Three Survey Research Center researchers were honored at the November 11, 2026 University of Michigan Faculty Awards Celebration:

Research Faculty Achievement Award

Joanne Hsu, Research Associate Professor
As director of the Surveys of Consumers, Hsu oversees the Index of Consumer Sentiment, an approximately 80-year-old economic indicator measuring households’ financial expectations and helping forecast employment, inflation and economic growth.  The Federal Reserve includes the data in its semiannual monetary policy reports to Congress. 

Hsu’s research explores housing, student loans, financial literacy and consumer behavior, with publications in American Economic Review, Public Opinion Quarterly and JAMA Internal Medicine.

Collegiate Research Professorship

Brady West, Collegiate Research Professor
West is an internationally recognized survey methodologist whose innovations improve the accuracy of data used in policymaking. He pioneered methods distinguishing interviewers’ effects on respondent recruitment from their effects on survey answers and developed techniques to reduce bias in web-based surveys.

In 2023, West developed a checklist for evaluating complex survey analyses. West supports major longitudinal studies, mentors students and was elected a fellow of the American Statistical Association in 2022.

Research Faculty Mentor Award

Robin Jacob, Research Professor
Jacob has made mentorship central to her scholarly mission, guiding dozens of students, junior faculty, research staff and postdoctoral fellows over nearly two decades at U-M. Her individualized mentoring approach addresses career development, professional challenges and work-life balance.

Recognizing a need for structured support for junior faculty at the Survey Research Center, she created monthly workshops on writing productivity, networking and grant development. She also co-founded the ASPIRE program with the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, offering summer research training to undergraduates from Spelman and Morehouse colleges.

Read more about the honorees in the University Record.