CURRICULUM VITAE
NJ Scheers, Ph.D.
BDS Data Analytics
njscheers@gmail.com
703-304-9310 Cell
Experience:
Consulting
BDS Data Analytics, Partner, 2015 to present.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants, Partner, 1988 – 2013.
Government
Director, Inter-Governmental and International Affairs, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) 2011-2014.
Director, Budget, Planning, and Evaluation, CPSC, 2005- 2011
Director, Office of Planning and Evaluation, CPSC, 1999 –2005
Senior Statistician, Office of Planning and Evaluation, CPSC, 1995 –1999.
Branch Chief, Directorate for Epidemiology, CPSC, 1990-1995.
Faculty, Federal Bureau of Investigation Training Academy, 1983-1990
Academe
Associate Professor (Adjunct) serving as a methodologist on dissertation committees, Loyola College, Baltimore, 1990 -2013.
Education
Ph.D., Statistics, University of Maryland, 1982
Awards
Meritorious award, CPSC 2009
Chairman’s award, CPSC 2007
Outstanding Professional Award, University of Maryland 2003
Distinguished Service Award, CPSC 1998
Chairman’s Star award, CPSC 1997
Distinguished Service Award, CPSC 1995
Outstanding Performance awards, CPSC annually, 1995-2014.
Executive Development Program, CPSC 1994-1995
Distinguished Service Award, CPSC 1991
Consulting Experience:
Dr. Scheers is a partner and co-founder at BDS Data Analytics, LLC. Clients to-date include mid-to-large law firms; mid-to-large accounting firms; a major government agency; and a manufacturer. Work for law firms includes developing sampling plans with random selection and estimation procedures to determine hospitals’ underpayments costs allegedly owed by insurance companies. These sampling plans use software that optimizes stratum boundaries to allow for smaller sample sizes, lowering the cost of adjudication. Work for accounting firms includes developing sample design and selection to estimate research and development (R&D) tax credits for submission to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). These plans require in-depth knowledge of IRS procedures and requirements, particularly to plan for uncertainty in an IRS audit process. Two other projects provided statistical analysis and expertise for litigation at the trial stage for a major government agency and a survey and analysis for a manufacturer that was published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Selected Experience:
Partner, Dayton & Scheers Consulting: provided statistical consulting services for large accounting firms to design sampling plans, research methodologies, and estimation procedures to estimate indirect energy use for sponsored research at over 20 major universities.
CPSC staff: led and was responsible for: (1) the analysis of policy and operational issues; justifying resources to CPSC Commissioners, the Office of Management and Budget, and Congress; meeting CPSC budget requirements; and evaluating the impact of agency actions; (2) CPSC’s development of a new system of strategic planning and accountability with national long term injury risk reduction goals; annual performance goals, and accountability for reaching those goals; (3) a team of epidemiologists and data analysts to conduct up to 25 studies a year conducting risk analyses for products such as injuries from all-terrain vehicles and deaths from various children’s products.
Major Research Impact: responsible for a national multi-year study to determine if some infants diagnosed as sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) actually suffocated in soft bedding. She served on the task force at the American Academy of Pediatrics and with other national leaders at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, to incorporate findings from the CSPC study on national policy recommendations for safe sleep for infants. Her continued work in this area resulted in major changes in soft bedding use for infants and recently in the manufacturing of crib bumpers.
Publications:
Scheers, N.J., Dayton, C., Batcher, M., Thach BT. (2019). Reports of Injury Risks and Reasons for Choice of Sleep Environments for Infants and Toddlers. Matern Child Health J, Volume 23 (12), pp 1613–1620. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10995-019-02803-7
Scheers, NJ, Woodard, DW, Thach, BT (2017). An Accurate Account of Crib Bumper Cases: Reply [Letter to the Editor]. The Journal of Pediatrics. Volume 183, p. 202.
Scheers, NJ, Woodard, DW, Thach, BT (2015). Crib Bumpers Continue to Cause Infant Deaths: A Need for a New Preventive Approach. The Journal of Pediatrics, 169: 93–97.e1
Scheers, NJ. Analysis of crib bumper deaths (2013). In “Staff Briefing Package: Crib Bumpers Petition,” US Consumer Product Safety Commission, Washington, D.C.
Scheers NJ, Rutherford GW, Kemp, JS. (2003). Where should infants sleep? A comparison of risk for suffocation of sleeping in cribs, adult beds, and other sleeping locations. Pediatrics Vol. 112 (4): 883-889.
Kattwinkel J, Brooks JG, Keenan ME, Malloy M, Willinger M, Scheers NJ. (2000). Changing concepts of sudden infant death syndrome: Implications for infant sleeping environment and sleep position. Pediatrics, Vol. 105 (3): 650-656. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.105.3.650.
Scheers NJ, Dayton CM, Kemp JS. (1998). Sudden Infant Death with Airways Covered: A Case-Comparison Study of 206 Deaths from the U.S. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 152: 540-547.
Dayton CM, Scheers NJ (1997). “Latent Class Analysis of Survey Data Dealing with Academic Dishonesty.” Chapter in Rost, J and Langeheine R (Eds) Application of Latent Trait and Latent Class Models in the Social Sciences. Münster, New York: Waxmann.
Adler Prowpit, Van Houten Donald T, Scheers NJ (1996). An analysis of blade-access time for ride-on mowers, International Journal for Consumer and Product Safety, 3:1, 21-29, DOI: 10.1080/09298349608945761.
Scheers NJ and Cassidy S (1993). Analysis of Investigated Cases of Deaths and Hospitalizations Associated with Five Gallon-Type Buckets. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Washington, D.C.
Scheers NJ (1992). A Review of Randomized Response Techniques. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, Vol 25: 27-41.
Scheers NJ, Newman R, Polen C, Fulcher D (1991). The risk of riding ATVs: A comparison from 1985 to 1989. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Washington, D.C.
Scheers NJ, Fulcher D, Polen C (1990). Four-wheel ATVs and lateral stability: emergency room treated injuries. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Washington, D.C.
Scheers, NJ, Dayton CM (1988). Covariate randomized response models. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 83: 969-974.
Scheers NJ, Dayton CM (1987). Improved estimation of academic cheating behavior using the randomized response technique. Research in Higher Education, 26: 61-69.
Scheers NJ, Dayton CM (1986). RRCOV: Computer program for covariate randomized response models. American Statistician, 40: 229.
Selected Published Dissertations
Shannon DK, Oakes KE, Scheers NJ, Richardson, FJ, Stills, A (2013). Religious Beliefs as A Moderator of Exposure to Violence in African American Adolescents, Psychology of Religion & Spirituality, 5: 172–181.
Froehlich JP, Fialkowski GM, Scheers NJ, Wilcox PC, Lawrence RT (2006). Spiritual Maturity and Social Support in a National Study of a Male Religious Order. Pastoral Psychology, 54(5): 393-516.
Geary B, Ciarrocchi JW, & Scheers, NJ. (2006). Sex offenders, spirituality and recovery. Counseling and Spirituality 25-1:1-22.
Billard A, Greer JM, Merrick ME, Sneck W, S.J, Scheers NJ (2005). Relationships between spiritual transcendence and emotional intelligence among older Catholic nuns. Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, 16: 41-61.
Geary B, Ciarrocchi JW, and Scheers NJ (2004). Spirituality and religious variables as predictors of well-being in sex offenders. Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, 15: 167-188.
Okerson F, Cheston S, Scheers NJ, Romero R (1998). African-American Undergraduate Students Willingness to Self-Disclose to African-American vs. European-American and Religious vs. Secular Counselors: An Experiment. Review in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, Vol 9. Greenwich, Conn: JAI.
Presentations
Scheers, NJ (2020). Review of Crib Bumper Deaths. CPSC Forum on Crib Bumpers. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Bethesda, Maryland, January 22, 2020.
Scheers NJ (2016). Crib Bumper Deaths. Commissioner Adler and Staff Meeting with Expert Panel on Crib Bumpers. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Bethesda, Maryland, October 26th.
Scheers NJ (2015). Crib bumpers and infant deaths. Presented at the American Association of SIDS Prevention Physicians. Sanibel Island, Florida.
Scheers NJ (2011). Overview of CPSC’s 2011-2016 Strategic Plan. Presented at the ANSI Consumer Interest Forum Meeting, Bethesda, MD.
Mitchell EA, Dayton CM, Scheers NJ (2005). Altitude and latitude and the risk of SIDS in the United States, 1985-2000. Paper presented at First Candle/SIDS Alliance Conference, Washington, DC.
Evaluation Dialogue between OMB Staff and Federal Evaluation Leaders (2005). Digging a Bit Deeper into Evaluation Science. Presentation to OMB auditors and investigators, Office of Management and Budget, Washington, D.C. [Federal Evaluation Leaders Member].
Scheers NJ (2003). CPSC's National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS): A Probability Sample and Its Uses. Invited presentation to graduate students in statistics, University of Maryland.
Scheers NJ (2003). Sleep Environment and Infant Suffocation in the U.S.: Comparisons from 1980-1983 and 1995-1998. Invited presentation at the Association of SIDS and Infant Mortality Programs annual conference, Washington, D.C.
Scheers NJ (2002). Where should infants sleep? A Comparison of risk for sleeping in cribs, beds and other sleeping locations. Invited presentation at the 7th International SIDS Conference, Florence Italy.
Scheers NJ (2002). Safe Sleep: Preventing Infant Suffocation Deaths. Invited presentation at the Michigan SIDS Conference "Infant Death in Michigan: Prevention and Grief Support, Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.
Scheers NJ (2001). Risk of SIDS and Soft Bedding Hazards: A Review. Invited presentation at the “Train the Trainer” conference sponsored by the SIDS Center of New Jersey, New Brunswick.
Scheers NJ (2001). Risk of SIDS and Soft Bedding Hazards: A Review. Invited presentation to the American Association of SIDS Prevention Physicians, Austin, Texas.
Scheers NJ (2001). Where should babies sleep? A comparison of cribs, beds and sofas. Presented at the SIDS Alliance annual conference, Chicago, Ill.
Scheers NJ (2001). Sudden Unexpected Infant Death: Review of Soft Bedding Hazards and Recent CPSC Activities. Presentation at the Association of SIDS and Infant Mortality Programs annual conference, Alexandria, VA.
Scheers NJ (2001). The Fast Track Program: A New Tool for Compliance. Invited presentation at the Performance Institute Conference, “Transferring Knowledge to Transform Organizations,” Washington, D.C.
Scheers NJ (2001). Conducting Product Safety Recalls. Invited presentation at the Performance Institute Conference “Flexibility, Innovation, and Measurement in Regulation,” Washington, DC.
Scheers NJ, Rutherford GW. (2000). Sleep Environments for Infants: A Comparison of Cribs, Beds and Other Sleeping Locations. Invited presentation at the 6th SIDS International Conference, Auckland, New Zealand.
Scheers NJ, Rutherford GW. (2000). Safe sleeping environments for infants: cribs, beds and other sleeping locations. Invited presentation SIDS annual conference, Salt Lake City.
Scheers NJ (2000). The Multiplier Effect. Invited presentation SIDS annual conference, Salt Lake City.
Scheers NJ (2000). CPSC and Safe Sleeping Environments for Infants. Invited presentation to the Michigan SIDS Conference, "Infant Safe Sleep: A Symposium to Reduce Infant Mortality, Lansing, Michigan.
Scheers NJ (1999). Bed Coverings for Infants: What’s Safe? Presented at the 7th International Conference on Product Safety Research, Washington, D.C.
Hoffman HJ, Scheers NJ. (1998). Review of SIDS Epidemiologic Research on Head Covering. Presented at the conference on Bed Coverings for Infants: What’s Safe? sponsored by CPSC and NICHD, Washington, D.C.
Scheers NJ, Dayton CM, Kemp JS. (1996). Sleep Practices Associated with Risk for Lethal Rebreathing Among 206 Infants Dying Suddenly and Unexpectedly. Presented at the 4th SIDS International Conference, Washington, D.C.
Scheers NJ, Dayton CM, Kemp JS. (1996). Sleep Practices Associated with Risk for Lethal Rebreathing Among 206 Infants Dying Suddenly and Unexpectedly. Presented at the Society for Pediatric Research, Washington, D.C.
Scheers NJ (1995). SIDS or Suffocation: The Interaction of Hazardous Sleeping Environments and Sleeping Position. Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Product Safety Research Conference, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Adler P, Van Houten D, Scheers NJ (1995). An Analysis of Blade-Access-Time for Ride-On Mowers. Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Product Safety Research Conference, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Scheers NJ (1994). Infant Sleep Position and Soft Bedding: Preliminary Results from the Infant Suffocation Project. Presented at Infant Sleep Position and Risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD.
Dayton CM, Scheers NJ (1994). Latent class analysis of randomized-response data dealing with academic cheating. Invited paper presented at the IPN Symposium entitled "Applications of latent trait and latent class models in the social sciences," Academie Sankelmark, Germany.
Scheers NJ, Dayton CM (1990). Increasing the validity of surveys of sensitive behavior: A comparison of randomized response models. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Boston.
Scheers NJ, Dayton CM (1988). Improving the precision of survey estimates using the covariate randomized response technique. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans.
Scheers NJ, Dayton CM (1986). Improved estimates of academic cheating using the randomized response technique. Paper presented at annual meeting of American Educational Research Association, San Francisco.
Scheers NJ, Greer JG (1985). Statistical training programs for auditors and investigators. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Statistical Association, Las Vegas.
Scheers NJ, Dayton CM (1982). The covariate unrelated question model. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Statistical Association, Cincinnati.
Technical Reports
BDS Data Analytics (2016). Review and Recommendations for the Analysis of a Survey of Incoming Male freshmen at Georgia Colleges. Technical Report under contract with Georgia State University.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (2012). Sampling Plan and Results: Old Dominion University Research Foundation (Audit). Technical report prepared for Attain, LLC under contract with Old Dominion University.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (2007). Sampling Plan for Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Technical report prepared for Bearing Point under contract with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (2001). Sample Size Selection to Meet U.S. Department of Education Criteria. Technical report prepared for KPMB under contract with the U.S. Department of Education.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (2001). Sampling Plans for Estimating Defect Rates for Two Types of Tire Use. Technical report prepared for Radian, Inc. under contract with the U.S. Army.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (1999). New York University Response to Two Issues. Technical report prepared for KPMG under contract with New York University.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (1999). Identification of Psycho-Socio-Environmental Traits Affecting Security Compromise. Technical report prepared for Aegis Research Corporation under contract with the U.S. Military.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (1998). Review of the Statistical Methodology to Calculate the Liability of St. Louis Community College for Title IV Assistance. Technical report prepared for KPMG Peat Marwick under contract with St. Louis Community College.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (1998). Comments on DCAA’s Report for Stanford University. Technical report prepared for Savage Engineering under contract with Stanford University.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (1997). Newbury College: Sampling Plan and Sample Selection. Technical report prepared for KPMG under contract with Newbury College.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (1997). Sampling Plans for Post Transaction Review in Purchasing Card Transactions at Duke University. Technical report prepared for KPMG under contract with Duke University.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (1997). Components of Financial Health: Standardizing Health Rates and Adjusting for Specific Pass/Fail Cut Points. Technical report prepared for KPMG under contract with U.S. Department of Education.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (1996). University of Washington Utility Cost Study. Technical report prepared for Savage Engineering under contract with University Of Washington.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (1995). Stanford University Space Study for SUFED 1994. Technical report prepared for Savage Engineering under contract with Stanford University.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (1995). Stanford University Space Validation Study for SUFED 1993. Technical report prepared for Savage Engineering under contract with Stanford University.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (1995) Sampling Plans for the U.S. Department of Education Financial Ratio Analysis Project. Technical report prepared for KPMG under contract with the U.S. Department of Education.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (1995). Comments on the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) Staffing Model and Calculating The Standard Error for a Predicted Score. Technical report prepared for KPMG under contract with NASFAA.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (1995). Wayne State University Library Use Study. Technical report prepared for KPMG Peat Marwick under contract with Wayne State University.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (1995). University of Texas Medical School Library Use Study. Technical report prepared for KPMG under contract with the University of Texas Medical School.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (1994). Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Various Camouflage Systems. Technical report prepared for Radian, Inc. under contract with the U.S. Air Force.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (1994). Statistical Analysis to Determine the Allocation of Sponsored Research Use for Library Use Studies. Technical report prepared for KPMG.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (1994). Washington University Library Use Study. Technical report prepared for KPMG under contract with Washington University.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (1994). Stanford University Space Validation Study for SUFED 1992. Technical report prepared for Savage Engineering under contract with Stanford University.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (1993). Stanford University Space Validation Study for SUFED 1993. Technical report prepared for Savage Engineering under contract with Stanford University.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (1993). Report 1, Comments on Design Parameters and Survey Statistics for Each Library; Report 2, University of Michigan Library Use Study; Report 3, University of Michigan Library Study Final Results. Technical reports prepared for KPMG under contract with the University of Michigan.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (1993). University of Colorado Library Use Study. Technical report prepared for KPMG under contract with the University of Colorado.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (1992). Sampling Plan to Assess the University of Chicago Property Management System. Technical report prepared for KPMG under contract with the University of Chicago.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (1992). The Tulane Medical Center Rudolph Matas Medical Library FY 1991 Library Cost Methodology. Technical report prepared for KPMG Peat Marwick under contract with Tulane University.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (1992). Stanford University Library Cost Allocation Methodology. Technical report prepared for KPMG Peat Marwick under contract with Stanford University.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (1992). Stanford University Space Validation Study. Technical report prepared for Savage Engineering under contract with Stanford University.
Dayton $ Scheers Consultants (1992). Statistical analysis to determine the allocation of 1991 energy use for Stanford University. Technical report prepared for Savage Engineering under contract with Stanford University.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (1991). Sampling Plan to Evaluate the Quality of the Harvard Medical School Equipment Inventory. Technical report prepared for KPMG under contract with Harvard Medical School.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (1991). The Statistical Basis for Library Sampling Studies. Technical report prepared for KPMG Peat Marwick.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (1991). Report 1, Sampling Plan to Determine the Allocation of 1991 Energy Use for Stanford University; Report 2, Statistical Analysis to Determine the 1991 Space Type Multipliers for Stanford University. Technical reports prepared for Savage Engineering under contract with Stanford University.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (1990). Sample Size Determination for Ratio Estimates, Part I Sensitivity Analysis, Part II Sample Size Tables. Technical report prepared for KPMG.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (1988-1989). Harvard Medical Library User Survey: Report 1, Calculation of Standard Errors; Report 2, Estimating Sample Size; Report 3, Statistical Analysis. Technical report prepared for KPMG under contract with Harvard Medical Library.
Dayton & Scheers Consultants (1988). Comments on Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine Study Methodology. Technical report prepared for KPMG under contract with Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine.
Peer Reviewer
Maternal and Child Health Journal
Pediatrics
JAMA Open Network