Cathleen McHugh , Ph.D.

When you get results you're not going to put them away on some shelf, they are going to have real-world impact.

As a research analyst with CNA’s Operations Evaluation Group Dr. Cathleen McHugh has studied manpower issues using large datasets; produced reports focused on the policy implications of manpower analysis; and presented results from analyses to sponsors and other decision-makers. As a field representative she has concentrated on the United States Marine Corps’ (USMC) manpower issues. She provides analytic support to the Corps’ Manpower Plans and Policy Division, Manpower and Reserve Affairs and works closely with USMC sponsors to develop project proposals and identify emerging issues.

In her work with the Marine Corps she has been involved in such projects as examining the effect of deployment tempo on retention in the USMC Selected Reserves, measuring demographic and job characteristics of civilian Marines, and analyzing the USMC officer manpower system. She also has directed a project measuring the components of USMC initial time-to-train and a CNA-initiated project examining marriage patterns in the USMC.

Her non-USMC projects at CNA have included evaluating the military performance of participants in the National Guard Youth ChalleNGe program and examining the effect of sea duty on first-term reenlistment in the Navy.

Before coming to CNA in 2005, McHugh’s research efforts were concentrated in the area of education reform, specifically on the effect of public school choice on academic outcomes. She received Spencer Fellowships for interdisciplinary research in education policy in 2001 and 2002. Her interest in interdisciplinary research led McHugh to accept a one year position as a Research Scholar with the Program of Education at Duke University, from 2004-2005 where she conducted meta-analyses on education issues with a team of education psychologists.

McHugh graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. in economics and applied math from the University of Idaho and earned her Ph.D. in economics from Duke University where she was also Spencer Foundation Education Policy Research Program fellow from 2001-2003. (Click here to see an interview with Dr. McHugh)