Susan M. Gates is director of the Office of Research Quality Assurance, a senior economist at RAND, and a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. Her research applies insights about the economics of organizations, personnel economics, and labor economics to address challenges facing public and private sector organizations and to advance workforce development, entrepreneurship, and innovation.
Gates is an experienced project leader and manager. Her current research focuses on the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition workforce, how public school districts prepare, manage, and support leaders, and the efforts of local governments to promote entrepreneurship. Prior research addressed health care innovation, the military child care system, and a wide range of defense workforce and management issues. Her published research appears in numerous RAND reports as well as in external publications such as the Economics of Education Review, Journal of Health Economics, Journal of Risk and Insurance, Public Administration Review, Managerial and Decision Economics, ERS Spectrum, and Armed Forces and Society.
As the director of RAND's Office of Research Quality Assurance, Gates supports the achievement of RAND's Standards for High-Quality and Objective Reserach and Analysis by maintaining a strong culture of quality along with supportive policies and processes.
Gates received her Ph.D. in economics from Stanford Graduate School of Business and her M.A. in Russian and Eastern European studies from Stanford University.
Selected Publications
Gates, Susan M., Matthew Baird, Benjamin K. Master and Emilio R. Chavez-Herrerias, Principal Pipelines: A Feasible, Affordable and Effective Way for Districts to Improve Schools, RAND (RR-2666), 2019
Gates, Susan M., Julia H. Kaufman, Sy Doan, Andrea Prado Tuma and Deborah Kim , Taking Stock of Principal Pipelines: What Public School Districts Report Doing and What They Want to Do to Improve School Leadership., RAND (RR-A-274-1), 2020
Gates, Susan M., Elizabeth A. Roth and Jonas Kempf, Department of Defense Acquisition Workforce Analyses: Update to Methods and Results through FY 2021. , RAND (RR-A758-2-OSD), 2022
Gates, Susan M., Ashley Woo, Lea Xenakis, Elaine Lin Wang, Rebecca Herman, Megan Andrew and Ivy Todd , Using State-Level Policy Levers to Promote Principal Quality: Lessons from Seven States Partnering with Principal Preparation Programs and Districts. , RAND (RR-A-413-1), 2020
Susan M. Gates et al., "Mobility and Turnover Among School Principals," Economics of Education Review, 25(3), 2006
Fairlie, Robert W., Kanika Kapur and Susan M. Gates, "Is employer-based health insurance a Barrier to Entrepreneurship?" Journal of Health Economics, 30(1), 2011
Susan M. Gates and Kristin J. Leuschner, Eds., In the Name of Entrepreneurship? : The Logic and Effects of Special Regulatory Treatment for Small Business, RAND (MG-663), 2008
Dominic J. Brewer, Susan M. Gates and Charles Goldman, In Pursuit of Prestige: Strategy and Competition in U.S. Higher Education, Transaction Press, 2006