Carrie S. Cihak

During her year as research affiliate, Carrie Cihak will continue to co-lead CASBS’s Causal Inference for Social Impact Lab (CISIL) with research affiliate Jake Bowers, thereby advancing evidence-informed policymaking practices that support sustained and meaningful collaboration between academic researchers and policymakers, including between Stanford University and King County.

Cihak leads evidence-informed practice and partnerships for the regional government of the 12th largest county in the United States. Cihak guides County agencies on community outcomes and impact, with a strong focus on advancing racial equity. Former roles at the County include three years leading learning and evidence practice and partnerships at King County Metro Transit; serving as an inaugural member of the community mitigation team in the County’s pandemic response; and eight years as Chief of Policy for the King County Executive with responsibility for identifying the highest priority policy areas and community outcomes for leadership focus and developing and launching innovative solutions to complex, controversial, and cross-sector issues. Cihak is trained as a PhD-level (ABD) economist and served as staff economist on international trade and finance for President Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers. She is a Local Government Fellow and serves on the Advisory Committee for the Federal Standards of Excellence at Results for America, a non-profit organization that supports all levels of government in making the use of data and evidence in decision making the “new normal”. She is a member at large of the board of the Society for Causal Inference. Cihak was the first government Policy Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University (CASBS) in 2017-18 and has been a Research Affiliate at CASBS since that time.