My background is as a newspaper journalist. I have written about everything from primary education to state politics. For the last decade, I have witnessed public agencies’ challenges and triumphs with incorporating information technology. In 2003 I decided to attend the University at Albany for a Ph.D. in information policy and management. I was familiar with CTG’s work in the e-government domain and decided to apply for a graduate assistant position. CTG is an excellent place to learn about the fundamental role of information technology in government and experience the art of conducting research.

In the late 1990s, I was lucky enough to cover New York State’s transition to a new format of reporting data about students’ performance. Writing about the state’s creation and dissemination of information through the “school report cards” was a very interesting and challenging task. After spending a couple of years covering education, I moved to the Albany area to cover politics. I started by covering a small municipality and then moved onto county and then finally state government. In that role, I witnessed leaders create policies and laws that shape citizen’s everyday lives. Just prior to CTG, I worked out of the state Capitol part-time as a researcher for Newsday, a Long Island newspaper.

Whether I work for an academic institution or a center for research is part of the journey ahead. For now my main goal is to finish my doctoral studies and learn as much about the art of research as I possibly can. I am mainly interested in e-democracy and the government’s role in fostering improved information access. I am also interested in how candidates for public office use technology to communicate with citizens.

I believe the best way to learn is through a combination of formal training and first hand experience. CTG is an excellent place to learn the research process as well as network with leaders in the fields of information science and government. I have recently had the good fortune of being a part of the XML Testbed team. As a team member I have learned project management skills as well as research design skills. CTG is an exciting and interesting place.