Sarah Bardin

Sarah Bardin is a PhD Candidate in Geography at the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning at Arizona State University. Her work seeks to bring a spatial perspective to evidence-based policymaking focusing on the ways in which geographic context and scale affect the generalizability and transferability of interventions across place. Employing a mix of econometric and spatial statistical modeling, Sarah's current research centers on demonstrating what happens when spatial dependency and spatial heterogeneity are ignored in policy evaluation and evidence generation. Sarah received her M.A. in Geography at ASU and her B.A. in Public Policy and Political Science at the University of Chicago. 

In addition to her PhD studies, Sarah is a Policy Researcher and co-lead of Innovation at Mathematica, a leading social policy think tank. In this role, Sarah manages teams of research analysts and programmers in conducting federal program evaluations and policy research in the areas of child nutrition, child welfare, and family planning. Currently, Sarah is directing a project for the USDA to estimate the dietary quality and nutrient content of reimbursable foods consumed by participants in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program using nationally representative data collected as part of the School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study.