Tiaira is a research scientist in The Bridge at NORC. A mixed-methods researcher, she is passionate about exploring new and creative ways of developing, conducting, and evaluating research projects to provide evidence-based insights. Her research expertise includes conducting internal organizational evaluations and assessments, broadening the participation and retention of different groups of graduate students and faculty in STEM, using participatory evaluation methods to engage community partners, and facilitating belonging- and fairness-focused educational outreach programming. Tiaira’s approach is informed by her experiences as a neuroscientist and an educator, which taught her how to communicate complex scientific findings effectively to different audiences and engage vulnerable and hard-to-reach populations in STEM.

As part of her efforts to internally measure NORC’s organizational performance and progress, Tiaira developed robust internal controls and evaluation methods including progress data dashboards, interview protocols, and surveys to capture hiring patterns, bolster employee engagement, and inform strategic decision-making. 

Her recent work at NORC includes leading a research project to engage and recruit hard-to-reach populations in clinical trials, conducting an evaluability assessment to determine a local hospital system’s capacity to provide affirming health care for sexual and gender minority communities, providing technical assistance for UCLA’s Data Equity Center to collect, analyze, report, and disseminate population health data, and serving as facilitation task lead for the Black and African American Connections to Parkinson’s Disease (BLAAC PD) study, funded by the Michael J. Fox Foundation. 

Prior to NORC, Tiaira used quantitative methodologies to assess the departmental-level factors that contribute to Women of Color STEM faculty retention; analyzed the academic expectations, social adjustments, and coping strategies of Black males pursuing PhD degrees in engineering; developed a summer orientation program to facilitate a more transparent transfer process for incoming 2- to 4-year undergraduate STEM transfer students; and conducted an evaluation of a community model for existing and emerging grassroot leaders. Tiaira has also developed and facilitated professional development and educational training content including workshops on fostering workplace psychological safety and expanding principles of universal design for accessible online college course content.