Thoemmes

 
Please welcome our newest faculty member, Felix Thoemmes, assistant professor in the department of human development in Cornell’s College of Human Ecology. Thoemmes’ research focuses on improving statistical methods for social sciences so that reliable conclusions can be drawn from research. He studies, among other things, causal inference (methods for assessing causation especially in non-randomized experiments) and propensity scores (a statistical device for constructing matched groups in non-randomized experiments).  The ability to determine causality is fundamental to many areas of research. His work focuses on evaluating existing statistical methods and developing new ones. In the past he used his methods to analyze educational data, such as academic achievement across different tracking systems and evaluating instruments for reading ability. He has reviewed the current use of propensity scores in the social science literature and identified common shortcomings and ways to address them. He has also developed procedures and software packages to use propensity scores with clustered data, e.g., students clustered within classrooms.

Thoemmes comes to us from the University of Tuebingen, Germany, in the Center for Educational Science and Psychology.  Prior to that he was a visiting professor at the University of Jena, Germany, in the psychology department, and Texas A&M University where he was an assistant professor in the College of Education and Human Development.