Welcome!
ALERT ATTENTION ⚠️
In observance of a holiday, Agilent CrossLab/iLab Operations Software Support Help Desk will be closed during U.S. hours on Monday, September 1st, 2025. We will resume regular U.S. support hours on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2025. EU and APAC Support will remain open during this time. For urgent matters, please add "Urgent" to the ticket/email subject or press "1" when prompted to escalate a call on the iLab Support phone, and we will prioritize those requests first.
Abacus Evaluation is a Research Service Center committed to amplifying the impact and effectiveness of programs, centers, and projects through innovative evaluation strategies, state of the art data analysis methods, and collaborative research design. While Abacus specializes in evaluation, our team will also partner with your team from early planning to program design to data collection, management, and analysis to reporting to ensure that you build and enact a robust and comprehensive program/project.
The Abacus team brings extensive experience in researching and evaluating programs at the local, state, and national levels. We see evaluation as the means by which to identify areas for growth and innovation, drive change, empower communities, and amplify a program’s effectiveness and impact. The team is passionate about helping our partners achieve their aims while understanding if, why, and how they are making authentic, lasting change through their work.
Abacus services include:
1. Evaluation Design & Leadership support services provide technical expertise in planning and oversight of process, outcome, and impact evaluation. Services include evaluation design, framework-grounded, mixed-method development of evaluation components, defining measurement and monitoring goals and approaches, and interpreting and communicating evaluation results. Abacus evaluation experts collaborate with project teams and partners to identify evaluation objectives and determine appropriate supporting evaluation activities that offer integrated, action-oriented evaluation findings.
2. Evaluation Implementation & Support services are provided by the junior and mid-level staff with guidance from a senior leader. Evaluation implementation and support include activities carrying out the evaluation design, tracking and monitoring of the evaluation plan, preparation of data instruments and collection of data (qualitative and quantitative), survey development and respondent outreach, analysis of data, reporting, and preparation of dissemination materials. Support services are present throughout an evaluation, including literature review, evaluation framework selection and input, alignment and coordination with client partners and teams, internal work plan and project management, and other activities to ensure timely and responsive evaluation is implemented.
3. Data Solutions & Advanced Analytics service is led by senior data analytics leaders and staff and includes technically challenging data wrangling and cleaning, systems modeling, systems change analysis, spatial analysis, network analytics, and statistical expertise. These advanced analytic services address the complexity of data, relational data management, and the use and interpretation of data and statistical model results.
4. Data Management, Analysis, & Visualization service is supported by the junior and mid-level staff with guidance from a senior leader. Data management, analysis, and visualization may include information design, selection of appropriate charts and graphics, exploratory data analysis and leading of data reviews, development of data products such as dashboards or data briefs, and supporting general data preparation activities and use by evaluation teams. Data support may also include collecting, coding, memoing, synthesizing qualitative data, collaborating with teams to define data needs and design data collection systems, providing workshop support, and support for advanced analytics projects.
5. Research Partnership & Planning service is led by senior research leaders with insight and expertise in partnership building and strengthening. It leverages multidisciplinary experience within a partnership to conceptualize, problem-solve, and plan for effective research. This service may support projects through focused strategic retreats or more integrated partnership development support.
6. Research Implementation & Support service is supported by multi-level staff for all research advancement implementation tasks that facilitate project progress in aims. Support can include developing and implementing recruitment plans, helping teams navigate IRB processes, or preparing progress reports and other dissemination products.
7. Research Capacity-Building service is led by senior leaders in research and community engagement. It brings expertise and tailored capacity-building to multidisciplinary research teams.
8. Project Management services are focused on coordinating work and managing teams for all projects through Abacus and can be provided by multi-level staff. These project management services could include creating and launching standard operating procedures for research teams, setting up hiring manuals or work management platforms, or working on timeline and milestone development.
Gaurav Dave
Director
Michelle Song
Associate Director of Data Science & Analytics
Amelia DeFosset
Associate Director of Evaluation Services
Rachel Quinto
Associate Director of Operations
Mary Wolfe McKinley
Associate Director of Research Innovation and Development
| Hours | Location |
| M-F, 8:00a-5:00p ET | 323 MacNider Hall 333 South Columbia Street |
| Campus Box 7240 | |
| Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7240 |
| Name | Role | Phone | Location | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Abacus Email |
abacus@unc.edu
|
