Main
Dr. Abhik Roy
Education
Western Michigan University
Ph.D. in Program Evaluation Kalamazoo, MIDissertation. Building an Evaluation Model of Academic Advising’s Impact on Progression, Persistence, and Retention Within University Settings
Michigan Technological University
M.S. in Mathematics Houghton, MIThesis. Quotient Rings of the Eisenstein Integers
West Virginia Wesleyan College
B.S. in Mathematics Buckhannon, WVReport. 4-Cell Embedding on a -genus Torus
Professional Experience
Present2025
Independent Evaluation Consultant
Bloomington, IN- Create static (fixed), active (automated or animated), and interactive (user-driven) data visualizations in R and Shiny to communicate findings across multiple audiences.
- Develop and validate survey instruments, implement mixed-methods studies, and author federal reporting documents.
- Lead evaluation studies, conduct data analysis, and report findings for federally funded programs in health and education.
- Partner with program staff and academic researchers to design and carry out evaluations that inform practice and policy.
- Prepare journal manuscripts based on evaluation findings for submission to peer-reviewed publications.
- Support HRSA’s Healthy Start Initiative and an NSF-funded teacher preparation program in computational thinking.
20252024
Associate Research Scientist
Indiana University Bloomington, IN- Collaborated with external partners in participatory sessions, translating evidence into program guidance and policy draft language.
- Monitored budgets, schedules, and task lists to keep projects within scope and on time.
- Prepared grant proposals outlining objectives, study designs, budgets, and timelines for external‑funding submissions.
- Presented methods, results, and practical implications to stakeholders through slide decks, briefs, and small‑group discussions.
- Produced color‑safe charts, dashboards, and infographics that remained readable for viewers with diverse visual abilities.
- Used statistical, machine learning, and qualitative approaches to analyze raw data and generate meaningful evaluation findings.
20232016
Associate Professor
West Virginia University Morgantown, WV- Authored ten peer‑reviewed articles and spoke at more than twenty national conferences.
- Contributed to a dozen program evaluations, leading several and supporting analysis on others; most were funded by federal grants in education or health.
- Taught courses in evaluation, research methods, measurement, and survey design to several hundred students, with an emphasis on applied data science.
- Supported three master’s candidates and one doctoral student from proposal to defense, providing ongoing support with research design, coding, and writing.
- Served on committees at the graduate (master’s and doctoral), program, and college levels.; introduced new courses in data visualization and social network analysis.
20162014
Data Analyst
University of Kansas Lawrence, KS- Merged surveys, interviews, and registrar data to study how advising affected persistence, retention, and graduation.
- Ran needs assessments and participatory evaluations for advising, student‑life, and support units.
- Distributed questionnaires to 300 students and staff; response rates fell between 47% and 91%, depending on the project.
- Built predictive and survival models that flagged at‑risk students, supporting tactics that raised retention by as much as five percentage points.
- Synthesized findings from Delphi panels, interviews, survey metrics, and time-to-event analysis into a unified framework for evaluating advising quality.
- Automated data pulls from the Oracle warehouse and refreshed Tableau dashboards with new R scripts.
Publications
2024
Dey, K., Rahman, M. T., Roy, A., Pyrialakou, V. D., Martinelli, D., Fraustino, J. D., Deskins, J., Rambo-Hernandez, K. E., & Plein, L. C. (2024). Experiences and perceptions of engineering students towards a cross-disciplinary course using sentiment analysis. Journal of Civil Engineering Education, 150(3). https://doi.org/10.1061/jceecd.eieng‑1976
2023
Kale, U., Kooken, A., Yuan, J., & Roy, A. (2023). Teaching science via computational thinking? Enabling future science teachers’ access to computational thinking. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 23(3). https://citejournal.org/volume‑23/issue‑3‑23/science/teaching‑science‑via‑computational‑thinking‑enabling‑future‑science‑teachers‑access‑to‑computational‑thinking
Curtis, R., Roy, A., Lewis, N., Dooty, E. N., & Mikalik, T. (2023). Program evaluation standards for utility facilitate stakeholder internalization of evaluative thinking in the West Virginia Clinical Translational Science Institute. Journal of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation, 19(43), 49–65. https://doi.org/10.56645/jmde.v19i43.831
2022
Kale, U., Yuan, J., & Roy, A. (2022). Thinking processes in Code.org: A relational analysis approach to computational thinking. Computer Science Education, 33(4), 545–566. https://doi.org/10.1080/08993408.2022.2145549
2021
Roy, A., & Rambo-Hernandez, K. E. (2021). There’s so much to do and not enough time to do it! A case for sentiment analysis to derive meaning from open text using student reflections of engineering activities. American Journal of Evaluation, 42(4), 559–576. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098214020962576
2020
Kale, U., Roy, A., & Yuan, J. (2020). To design or to integrate? Instructional design versus technology integration in developing learning interventions. Educational Technology Research and Development, 68(2473–2504). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423‑020‑09771‑8
2018
Rambo-Hernandez, K. E., Roy, A., Morris, M. L., Hensel, R. A. M., Schwartz, J. C., Atadero, R. A., & Paguyo, C. (2018, April). Using interactive theater to promote inclusive behaviors in teams for first-year engineering students: A sustainable approach. Paper presented at the 2018 CoNECD - The Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity Conference, Crystal City, Virginia. https://doi.org/10.18260/1‑2–29592
Richards-Babb, M., Curtis, R., Ratcliff, B., Roy, A., & Mikalik, T. (2018). General chemistry student attitudes and success with use of online homework: Traditional-responsive versus adaptive-responsive. Journal of Chemical Education, 95(5), 691–699. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.7b00829
Miller, T. A., Carver, J. S., & Roy, A. (2018). To go virtual or not to go virtual, that is the question: A comparative study of face-to-face versus virtual laboratories in a physical science course. Journal of College Science Teaching, 48(2), 59–67. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26616271
2014
Davis, J. D., Smith, D. O., Roy, A. R., & Bilgic, Y. K. (2014). Reasoning-and-proving in algebra: The case of two reform-oriented U.S. textbooks. International Journal of Educational Research, 64, 92–106. doi:10.1016/j.ijer.2013.06.012
2012
Roy, A. R., Hobson, K. A., & Coryn, C. L. S. (2012). What’s in a Scriven number? Journal of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation, 8(19), 41–45. https://doi.org/10.56645/jmde.v8i19.372
Book Chapters
Grants
2024
Mining for Meaning: Uniting Machine Learning and Qualitative Research to Simulate Raters in Text Analysis
National Science Foundation: NSF 19-575: Methodology, Measurement, and Statistics (MMS) - Pending Bloomington, INRoy, A.R. - Principal investigator
Invited Contributions
2012
What is a Scriven number?
The American Evaluation Association NewsletterRoy, A.R., Hobson, K.A., & Coryn, C.L.S.
Evaluations
Active
Current2023
Lead Program Evaluator & Methodologist - Healthy Start Initiative (HRSA-19-049 Total Award: $5,470,000)
West Virginia University Research Corporation Morgantown, WV- Created and validated survey instruments to assess participant experiences, collecting data from more than 50 individuals.
- Conducted evaluation studies of program activities and authored the evaluation section of the HRSA annual report, as well as a related federal funding renewal proposal.
- Designed and led program-level evaluations, including process, monitoring, and impact studies.
- Developed and implemented a mixed-methods study to analyze longitudinal and cross-sectional data, focusing on smoking cessation among mothers and the experiences of new or distant caregivers and fathers.
Current2022
Program Evaluator & Mixed Methods Analyst - Teaching Science with Computational Thinking: Preparing Preservice Elementary Educators of the Future STEM Workforce (2019-NSF 2142274 Total Award: $294,958.00)
West Virginia University Morgantown, WV- Administered process evaluations for all program activities.
- Created and implemented a longitudinal mixed-method study to analyze more than 50 open-ended survey responses and six interview transcripts, using methods such as HDBSCAN/t-SNE, k-Means, and PCA alongside thematic and content analyses.
- Developed and validated survey instruments to track progress and evaluate the impact of program activities.
- Prepared detailed internal evaluation reports and developed summary documents for federal reporting.
Completed
20222017
Community Program Evaluator & Data Scientist - WVCTSI: West Virginia Clinical and Translational Science Institute (2017-NIH 2U54GM104942-02 Total Award: $20,000,000)
West Virginia University Morgantown, WV- Advised multiple aspiring graduate students in social data science as they developed and completed independent research projects.
- Analyzed datasets using using multiple guiding the direction and activities of eight distinct programs.
- Authored quarterly reports as well as internal and external annual evaluation documents, disseminated both in print and through interactive formats developed in Rmarkdown.
- Created data visualizations and developed Shiny applications to support internal and public data exploration, including social network analysis for research collaborations, integration of NCBI API data with WVCTSI grant records, and dissemination of findings and practice changes within and beyond West Virginia.
- Designed and disseminated tailored Qualtrics surveys reaching over 5,000 individuals, with user experience and visual design enhanced through HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
- Led local and multi-site evaluation studies that informed policies across five core medical research and health outreach efforts.
20202021
Program Evaluator - Appalachian Gerontology Experiences - Advancing Diversity in Aging Research (2020-NIH 1R25AG059558-01A1 Total Award: $678,000)
West Virginia University Morgantown, WV- Developed and distributed two customized interactive surveys using Qualtrics, with user experience and visual design enhanced through HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, to collect responses on programmatic activities from a targeted group of 24 students.
- Led three distinct evaluative studies focusing on student efficacy, engagement, and motivation
- Produced an external evaluation summary for federal reporting.
20202022
Research Methods Advisor & Specialist - Research Initiative: A Holistic Cross-Disciplinary Project Experience as a Platform to Advance the Professional Formation of Engineers (2019-NSF 1927232 Total Award: $200,000)
West Virginia University Morgantown, WV- Conducted longitudinal studies on the experiences of 30 undergraduate students in specialized interdisciplinary courses that integrated social science and engineering, using both surveys and focus group discussions.
- Mentored engineering faculty members and graduate students in the implementation of research methodologies.
20182017
Program Evaluator - Stepping UP with Avenue: Progress Monitoring: A Software Suite Helping Teachers Improve Literacy Progress For Deaf/Hard Of Hearing Students (2017-ED H327S170012 Total Award: $2,470,440)
Pennsylvania State University State College, PA- Evaluated digital tools developed for assessing and engaging individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing.
- Led a multi-site evaluation that examined program delivery, participant engagement, and outcomes.
- Produced a detailed external evaluation brief for federal reporting.
20182017
Lead Program Evaluator - Cultivating Inclusive Identities of Engineers and Computer Scientists: Expanding Efforts to Infuse Inclusive Excellence in Undergraduate Curricula (2017-NSF 1725880 Total Award: $2,000,000)
West Virginia University Morgantown, WV- Applied longitudinal NLP text mining techniques such as concordance, LDA topic modeling, and sentiment analysis to analyze and summarize feedback from over 3,000 first-year engineering students concerning grant-related class activities.
- Carried out longitudinal surveys with over 50 faculty participants to understand expectations, gather input for improvement, and track changes in DEI attitudes and perceptions.
- Created a wide range of static and interactive data visualizations for stakeholder exploration, internal and external reporting, and use in presentations and publications.
- Contributed to multiple journal articles and academic conference presentations.
- Performed personnel evaluations of principal investigators to support broader program assessment efforts.
- Prepared internal evaluation reports and authored the evaluation section of the annual report submitted to the NSF.
20202017
Program Evaluator - GAUSSI: Generating, Analyzing, and Understanding Sensory and Sequencing Information: A Trans-Disciplinary Graduate Training Program in Biosensing and Computational Biology (2017-NSF 1450032 Total Award: $3,013,779)
Colorado State University Fort Collins, CO- Carried out 32 interviews and focus groups, both cross-sectional and longitudinal, using unstructured and semi-structured formats to explore the experiences of students and faculty.
- Conducted process evaluations for multiple grant-funded programs, resulting in improved member tracking, greater program efficiency, and increased participant satisfaction.
- Created and validated instruments to assess students’ ability to communicate research findings to a general audience.
- Designed semi-annual adaptive and interactive Qualtrics surveys enhanced with HTML/CSS/JavaScript, securing feedback from over 100 students and faculty with a 95% response rate.
- Generated data visualizations for assessment and longitudinal studies, bolstering inferential statistical analyses to identify trends and support programmatic enhancements, retention strategies, and satisfaction initiatives.
- Produced internal evaluation reports and prepared summaries for use in external communications and federal reporting.
Presentations
2022
Let’s get sentimental: Machine learning aided data analysis for large qualitative data sets
American Evaluation Association Annual Conference New Orleans, LASeidel, T., Ferguson, C.F., & Roy, A.R.
2022
Best of both worlds: Affordances of mixing machine learning and qualitative content analysis
American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting San Diego, CARoy, A.R., Ferguson, C.F., Curtis, R., & Babb-Richards, M.
2020
These aren’t random words just strung together?: Using machine learning and pretty visualizations to discover topics in articles.
American Evaluation Association Annual Conference virtualRoy, A.R.
2019
Little fish in a big pond, only fish in a little pond: How roles shape our identities as evaluators.
American Evaluation Association Annual Conference Minneapolis, MNLoomis, D.L., Mikalik, T.L., Curtis, R., Roy, A.R., & Bernstein, M.
2019
Evolving program logic models to meet shifting program needs: The case of WV Clinical Translational Science Institute.
American Evaluation Association Annual Conference Minneapolis, MNCurtis, R., Roy, A.R., Bernstein, M, Loomis, D.L., & Mikalik, T.L.
2019
The value of external evaluators when building clinical translational research infrastructure.
American Evaluation Association Annual Conference Minneapolis, MNCurtis, R., Roy, A.R., Bernstein, M, Loomis, D.L., & Mikalik, T.L.
2019
Using associated networks to evaluate content within courses.
American Evaluation Association Annual Conference Minneapolis, MNRoy, A.R., Kale, U, & Yuan, J.
2019
Why is it that writers write but fingers don’t fing? Using machine learning and lexemes to make sense of nonsense.
American Evaluation Association Annual Conference Minneapolis, MNRoy, A.R., Curtis, R., Mikalik, T.L., Loomis, D.L., & Bernstein, M.
2019
Iscovering the underlying meaning behind get me off your f***ing mailing list? and most other narratives.
American Evaluation Association Annual Conference Minneapolis, MNRoy, A.R., Curtis, R., Mikalik, T.L., Loomis, D.L., & Bernstein, M.
2019
Assessing for improvement: The use of artificial intelligence to uncover potential differential impact of assignments.
American Evaluation Association Annual Conference Toronto, CNRoy, A.R. & Rambo-Hernandez, K.
2018
Using a mixed methods evaluation to discover how an interactive theater based model stimulates inclusive behaviors in engineering.
American Evaluation Association Annual Conference Cleveland, OHRoy, A.R., Rambo-Hernandez, K., Hensel, R.A., & Morris, M.L.
2018
Examining the past and looking forward: The future of evaluation theory and use.
American Evaluation Association Annual Conference Cleveland, OHRoy, A.R. & Hobson, K.A.
2017
Transforming graduate STEM Education: A theory-driven evaluation of the GAUSSI National Science Foundation Research Training (NRT) Program.
American Evaluation Association Annual Conference Washington, DCRoy, A.R., Hernandez, P.A., Chen, T., & Paguyo, C.
2017
Program evaluation for everyone! - Constructing an online foundational course for capacity building using theorists as a focus.
American Evaluation Association Annual Conference Washington, DCRoy, A.R. & Curtis, R.P.
2017
Content in the background: Using evaluation theorists as the principal motivator for foundational evaluation courses.
Hawaii-Pacific Evaluation Association Annual Conference Kane’ohe, HIRoy, A.R. & Curtis, R.P.
2015
Survey says! Students getting tired of surveys.
National Academic Advising Association Annual Conference Las Vegas, NVRoy, A.R. & Goetz, H.L.
2013
Influences of Hierarchical Linear Modeling in evaluation.
Aotearoa New Zealand Evaluation Association Annual Conference Auckland, NZHobson, K.A., Roy, A.R. & Coryn, C.L.S.
2012
Survey sample methods: Evaluators’ toolbox refreshment.
American Evaluation Association Annual Conference Minneapolis, MNHobson, K.A., Roy, A.R. & Coryn, C.L.S.
Teaching Experience
Evaluation, Measurement, and Research Methods (2016 - 2023)
20202018
Data Visualization
West Virginia University Morgantown, WV2020, 2018
2017
Educational Psychology
West Virginia University Morgantown, WV2016
Educational Research
West Virginia University Morgantown, WV20222016
Introduction to Research
West Virginia University Morgantown, WV2022, 2018, 2017, 2016
20202018
Measurement/Evaluation in Educational Psychology
West Virginia University Morgantown, WV2022, 2020, 2018
20192017
Mixing Research Methodologies
West Virginia University Morgantown, WV2022, 2019, 2018, 2017
20232017
Program Evaluation
West Virginia University Morgantown, WV2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017
20212017
Statistical Methods 1
West Virginia University Morgantown, WV2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017
20222020
Survey Research
West Virginia University Morgantown, WV2022, 2020
Mathematics (2005 - 2015)
2008
Business Calculus
Central Michigan University Mount Pleasant, MI2009
College Algebra
Central Michigan University Mount Pleasant, MI2012
Discrete Mathematics
Central Michigan University Pittsburgh, KS2014
Elementary Statistics
Central Michigan University Pittsburgh, KS20102009
Foundations of Statistics
Central Michigan University Pittsburgh, KS2009, 2010
20082007
Intermediate Algebra
Central Michigan University Mount Pleasant, MI2007, 2008
2007
Integral Calculus
Michigan Technological University Houghton, MI20152014
Linear Algebra
University of Kansas Lawrence, KS2014, 2015
2013
Mathematical Thinking Grades 6-12
Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, MI20142013
Mathematics Curriculum Grades 6-12
Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, MI2013, 2014
2005
Multivariable Calculus
Michigan Technological University Houghton, MI20072006
Single Variable Calculus
Michigan Technological University Houghton, MI2006, 2007
Service
20222013
Associate Editor
Journal of MultiDisciplinary EvaluationMemberships
20222012
Social Network Analysis
West Virginia University Morgantown, WV2021, 2017