Innovative research by the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Kristen Olson has earned a President’s Excellence Award.
Announced May 23, the award is the University of Nebraska system’s most prestigious honors that recognizes faculty for work that has a strong impact on students, the university and state.
Olson, Leland J. and Dorothy H. Olson Professor in the Department of Sociology and director of the Bureau of Sociological Research, received the Outstanding Research and Creative Activity award for research focused on survey methodology. The ORCA recognizes faculty for outstanding research or creative activity of national or international significance.
“Great faculty are at the heart of the University of Nebraska’s work and mission. We are fortunate that our classrooms and research labs are led by people who care deeply about creating a strong future for students and our state,” said Chris Kabourek, interim NU president. “I’m honored to have this opportunity to lift up the work of some of the University of Nebraska’s most outstanding faculty, and I thank them for all they do to change lives in Nebraska and around the world.”
Award recipients are selected by systemwide committees of faculty members and community members. Recipients each receive a $10,000 stipend. They will be honored at the Aug. 8 Board of Regents meeting.
Outstanding Research and Creative Activity Award
Olson’s research focuses on survey methodology, a field with broad real-world impacts in academia, government, marketing, public policy, public health, program evaluation, and nonprofit and for-profit enterprises around the world.
Her work seeks to understand and improve survey data quality through the reduction of coverage, sampling, nonresponse, measurement and adjustment errors.
Olson is widely published, has been elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Society and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and has served on a number of national task forces and panels related to survey methodology and public opinion research. Her work shapes data collection at the highest levels and has put the University of Nebraska–Lincoln on the map in the field.
