Oscar Torres-Reyna                                                            e-mail: otorres@princeton.edu

Goal

Coordination and implementation of research studies, courses and strategic initiatives in the areas of public opinion, market research, electoral campaigns, research methods, political risk analysis, corporate social responsibility, democratic governance and public policy.

Profile

- Work productively both in teams and independently. - Effectively manage multiple projects, meet deadlines, supervise others and set priorities. - Able to present complex material in a persuasive, clear, and concise manner. - Proven abilities to quickly become expert in new issues, software, and techniques to identify most relevant concepts, data and information, and to troubleshoot problems. - Creative, focused, analytical and detail-oriented. - Comprehensive experience in both Latin America and the United States.

Education

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY (New York City)

·         Ph.D. candidate (ABD) in Political Science

·         Master of Philosophy in Political Science (May 2002).

SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS/ COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY (New York City)

·         Master in Public Administration (February, 1998). Economic Policy / Analytic Techniques.

ITAM (Mexico City).

·         Diploma in Applied Statistics (November, 1993)

SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS/UNAM (Mexico City).

·         Bachelor of Arts (Honors, June, 1992). Professional Thesis: Intersectorial Linkages in Mexico: 1980 and 1985.

Professional Experience:

 

 

academic

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY (May 2007 - currently, Princeton NJ)

·         Data Specialist. Provide statistical and software consulting for undergraduates, graduate students and faculty engaged in quantitative analysis of electronic data in a variety of academic disciplines. Assist in the choice, application, and interpretation of quantitative methods, and with the use of statistical software needed to implement these methods. Retrieves/manipulates complex data from a variety of physical sources. Engage in individual consultation and group instruction.

·         Data analysis related instruction/learning materials:

o    Online Training Section (Data/Stata/MATLAB/SPSS/Excel). Fall 2007. Ongoing.

o    Data Management Analysis using Stata (11/7/2007, 11/712/2007). 3 hrs.

o    Descriptive Statistics using Excel/Stata (9/25/2007). 4 hrs.

o    Introduction to Stata (9/12/2007). WWS. 2 hrs

o    Introduction to Stata/Graphics (8/7/2007). DSS lab. 2 hrs.

·         Online Training Section (Data/Stata/MATLAB/SPSS/Excel). Fall 2007/2008. Ongoing during 2009. Developed the following sections:

o    Stata online interactive. What to do first, exploring data, do-file, date and time variables, references

o    Data 101. This section provides you with some basic definitions for data and its different types.

o    Descriptive statistics using Excel/Stata. What are descriptive statistics? How to estimate them using Excel or Stata?

o    Links and tips for SPSS .

o    Regression and more (links) . A series of links with annotated output for several models, testing and some econometric procedures.

·         Getting Started series (Data analysis/Finding data/Stata). 2008. Ongoing during 2009. Wrote the following tutorials:

o    Getting Started in Data Analysis using Stata. Topics include reading data in Stata, data management, frequencies, crosstabs, merging, graphs, regression and more!

o    Fixed and random effects (panel data analysis).  A basic introduction on fixed and random effects models to analyze panel data.

o    Factor Analysis. Basic introduction to factor analysis

o    Exploring poll data. Procedures and tips on how to analyze public opinion data

o    Finding data (tutorial) Interactive and generic guide to find what you need for your research

o    Linear regression. Basic introduction to linear regression analysis (using Stata)

o    Logit & Ordered logit regression. Introduction to logit and ordered logit regression

UNIVERSIDAD DE GUADALAJARA (Guadalajara, Mexico)

Visiting Professor (10/05-3/07). Public Policy Department at Centro Universitario de Ciencias Económico Administrativas (CUCEA). Courses:

·         School of Economics, (08/06-12/06), Structure and Organization of the Public Sector..

·         Master in Public Administration, (01/06-06/06), Impact Analysis and Index Development.

·         Master in Public Administration, (01/06-06/06), Applied Research in Public Administration.

ITESO (Guadalajara, Mexico)

·         Adjunct Professor (Spring 2006). Course: International Negotiations.

·         Adjunct Professor (08/05-10/06). Course: Political Systems and Contemporary Governments.

·         Professor (05/29/06). Diploma in Civil Service, mod: Public Administration and Development, 8 hrs.

·         Professor (July 29-30, 2005). Diploma in Public Policy, mod: Institutions and Development, 10 hrs.

 

Jalisco´s state government (short courses) (Mexico)

·         Speaker (06/21/06). Auditoria Superior de la Federación. Theme: Measuring Accountability. 4 hrs.

·         Speaker  (07/4/06). Gobierno de Jalisco. Theme: Transparency, Development, Institutions: A Link, 5 hrs

·         Speaker  (07/5/06). C.de Cap. del Gobierno del Estado. Theme: Measuring Transparency, 5 hrs

·         Speaker (Sep/27/06). Servicios y Transportes. Theme: Accountability Indicators, 6 hrs.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY (New York City)

·         Teaching Assistant (1/03-5/04). Conducted review sessions, counseled students, graded papers and exams for courses in American government, urban, Latino politics, public opinion and political behavior.

ELECTRONIC DATA SERVICE/COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY (New York City)

·         Data consultant (5/03 – 12/04) – Assisted in a range of research studies using data from Census, CPS, World Value Survey, World Development Indicators, Ipums, IFS, UNSTATS, among others. Software HLM, MLWIN, SPSS, Stata, ArcGIS, Allocate, Geolytics.

INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC RESEARCH AND POLICY/Health & society scholars program/Columbia University (New York City)

·         Consultant (9/04-12/04). Participated in a GIS analysis to study the impact of land use on child obesity.

Research Center for the Arts and Culture, Teachers College/Columbia University

·         Data consultant (1/03- 8/04). Coordinated, organized and analyzed a variety of research studies for the understanding of artists’ socioeconomic and working conditions in the United States. (New York City)

Journalism School/najp/Columbia University (New York City)

·         Consultant (9/03-4/04). Participated in a content analysis media project reporting on the arts.

Professional Experience:

 

 

government

Secretary of state (10/06-12/06) (Mexico City)

·         Advisor to the Undersecretary for Legislative Affairs. Analyzed public policies and initiatives proposed by the President requiring Legislative approval. Designed models and simulations on different political and social contexts. Analyzed survey/poll results to improved the decision making process.

Presidency of the Republic. Technical Advisor’s Office (3/90-1/96) (Mexico City)

·       Director for Economic and Special Studies (6/95-1/96). Coordinated and designed research projects to evaluate presidential image and performance and to assess the people’s perception on public and economic policies to improve policy-making process. Drafted weekly reports to the President of Mexico.

·       Assistant Director for Economic and Special Studies (9/92-5/95). Designed research projects to evaluate presidential performance and image to assess the people’s perception on public and economic policies. Designed electoral polls to forecast electoral results at all government levels (Local, State and Federal). Drafted weekly reports to the President of Mexico.

·       Head of the Department of Research and Evaluation (9/91-8/92). Forecasted electoral results and evaluated its political consequences using electoral polls, public opinion and focus groups studies.

·       Analyst (3/90-8/91). Participated in the elaboration of public opinion studies for the President of Mexico.

Professional Experience:

 

 

private sector

bgc Beltran y Asociados (Jan/06-Apr/07) (Mexico City)

·         Consultant. Analyzed public opinion data on a variety of topics (media usage, environment and education, corruption, public safety) for corporate, academic and governmental clients to improve their decision-making process.

Altria Corporate Services Inc. (New York City)

·         Consultant (1/03-5/03). Conducted research on corporate social responsibility and corporate image.

Philip Morris Management Corporation

(Public Policy and Opinion Internship, 5/00-12/02, New York City)

·         Conducted research related to corporate responsibility and societal alignment to aid in the development of corporate affairs strategies leading to a reposition of the company’s image among stakeholders. Engaged in numerous phases and types of public opinion research including issue-advertising development, strategic issue research, communications research and omnibus tracking studies.

Interdisciplinary Consultant Group (San Salvador, El Salvador)

·     Consultant (8/93-3/94). Designed, analyzed and coordinated pre-electoral polls for the government of El Salvador. Forecasted electoral results and analyzed and evaluated the performance of the president.

Publications

·         Brigitte L. Nacos and Oscar Torres-Reyna. (2006). Fueling Our Fears: Stereotyping, Media Coverage, and Public Opinion of Muslim Americans, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. ISBN: 0742539830, pp. 160.

·         Brigitte L. Nacos and Oscar Torres-Reyna "Framing Muslim-Americans before and after 9/11" in Framing Terrorism The News Media, Government & the Public. Edited by Pippa Norris, Montague Kern and Marion Just. New York: Routledge. Fall 2003

·         Oscar Torres-Reyna and Robert Y. Shapiro, “The Polls—Trends: Women and Sexual Orientation in the Military”, in Public Opinion Quarterly, vol. 66:618-632, spring 2002.

·         Oscar Torres-Reyna and Robert Y. Shapiro, “The Polls—Trends: Defense and the Military”, in Public Opinion Quarterly, vol. 66, pp. 279-303, summer 2002.

 

·         Mariana Servin-Gonzalez and Oscar Torres-Reyna, “The Polls-Trends: Religion and Politics,” in Public Opinion Quarterly, vol. 63, pp. 590-619, winter 1999.

Oscar Torres-Reyna, Serban Iorga, Robert Y. Shapiro, “Confidence in Major Companies: A Comparative and Multilevel Approach”, December 2003, study supported by supported by a grant from the Center for International Business Education at Columbia University. [working paper]

courses

·         Dealing with difficult people, Princeton University, 8/5/2009.

·         Advance Quantitative Research Methodology, Harvard University, Online, spring 2008.

·         PROC SQL in SAS and Techniques for Large SAS Data Sets (Philadelphia, PA, 10/19/07)

·         Introduction to PHP and MySQL (Online, 10/17/07 to 12/17/07)

·         2007 North American Stata Users Group meeting/workshop (Boston, Ma, 8/12/07 to 8/15/07)

·         Programming using SPSS scripts (New York, NY, 9/10/07 to 9/11/07)

·         MATLAB Fundamentals and Programming Techniques (Parsippany, NJ, 7/23/07 to 7/24/07)

·         NetCourse 151: Introduction to Stata Programming (Online. 6/15/07 to 7/27/07)

Memberships

·         American Political Science Association (APSA).

·         American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR).

Collaborations

·         Research Center for Arts and Culture, Teachers College/Columbia University, Taking Note: A Study of Composers and New Music Activity in the U.S. 2008.

·         Research Center for Arts and Culture, Teachers College/Columbia University, Information on Artists III: Bay Area, 2004.

·         Chicago Council on Foreign Relations (CCFR), American Public Opinion and Foreign Policy, 2004.

·         CCFR, Comparing South Korea and American Public Opinion and Foreign Policy, 2004.

pdf version

http://www.princeton.edu/~otorres/OscarT-En.pdf

Web Links

http://www.princeton.edu/~otorres/LigasWeb.htm