STAR Principal Investigators

Elizabeth Frankenberg

Elizabeth Frankenberg is a professor of Sociology and Public Policy at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and Director of the Carolina Population Center (PhD, Demography and Sociology, University of Pennsylvania). Her research focuses on three thematic areas: the ways in which the health and social service environment shape the well-being of individuals, the ways that interactions among family members influence well-being, and how individuals respond to changes induced by unexpected events.

In collaboration with Thomas and others, Frankenberg has exploited shocks - economic crises and natural disasters - to observe their influence on human capital and resource investments at the individual, household, and community level. Most recently, Frankenberg has examined the impact of the Indian Ocean tsunami on psycho-social well-being, post-traumatic stress as a function of exposure to community trauma, and the impact of the orphanhood after the tsunami on children's short- and longer-run well-being. Frankenberg's research is oriented toward better understanding responses by individuals and policy makers in the aftermath of shocks.

Cecep Sumantri

Sumantri received an MS in Population Studies from the University of Gadjah Mada Yogjakarta (2004) and is currently pursuing a PhD in public health. He worked as the assistant field director, and in later waves the field director, for every STAR resurvey since 2005. Sumantri was also the field coordinator for IRMS2, IFLS2 and IFLS2+ and the assistant field director for IFLS3 and the Work and Iron Status Evaluation in Purworejo, Central Java. He played important role in training for nurse and field worker and also on health measurement on IFLS2, IFLS2+, IFLS3, IFLS4, WISE, and STAR.

Sumantri has also led survey teams conducting research on behalf of the World Bank, including projects such as Effective Targeting of Anti-Poverty Program II Pilot Project; Effective Targeting of Anti-Poverty Program II Baseline Survey; End-line Study on the Effectiveness of BOS-KITA National and District Campaign, and Independent Monitoring and Evaluation on Activities for BOS Program Implementation. Sumantri has played a key role in maintaining and improving the high quality of data during the collection and cleaning.

Duncan Thomas

Duncan Thomas is the Norb F. Schaefer Professor of International Studies within the Economics Department at Duke University (PhD, Economics, Princeton University). Thomas investigates the inter-relationships between health, human capital and socio-economic status with a focus on isolating causal pathways underlying these associations. His research highlights the roles that individual, family and community factors play in influencing the health and well-being of populations across the globe. Much of this research seeks to understand mechanisms that underlie the complex bi-directional relationships between health and well-being over the life course.

The impact of large-scale, unanticipated shocks on human behavior has played a central role in a series of studies that examine the impact of financial crises on health, health behaviors, human capital investments and resource allocation choices of individuals and their families. On-going research examines the impact of the Indian Ocean tsunami on mortality, psycho-social well-being, physical health as well as social and economic security in the immediate and longer-term. This research highlights behavioral responses to changes that arise because of the tsunami including marriage and fertility, migration, success in the labor market, savings and investments as well as investments in children.

Other Key Personnel at SurveyMETER

Iip Umar Rifai is the director of computing at SurveyMETER and was trained at Bogor Agricultural University. Rifai has worked on survey projects with Frankenberg, Thomas, Sumantri, Sikoki, and Suriastini since 1997, when he joined the Indonesia Family Life Survey. He develops programs and applications in many languages, including Stata, CSPRO, PHP, Harbour/xHarbour, and Python.

Bondan Sikoki is the founder and former director of SurveyMETER and was trained in demography, sociology, and survey research at the University of Indonesia and the University of Michigan. In collaboration with Frankenberg and Thomas, she led two waves of the Indonesia Family Life Survey (she also led IFLS3 and 4), all waves of STAR, and the Worker Iron Supplementation Evaluation study. Sikoki is integrally involved in all elements of survey design, training, monitoring, and data processing. Her research interests include marriage and fertility, gender, aging, and health. Recent work examines the determinants of tsunami mortality in Aceh, the evolution of health status among Indonesian adults, and methods for evaluating (and reducing) attrition in panel surveys.

Wayan Suriastini is the director of SurveyMETER. She was trained in public policy at the RAND Graduate School and in population studies at the University of Gadjah Mada, Indonesia. Her research interests include the impact of unexpected events on well-being, and infant and child health and mortality. Recent research considers how the population of Bali was affected by the terrorist bombing of 2003 and how orphans have fared in the aftermath of the tsunami. Working with Sikoki, Frankenberg, and Thomas, Suriastini has managed a number of longitudinal surveys in Indonesia, including the Indonesian Family Life Survey, STAR, the Worker Iron Supplementation Evaluation study, and the Bali Economic and Social Transitions Survey (which she designed and led as part of her doctoral work).

Collaborators and Co-Authors

Emily Bernhardt (Biology, Duke University)
Kelly Brownell (Public Policy and Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University)
Michael Burrows (Public Policy, Duke University)
Ava Cas (Business and Economics, Catholic University of America)
Steve Cole (Medicine and Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA)
Eileen Crimmins (Gerontology, University of Southern California)
Jed Friedman (Research Department, World Bank)
Clark Gray (Geography, UNC Chapel Hill)
Amar Hamoudi (OnDeck)
Jessica Ho (Gerontology, USC)
Nicholas Ingwersen (Mathematica)
Thomas Gillespie (Geography, UCLA)
Peter Katz (Economics, Duke University)
Maria Laurito (Public Policy, Duke University)
Veronica Montalva (Economics, Duke University)
Jenna Nobles (Sociology, University of Wisconsin)
Samuel H. Preston (Sociology, University of Pennsylvania)
Robert Pynoos (Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA)
Fadia Saadah (World Bank)
Teresa Seeman (Medicine and Epidemiology, UCLA)
Margaret Sheridan (Psychology, UNC Chapel Hill)
Alan Steinberg (Neuropsychiatric Institute, UCLA)
Mary Story (Community and Family Medicine and Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University)
Gina Turrini (Economics, Duke University)