, Jan. 2021

    Present information from other layers in your pop-ups, such as lists of nearby schools or stores, using FeatureSets and geometry functions.

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    Esri's ArcGIS Blog, Aug. 2020

    One more resource in ArcGIS Living Atlas to support your work: a data layer and web map of historically redlined neighborhoods.

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    Esri's ArcGIS Blog, June 2020

    A few different ways to incorporate breakdowns by race/ethnicity, sex, veteran status, and more in your maps.

  • Presentations

    Diana is comfortable giving technical presentations, software demonstrations, and other types of speeches. Her work has been featured at many scientific conferences. Selected presentations and speeches below:

    Content Tour of Census Data in Living Atlas

    Diana Lavery. 2021. “Content Tour of Census Data in ArcGIS Living Atlas.” 20-minute software demonstration at the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) annual conference. Baltimore, MD. October 4-6.

    A Policy's Lifecycle (Youtube video 40:05)

    Diana Lavery, Jim Herries. 2021. Part 2 of a multipart series, “What is Policy Mapping” half-day virtual seminar at National Association of Environmental Professionals annual meeting. May 17, 2021.

    Clinton Johnson, Diana Lavery. Webinar 3 in Esri's Racial Equity webinar series. April 1, 2021.

    Amanda Klimek, Artemis O'Connor, Diana Lavery. Census Academy webinar. March 10th, 2021.

    Federal GIS Conference Plenary, Feb 2021. Virtual.

    A Natural Communities Score for Congressional Districts - Panelist

    Diana Lavery. 2019. “A Natural Communities Score for Congressional Districts.” Panelist at Harvard Geospatial Symposium on the Geography of Redistricting. Cambridge, MA. May 3-4.

    Geographic Perspectives on Redistricting - Panelist

    Diana Lavery. 2019. “Using Demographic, Lifestyle, and Geographic Boundary data to Evaluate Districts.” Panelist at annual meetings of the American Association of Geographers. Washington, DC. April 3-7.

    Diana Lavery, Jim Herries. 2018 and 2019. “Solving Web Map Challenges: Imperfect Data, Boring Pop-ups, Getting Attention.” Technical workshop at annual Esri User Conference. San Diego, CA.

    Jennifer Bell, Diana Lavery. 2018. “Top Ten Tips for Policy Story Maps.” Technical workshop at annual Esri User Conference. San Diego, CA. July 9-13.

    Jennifer Bell, Diana Lavery. 2018. “ArcGIS Online: Explore Your Data with Smart Mapping.” Technical workshop at annual Esri User Conference. San Diego, CA. July 9-13.

    Telecom, Traffic, Cones, and the Big One: Identifying transportation and communications emergency support workforces, and calculating their exposure to seismic peak ground accelerations - Poster Presentation (presented by coauthor)

    Pierre Auza, Diana Lavery, Yuko Nakanishi, R Jayakrishnan. 2018. “Telecom, Traffic, Cones, and the Big One: Identifying transportation and communications emergency support workforces, and calculating their exposure to seismic peak ground accelerations” Poster presentation at annual meetings of the Transportation Research Board. Washington, DC. January 8-11.

    Diana Lavery, Erika Baldwin, Hui-Jeong Woo. 2017. “The Effect of Distance on College Outcomes for Commuter Students in the California State University System.” Paper presentation at the biennial Applied Demography Conference. San Antonio, TX. January 11-13.

    Techies, Traffic Cones, and the Big One: Disproportionate exposures of IT & maintenance workers to seismic hazard & peak ground acceleration - Poster Presentation

    Pierre Auza, Diana Lavery. 2017. “Techies, Traffic Cones, and the Big One: Disproportionate exposures of IT & maintenance workers to seismic hazard & Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA).” Poster presentation at the biennial Applied Demography Conference. San Antonio, TX. January 11-13.

    Consumer Attitudes Toward Data Breach Notifications and Loss of Personal Information - Paper Presentation (presented by coauthor)

    Lilian Albon, Paul Heaton, Diana Lavery, Sasha Romanosky. 2016. “Consumer Attitudes Toward Data Breach Notifications and Loss of Personal Information.” Paper presentation at the annual Workshop on the Economics of Information Security, Berkeley, CA. June 13-14.

    Capturing the Consequences of Ongoing Welfare Reform: the Case of California's CalWORKs - Paper Presentation

    Lynn Karoly, Hans Bos, Diana Lavery, and Lori Turk-Bicakci. 2015. "Capturing the Consequences of Ongoing Welfare Reform: the Case of California's CalWORKs." Paper presentation at National Association of Welfare Research and Statistics, Atlanta, GA, Aug. 23-26.

    Jeremy Miles and Margaret Weden, Diana Lavery, Regina Shih, and José Escarce. 2015. “Constructing a Time-Invariant Measure of the Socio-Economic Status of U.S. Census Tracts.” Poster presentation at annual meetings of the Population Association of America, San Diego, CA. April 30-May 2.

    Fun with ArcGIS in the Social Sciences - Invited Guest Speaker

    Diana Lavery. Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2019. “Fun with ArcGIS in the Social Sciences.” Presented to social science and environmental studies undergraduate students at Chapman University, Orange, CA.

    Jeremy Miles, Diana Lavery, Regina Shih, Margaret Weden, José Escarce, and Kathleen Cagney. 2014. “Changes in the Nature of Neighborhood Socio-Economic Status.” Paper presentation at the biennial Applied Demography Conference, San Antonio, TX. January 8-10.

    Diana Lavery, Mark Mather. 2012. “The Mismatch Between STEM Degree Holders and STEM Workers: Differences by Gender, Race, and Nativity Status.” Poster presentation at annual meetings of the Southern Demographic Association.  Williamsburg, VA. October 10-12.

    Key Factors Affecting Children's Well-Being in California - Paper Presentation

    Mark Mather, Diana Lavery. 2011. “Key Factors Affecting Children’s Well-Being in California.” Paper presentation at annual meetings of the Southern Demographic Association. Tallahassee, FL. October 19-21.

  • MaP PortFolio

    Diana has produced dozens of both interactive and static maps. Select interactive maps are here in this digital map gallery.

    Select static maps Diana has produced for various reports & presentations, or simply used to inform others:

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    Infographic for congressional district DC 98
    Infographic for congressional district CA 31
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    Nursing Shortage by Workforce Development Area (WDA) in TX, 2013
    Nursing Shortage by Workforce Development Area (WDA) with the Urban WDAs Combined, 2013
    Poverty by Tract in Detroit, MI, 2006-2010
    Child Poverty Rates in the U.S. Virgin Islands, 2009
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    Working Families Below 200% of Federal Poverty Level by State, 2010
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  • Artistic Maps

    Outside of work, she also makes print-based artistic maps on occasion.

  • Story Maps and WeB Apps

    Selected story maps and web mapping applications:

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    Multigenerational Families on the Rise

    Created for Esri's Policy Maps team, 2022

    A look at American families with three or more generations living together.

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    What is Differential Privacy? How will it affect our work?

    Created for Esri's Policy Maps team, 2020

    A synthesis on Census 2020 differential privacy and its implications.

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    Grandparents Filling the Void

    Created for Esri's Policy Maps team, 2019

    As the opioid crisis leaves children of those affected without a parent able to raise them, grandparents and the foster system take them in.

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    Created for Esri's Policy Maps team, 2019

    This tabbed series story map with embedded cascades presents a taxonomy for policy mapping throughout a policy's lifecycle.

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    You Can Get a Bachelor's at Some Community Colleges

    Created for Esri's Policy Maps team, 2019

    A pilot program allowing 15 community colleges in California to offer bachelor's degrees in technical fields shows promise.

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    What are the language needs in my community?

    Created for Esri's Policy Maps team, 2019

    This app allows anyone to search to their community and investigate the top language needs in nearby census tracts.

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    Including Transportation Costs in Location Affordability

    Created for Esri's Industry Marketing team, 2019

    There is more to housing affordability than the rent or mortgage you pay. Transportation costs are the second-biggest budget item for most families. This story map explains and maps the Location Affordability Index.

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    Where are Americans Moving?

    Created for Esri's Policy Maps team, 2019

    This story map contains 4 galleries of visualizations of residential movement of population between 2015-2016, as well as some context, data notes, and a distributive flow lines mapping tool that can be used with any flow mapping.

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    Mobile Homes: Affordable but Vulnerable

    Created for Esri's Policy Maps team, 2018

    This story map highlights the vulnerabilities associated with mobile homes, and presents some policy options for increasing housing security for mobile home residents.

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    Global Women's Health Indicators for International Women's Day

    Created for Esri's PR team, 2018

    This cascade story map highlights how women are fairing by country with respect to life expectancy, maternal mortality, contraceptive use & total fertility rate, and the percent of births attended by skilled health personnel.

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    Women in National Politics

    Created for Esri's Policy Maps team, 2017

    This map journal explores many aspects of women's participation and representation in national politics around the world.

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    Kindergartners and Immunizations in California

    Created for Esri's Policy Maps team, 2017

    This cascade story map provides explores immunization rates by school district in California, personal belief exemptions by county, and policy implications.

  • REports and Publications

    Using her methodological and data source expertise, Diana has contributed to many reports, web articles, and academic journal articles on a variety of topics:

    RAND Corporation, 2018

     

    Transportation Research Record, Sage Journals, 2018

     

    RAND Corporation, 2016

     

    RAND Corporation, 2016

    Journal of Urban Health, Springer, 2016

    RAND Corporation, 2015

    RAND Corporation, 2015

    RAND Corporation, 2014

    RAND Corporation, 2014

    Population Reference Bureau, 2012

    Population Reference Bureau, 2012

    Population Reference Bureau, 2010

  • Service to the Profession

    Diana is committed to contributing to the community of social science practitioners and to helping the next generation of social science analysts. Diana

    • served a 3-year term as a member of the American Community Survey Users' Group Steering Committee, and contributes regularly to the American Community Survey data users community.
    • formerly served a 2-year term as the editor of the newsletter for the Population of Association of America's Committee on Applied Demography.
    • was an alumni mentor for the University of California's UCDC summer internship program while living in Washington, DC.
    • frequently participates in career panels and enjoys speaking with current students and early career professionals about data analysis, GIS, women in STEM, etc.

  • Professional Experience

    Diana has worked to put data & information in the hands of decision makers to use for the public interest, as well as to advance students' quantitative abilities. While her work spans many topic areas (from transportation to child poverty to higher education), the end goal has always been to improve the well-being of people and communities.

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    Esri, Inc.

    Senior GIS Engineer / Senior Product Engineer, March 2017 - present

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    Champan University Schmid College of Science and Technology

    Teaching Faculty, Spring Semester 2022

    Lab instructor for GIS for Environmental and Health Policy

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    California State University, Office of the Chancellor

    Senior Research Analyst, Aug 2016 - March 2017

    Research Analyst, Oct 2015 – Aug 2016

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    RAND Corporation

    Technical Project Associate III, June 2015 - Oct 2015

    Technical Project Associate II, June 2013 - June 2015

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    Population Reference Bureau

    Research Associate, June 2010 - May 2013

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    Riverside County, Center for Demographic Research

    Research Analyst, Sept 2008 - June 2010

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    Population Reference Bureau

    US Programs Intern, Summer 2008

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    Riverside County, Transportation and Land Management Agency

    GIS Specialist, Dec 2007 - June 2008 (part time while in grad school)

    Freelance Math Tutor

    Freelance Math Tutor, 2008 - 2010

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    The Princeton Review

    Teacher & Tutor for SAT/ACT/SAT II Math/AP Calculus, June 2006- June 2008

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    UC Irvine Department of Sociology

    Research Assistant, Spring Quarter 2006

  • LET'S CHAT!

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    California Inland Empire

  • Consulting

    Have a "messy" dataset that needs a big data-janitor job?

    Need help finding some statistics on demographics, employment, or housing in a specific area?

    Want help making some interactive web maps to be used in a larger website, app, report, or presentation?

    Have a social/economic hypothesis you want to test but need some methodological expertise?

    Have SAS "spaghetti code" that you want cleaned up, made more efficient, and nicely commented?

     

    I'm also happy to connect with you about your project and put together a custom quote based on your needs and specifications! Also, I am very open to payment-in-kind (bartering) arrangements.

     

    In the message space below, please include:

    • what software format your data is currently in (Excel is fine! No data is also fine!)
    • what the overall timeline is
    • what does "done" mean to you

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