Arena C. Lam is a Senior Research Associate with WestEd’s Justice & Prevention Research Center.
Lam works on evaluations related to adult and juvenile justice, human trafficking, teen pregnancy prevention, school-based telemedicine, and education. She develops and implements multiple aspects of evaluation projects including research design, data collection, and data analysis. She has used experimental and quasi-experimental research designs to estimate interventions’ impacts. She has extensive experience analyzing longitudinal and multivariate justice, health, and education data.
At present, Lam is a Co-Project Director for a large evaluation of 24 juvenile justice programs implemented by multiple county agencies and community-based organizations. She also co-leads two evaluations of sexual risk avoidance education programs serving youth in Los Angeles.
Previously, Lam co-led a randomized controlled trial examining the impact of a new case management system on recidivism. She developed and implemented the randomization protocol, conducted recidivism analyses, and developed data dashboards that allow the service provider to examine real-time service delivery. The evaluation also involved interviews, focus groups, and surveys with program participants and peer coaches with lived experience.
Lam also co-led an evaluation of two pilot programs funded by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crimes to provide intervention services for transitional-aged youth who are at risk or victims of human trafficking. The mixed-method process and outcome evaluation involved document reviews, stakeholder focus groups and interviews, and survivor interviews and surveys.
Arena Lam holds a BA in psychology and an MA and PhD in education, all from the University of California, Irvine.