Emily Sama-Miller

Emily Sama-Miller specializes in systematic evidence and literature reviews, implementation and process evaluation, and analysis of administrative data for human services programs.

Sama-Miller has taken a lead role in three comprehensive evidence review projects. She currently directs the Home Visiting Evidence of Effectiveness Review, which identifies evidence-based maternal and infant home visiting programs eligible for federal funding. She also directed a review of the evidence base on employment and training programs and strategies for low-income people, and she served as deputy project director for the Clearinghouse for Labor Evaluation and Research, which examines a range of labor-related topics. She also served as a senior reviewer, topic area coordinator, and training assessor on the What Works Clearinghouse.

Sama-Miller’s implementation and process evaluation experience includes planning and designing data collection tools and conceptual frameworks, preparing packages for Office of Management and Budget clearance, training data collectors, collecting data, and analyzing and reporting on qualitative data. Her work in this area has focused on the needs of low-income and vulnerable populations and programs that aim to support them, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, Head Start, and two-generation programs that serve parents and children in an integrated fashion. She has worked with states and pilot programs to compile and analyze program outcomes using SNAP and TANF administrative data and locally collected outcomes data. Recently, she directed a project to explore how new modes of outreach might improve access to SNAP for elderly and people with disabilities through matching SNAP and Medicaid administrative files.