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Last Updated May 2015
Ashlesha Datar, Ph.D
635 Downey Way, Los Angeles, CA 90089-3332
Tel: 213-821-2787, Email: adatar@usc.edu
______________________________________________________________________________
EDUCATION
Ph.D. Policy Analysis, Sept 2003; RAND Graduate School of Policy Studies, Santa Monica, CA.
M.A. Economics, May 1999; Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, IN.
M.A. Economics, July 1997; Delhi School of Economics, New Delhi, India.
B.A. Economics, July 1995; Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University, New Delhi, India.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2013 – present: Senior Economist; Director of Program on Children & Families, USC Dornsife Center for
Economic and Social Research (CESR), University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
2013 – present: Adjunct Economist, RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA
2012 – present: Professor of Policy Analysis, Pardee RAND Graduate School, Santa Monica, CA
2011 – 2013: Senior Economist, RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA
2007 – 2011: Full Economist, RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA
2003 – 2007: Associate Economist, RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA
RESEARCH GRANTS
Principal Investigator. “Air Pollution and Children’s Cognitive and Health Outcomes,” NICHD R03. 20122015 ($181,135)
Principal Investigator. “School Food Environment and Child Well-Being,” NICHD R03. 2012- 2015
($190,000)
Principal Investigator. “Environment’s Impact on Children’s Diet, Activity, and Obesity: A Natural
Experiment,” NICHD R01. 2011- 2016 ($3.2 million)
Principal Investigator. “Neighborhood Safety and Children’s Activity, Inactivity, and BMI,” NICHD R03.
Aug 2010-July 2012 ($190,102)
Principal Investigator. “Economics of Natural Disasters and Epidemics,” NICHD R03. March 2009February 2012 ($190,102)
Co-Principal Investigator. “Excess BMI Gain During Elementary School: The Role of Contextual Factors,”
NIH R01. Dec 2008 – Nov 2014 ($1.5 million) (PI: Roland Sturm)
Principal Investigator. “Birth Weight Effects in Infancy and Early Childhood,” NICHD R03, April 2008March 2010 ($191,607).
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Co-Principal Investigator. “Food Policies and Environments in and Around Elementary Schools and Their
Relationship with Food Consumption and Body Mass Index” Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Healthy
Eating Research Program. July 2006-December 2008 ($287,000) (PI: Roland Sturm)
Principal Investigator. “Economic Determinants of School Meal Participation,” U.S. Department of
Agriculture. September 2005 – September 2007 ($200,000).
Principal Investigator. “ How Much and Why Does Class Size Matter?” NICHD R03, May 2005 – April 2007
($192,300).
Co-Principal Investigator. “Food Prices and Availability and Children’s Health and Developmental
Outcomes,” U.S. Department of Agriculture. September 2003 – September 2005 ($175,000). (PI: Roland
Sturm)
Principal Investigator, “Impact of Kindergarten Entrance Policies on the Child Care Needs of Families,”
Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Child Care Research
Scholar Dissertation Grant (2002). September 2002 – September 2003 ($30,000).
Principal Investigator, “Does Entering Kindergarten at an Older Age Lead to Better School Performance?”
American Educational Research Association, Dissertation Grant (2001). September 2001 – September 2002
($10,000)
PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS
Datar, A., Chung, P.J. (accepted). “Accuracy of Weight Perceptions in an Nationally Representative Cohort
of 8th Grade Adolescents” Academic Pediatrics.
Datar, A., Chung, P.J. (in press). “Changes in Socioeconomic, Racial-Ethnic and Gender Disparities in
Childhood Obesity at School Entry in US Children” JAMA Pediatrics.
Datar, A., Nicosia, N., Wong, E., Shier, V. (in press). “Neighborhood Environment and Children’s Physical
Activity and Body Mass Index: Evidence From Military Personnel Installation Assignments”
Childhood Obesity.
Gottfried, M., Nhuan-Li, V., Datar, A. (in press). “English Language Learners and Kindergarten Entry Age:
Achievement and Socio-Emotional Effects” The Journal of Educational Research.
Datar, A., Gottfried, M. (in press). “School Entry Age and Children’s Non-Cognitive Skills: Evidence from a
National Longitudinal Study of Kindergartners” Education Evaluation and Policy Analysis.
Datar, A., Nicosia, N., Shier, V. 2014. “Maternal Work and Children’s Diet, Activity, and Obesity” Social
Science and Medicine. 107: 196-204.
Datar, A., Nicosia, N., Shier, V. 2013. “Parental Perceptions of Neighborhood Safety and Children’s Activity
Behaviors and Obesity: Evidence from a National Longitudinal Study” American Journal of Epidemiology
177(10): 1065-73.
Datar, A. Liu, J., Linnemayr, S., Stecher, C. 2013. “The Impact of Natural Disasters on Child Health and
Investments in Rural India”. Social Science and Medicine. 76, 83-91.
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Datar, A., Nicosia, N. 2012. “Outsourcing Meals: Effect of Maternal Employment on Children’s School
Meal Participation”. Social Service Review. 86(4), 565-593.
Datar, A., Nicosia, N. 2012. “Junk Food in Schools and Childhood Obesity”. Journal of Policy Analysis and
Management. 31(2): 312-337.
Datar, A., Shier, V., Sturm, R. 2011. “Changes in Body Mass During Elementary and Middle School in a
Nationally Representative Cohort of Kindergartners”. Pediatrics. Volume 128, Number 6, pp e1411e1417.
Sturm, R., Datar, A. 2011. “Regional Price Differences and Food Consumption Frequency Among
Elementary School Children” Public Health 125, 136-41.
Datar, A., Kilburn, M.R., Loughran, D. 2010. “Endowments and Parental Investments in Infancy and Early
Childhood.” Demography. Vol 47 Issue 1: 145-162.
Datar, A., Jacknowitz, A. 2009. “Birth Weight Effects on Children’s Mental, Motor, and Physical
Development; Evidence from Twins Data”. Maternal and Child Health Journal. 13(6):780-94.
Datar, A., Mason, B. 2008. “Do Smaller Classes “Crowd Out” Parental Investment in Education?” Economics
of Education Review. 27: 712-723.
Loughran, D., Datar, A., Kilburn, M.R. 2008. “The Interactive Effect of Birth Weight and Common Parental
Investment on Child Test Scores.” Review of Economics of the Household. Volume 6: 223-242.
Sturm, R., Datar, A. 2008. “Food Prices and Weight Gain During Elementary School Children: 5-Year
Update.” Public Health. 122: 1140-43.
Datar, A., Mukherji, A, Sood, N. 2007. “The Role of Rural Health Infrastructure in Expanding
Immunization Coverage in India.” Indian Journal of Medical Research 125: 29-40.
Santibañez, L., Martinez, J.F. Datar, A., McEwan, P.J., Messan-Setodji, C., and Ricardo Basurto. 2007.
"Breaking Ground. Analysis of the Assessments and Impact of Mexico's Teacher Incentive Program
Carrera Magisterial.” RAND MG-471.Santa Monica, CA.
Datar, A., Sturm, R. 2006. “Childhood Overweight and Elementary School Outcomes”. International Journal of
Obesity Volume 30, No. 9: 1449-60.
Datar, A., Sood, N. 2006. “The Impact of Postpartum Hospital Stay Legislation on Newborn Length of Stay,
Readmission and Mortality in California” Pediatrics 118(1):63-72.
Datar, A. 2006. “The Impact of Kindergarten Entrance Age Policies on the Child Care Needs of Families.”
Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 25(1):129-151.
Datar, A. 2006 “Does Delaying Kindergarten Entrance Give Children a Head Start?” Economics of Education
Review 25:43-62.
Sturm, R., Datar, A. 2005. “Weight Gain in Elementary School Children and Metropolitan Area Food
Prices.” Public Health 119(12):1059-1068.
Datar, A., Sturm, R. 2004. “Exposure to Physical Education in School and its Impact on Body Mass Index:
Evidence from a Prospective Study of Kindergartners.” American Journal of Public Health. Volume 94,
No. 9: 1501-1506.
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Datar, A., Sturm, R. 2004. “Childhood Overweight and Teacher and Parent Reported Behavior Problems:
Evidence from a Prospective Study of Kindergartners.” JAMA Pediatrics (previously Archives of Pediatric
and Adolescent Medicine). Volume 158: 804-810.
Datar, A., Sturm, R., Magnabosco, J.L. 2004. “Childhood Obesity and Academic Achievement: Evidence
from a Population Based Sample of Kindergartners and First Graders.” Obesity Research; 12: 58-68.
WORKING PAPERS
Ghosh-Dastidar, B., Haas, A., Nicosia, N. Datar, A. 2015. “BMI Correction Models Using Multiple Reports
in Children” Under Review.
Datar, A., Nicosia, N., Wong, E., Shier, V. (2015). “Childhood Overweight and Obesity in Military Families”.
Under Review
Datar, A. 2015. “The More the Heavier? Family Size and Childhood Obesity”.
Shier, V., Datar, A., Nicosia, N. 2015. “Air Pollution and Children’s Cognitive Outcomes”
Datar, A. Nicosia, N., Toda, M. 2011. “The Impact of Public Transit on Physical Activity and Obesity in
Adults.”
Datar, A., Nicosia N. 2009. Food Prices and Transitions in School Meal Participation in Elementary School.
RAND Health Working Paper WR-669. RAND, Santa Monica, CA
Datar, A., Ghosh, A., Sood, N. 2007. “Mortality Risk, Health Endowments and Parental Investments in
Infancy: Evidence from Rural India”. NBER Working Paper 13649.
Datar, A., Sturm, R. 2005. “Behavior Problems in Middle School and High School Graduation: Evidence
from Within Family Variation.”
Loughran, D., Datar, A., Kilburn, M.R. June 2004. “The Interaction of Birth Weight and Parental
Investment on Child Test Scores.” RAND Labor and Population Working Paper WR-168.
Kilburn, M.R., Datar, A. 2004 “Availability of Child Care Centers in China and Families’ Child Care and
Labor Force Decisions.” RAND Labor and Population Working Paper, DRU-2924-NIH.
HONORS, AWARDS AND PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Standing Member of NIH’s Community Level Health Promotion (CLHP) Study Section (2012-2016)
Reviewer, NIH CLHP Study Section (Feb and Jun 2011)
Advisory Board Member, LA County Public Health Choose Health LA Kids
2004 Herbert Goldhammer Award for Outstanding Dissertation, RAND Graduate School
Member: American Economic Association, Population Association of America, Association of Public Policy
Analysis and Management
Journal Referee: B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy; Demography; Economic Inquiry; Economic
Development and Cultural Change; Economics and Human Biology; Economics of Education Review;
Forum for Health Economics and Policy; Health Economics; International Journal of Obesity; International
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Last Updated May 2015
Journal of Pediatric Obesity; Journal of Adolescent Health; Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health;
Journal of Human Resources; Journal of Policy Analysis and Management; Medicine and Science in Sports
and Exercise; Pediatrics; Psychological Science; Review of Economics and Statistics; Social Science and
Medicine; Sociology of Education; Southern Economic Journal; Social Science Quarterly.
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