Biography

As the Assessment Research Analyst, Erika Adams is responsible for preparing the data portion of all accreditation and assessment reports on behalf of the Department of Professional Education. She is also responsible for leading departmental data validation efforts and working to make accessing data more user-friendly and efficient for student advising, licensing, and other critical departmental functions. In the course of her work, Erika regularly interacts with offices across campus (e.g., Admissions, Records, Center for Extended Learning, Graduate Studies, Office of Clinical Education and Professional Education Licensing) to comprehensively assess data collection, entry, and use processes affecting departmental data.

Erika is relatively new to this position, having started in the fall of 2021. Her background is as a research biologist, although she also freelanced for many years as an English/Spanish translator (spent almost half of her life living abroad in places like Spain, Puerto Rico, and Argentina). Erika has a Ph.D. from Oregon State University where she investigated sperm competition in the Ocoee salamander. She then went on to do her postdoctoral fellowship at Cornell University where she worked to elucidate the proximal mechanisms of sperm storage in the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster).