Data is everywhere. From how many steps you take in a day to the quality of your sleep, it seems that every aspect of our daily lives can be assessed by crunching the numbers.

In Nick Armstrong’s role as the managing director of research and data at the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF), data takes on a more significant role: his team collects data and leads research to inform the delivery of educational and training programs that advance our nation’s veterans and the military-connected community.

Armstrong directs IVMF’s multi-disciplinary team of applied social scientists, evaluators, and data engineers to crunch the numbers and conduct applied research that empower government, industry, and philanthropic decision making on veteran- and family-related issues.

Those issues include addressing how veterans transition from active duty to civilian life, and their pursuit of not just a job that pays the bills, but a satisfying and meaningful career that suits their skills.

This model of translating research and data into impactful practice, programs, and policy would be a differentiator for IVMF, and is what drew Armstrong to the role early on in working with J. Michael Haynie, IVMF’s founder and executive director and the Vice Chancellor.

“It was a great fit for my career and my passions. As an institution, we measure the delivery of our programs, and that feeds back into our research. We combine research with the data to offer programs that help us stay on the cutting edge,” said Armstrong, who earned his M.P.A. and Ph.D. degrees with concentrations in public administration and national security policy from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

Read the full article via the SU News website.