Meet IMMR leadership and learn more their professional backgrounds, research experience and expertise, and engagement opportunities.
Dr. Lieber has served 20+ years as an interdisciplinary social scientist and co-director of the UCLA Center for Culture and Health Research Lab. He brings extensive expertise as a quantitative research psychologist, quantitative and qualitative data analyst, and mixed methods research consultant. Having served in this practical application service role for most of his career, he most enjoys bringing this experience and insight into developing and implementing strategies and solutions for social science purposes.
Eli’s experience and expertise with the design and application of quantitative and qualitative methods and subsequent data analysis has proven ideal for his present focus on methods development and leveraging the value of technology in this pursuit—his contributions to the development of Dedoose being one primary outcome.
Beyond technology and consulting, Dr. Lieber’s research interests include the socio-cultural and historical impacts on motivation and achievement, disease transmission and prevention, Asian and Asian immigrant family experiences, literacy development, children with Type 1 diabetes and their families, social cognitive development, parenting, and the general adaptation of families and youth to the challenges of immigration and a modernizing world. He received his B.A. in Psychology from California State University, Northridge (1988) and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana (1996). In addition to his work with IMMR, Eli currently holds the positions of Associate Research Psychologist, UCLA; and CEO of SocioCultural Research Consultants, LLC.
Dr. Calvert brings a decade of experience in academic research to her role as a Senior Researcher and Academic Director, leading strategy and execution of IMMR courses and research camps. In past appointments, she has served as both a research faculty member and the Associate Director of the Initiative for Healthy Schools at Boise State University. In her work, she has led data collection, analysis, and dissemination of research findings for various federally and privately funded grants focused on children’s health outcomes. Situated in the fields of Public Health and Implementation Science, her scholarly contributions have helped advance understanding about the implementation of evidenced-based interventions for mental and physical well-being in K-12 education in the United States.
Dr. Calvert is well-versed in mixed methods research design, and leads webinars, courses, and consultations in mixed methods and qualitative analysis for the Institute. She is passionate about helping others learn and creating community in research. She holds a doctoral degree in Health Behavior and Health Education from the University of Texas at Austin.
Dr. Tiffany Monique Quash serves as a Senior Researcher for the Institute for Mixed Methods Research. Dr. Quash earned her Ph.D. in Leisure Behavior, with a minor in Higher Education, from Indiana University–Bloomington. Her research expertise centers on qualitative methods, focusing on the intersection of the physical body, race, gender, class, and historical relationships with swimming and higher education.
In 2020, she delivered a TEDx talk exploring the racialized history of swimming in the United States. By highlighting drowning as a preventable public health crisis, she emphasized the critical need for accessible water safety education for all communities.
Dr. Sara E. Grummert leads strategy around how to support clients on their research operations and architecture, research design, data collection, and data analysis. Dr. Grummert earned her doctorate at the University of California Riverside in the field of higher education administration and policy. Her areas of methods expertise include qualitative research design, qualitative data analysis, and advancing the use of visual methods.
Her broader body of scholarship examines whiteness and antiblackness in higher education, with a focus on how college sport functions in relation to state violence. Additionally, Sara is a Senior Research Associate in the Center for Athlete Rights and Equity at the University of California Riverside where she also teaches courses related to research methods and higher education.
Esther Spindler is a mixed methods researcher with over 15 years of experience in collaborative research across global health and international development contexts. She has led complex mixed methods evaluations for organizations including the World Bank Group, USAID, Columbia University, UC San Diego, and Georgetown University across diverse cultural contexts in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia. Her consulting expertise spans research design, qualitative data analysis, capacity strengthening, and translating complex findings into policies and programs for funders, policymakers, and practitioners.
Esther is passionate about making rigorous mixed methods research more accessible and equitable for researchers worldwide. She has trained over 40 researchers globally in qualitative and quantitative analysis methods, developing customized resources that strengthen research quality and impact. Fluent in French, Spanish, and Portuguese, she excels at providing ressearch guidance with trust, empathy, and humility. Esther is a former Peace Corps Volunteer (Guatemala) and has a DrPH in Population and Family Health from Columbia University. Outside of work, she loves spending time with her young family—and falling asleep 10 minutes into any TV show.
