impact evaluation
Leya Mohsin is the Manager, Government Capacity and Evidence at the Federation of American Scientists. In her role, she provides operational and project management support across FAS’s government capacity portfolio, including its work on talent, digital services, and data policy. She has a particular focus on advancing the generation, synthesis, and uptake of research evidence into federal policymaking.
Prior to her work at FAS, Leya was part of the Evidence and Evaluation team at Arnold Ventures, where she supported the development and management of grant-making in rigorous impact evaluation and evidence-based policy. While her work today looks across a wide range of social policy issues, her background is in education, having started her career as a high school math teacher. Leya holds a Master’s degree in Education Policy and Leadership from American University, and a Bachelor’s degree in economics, policy studies, and civic leadership from Rice University.
The United States federal government invests nearly $150 billion annually in research and development. However, the supporting evidence generates wildly different estimates depending on the methods and available data.
The emerging federal metascience community is asking fascinating questions that are equally vital for democratic legitimacy: beyond “did this program work” to “how does the federal R&D enterprise itself work, and how could it work better?”
In recent months, we’ve seen much of these decades’ worth of progress erased. Contracts for evaluations of government programs were canceled, FFRDCs have been forced to lay off staff, and federal advisory committees have been disbanded.
Employing a living approach to evidence synthesis, disseminated at a national level, is a streamlined way to enable evidence-based decision-making nationwide.