What Does LASSR do?
Lab for Applied Social Science Research (LASSR) focuses on a series of critical issues of public concern including policing, community relations, health disparities, and education inequality. LASSR aims to partner and collaborate with government entities, organizations, and businesses to better address these issues. LASSR was developed after a group of social scientists realized that the innovative research being conducting inside of universities was limited in its ability to extend outside of universities. LASSR aims to better collaborate with policy makers and community members to bridge the gap between academics and non-academics. LASSR’s core belief is that scholarly research can simultaneously be rigorous and applied directly to impacting policy and community.
A central goal of LASSR is to become a key point of contact within the academic community for policy makers, business leaders, and organizations wanting to collaborate and conduct research on a pressing issue of public concern. LASSR aims to be the premier research laboratory for the Baltimore/Washington DC Corridor.
Mission
The mission of LASSR is to conduct objective, innovative, and methodologically-rigorous social science research that has applicability to policy outcomes. The philosophy of LASSR is to connect social science research to policy and the community by facilitating the dissemination of scholarly research in accessible ways.
LASSR provides program and study evaluations for organizations, businesses, and government entities to better meet the needs of constituents and community members. LASSR has the capacity to conduct large-scale quantitative studies, focused experiments, and smaller qualitative, interview-based studies. LASSR produces evaluations and strategies for highlighting successes and addressing shortcomings. LASSR also provides trainings and teaching modules for continuing education and upgrading existing programs and organizational structures. Additionally, LASSR provides dissemination plans for programmatic expansion and community outreach. LASSR aims to help build sustainable communities and help government entities, organizations, and businesses improve citizen relationships.
LASSR’s objective is to have available research study designs that can be replicated across the United States to build an infrastructure for research on policing, community relations, health disparities, and education inequality.
LASSR has three core aims:
Conduct objective, innovative, and methodologically-rigorous social science research that has applicability to policy outcomes
Connect social science research outcomes directly to policy in order to continue the legacy of Congressman Parren J. Mitchell
Train the next generation of individuals who view the connections between social science research and policy as paramount for the betterment of society