Staff
The IOE is lead by Michael Lauderdale, PhD, a Professor at UT with over 30 years experience in research and working with Texas State Government. Noel Landuyt, PhD is a Research Associate and Lecturer at The University of Texas at Austin (UT). He directs the IOE and has over 15 years of experience in higher education. Both have worked with the Governor’s Office, the Legislative Budget Board, and provided testimony and documentation in support of research efforts to various legislative committees and governmental officials.
Technical support is lead by Nicole Duson. She is an experienced systems analyst working in support of the projects. When warranted, UT’s computation and information technology groups provide additional technical support or select contractors are retained as needed. The IOE also collaborates with groups in UT’s Management Information Systems, McCombs School of Business, LBJ School of Public Affairs, Steve Hicks School of Social Work and various other UT programs.
Technology
UT maintains both Unix and WNT broadband Internet servers capable of thousands of simultaneous hits. UT has redundant systems ensuring data integrity through sequential and full backup procedures and providing for minimal server downtime.
Various methods of data collection are used as appropriate to specifications of the defined project. For online data collection, data is collected in PHP and mySQL database systems. For data collected using hardcopy material (paper and pencil surveys), OMR (Optical Mark Recognition) forms and scanners are used.
Reporting functions are maintained in mySQL and Access databases and reports are generated in various formats such as HTML, pdf, Excel and Access data files. We maintain the most current and reliable hardware systems.