Philip Sirinides

Sirinides has his eye squarely on service. “One of my goals is to reaffirm the special service role of Penn State Harrisburg as it relates to state government and the capital region,” he says. 

“The institute is the oldest and largest research unit within Penn State Harrisburg and really serves as the bridge to state leaders,” he noted. “We have worked with nearly all departments and agencies, and we’ve built the reputation of being a trusted partner over 50 years.”

Building on that tradition of service, Dr. Sirinides is uniquely qualified to lead the institute into its 50th year and beyond. His record demonstrates more than a decade of sharing new ideas, sparking conversations, and shaping the decisions of policymakers, practitioners, and the research community. 

After earning his doctorate, Dr. Sirinides worked as director of research and evaluation for early childhood at the Pennsylvania Department of Education. From there, he moved to the University of Pennsylvania’s Consortium for Policy Research in Education, known as CPRE, where he worked as a senior researcher. 

Over the past decade, Dr. Sirinides has been the principal investigator for more than $26 million in research. His expertise includes advanced statistical analytic techniques, program evaluation, and measurement. He has experience in application of quasi-experimental and econometric methods to answer social policy questions. He also brings expertise in the use of integrated data systems for public-sector planning and evaluation. 

Dr. Sirinides leads many of the institute’s research studies. In many cases, this work directly informs state policy. For instance, Dr. Sirinides led an institute study on the true cost of child care in Pennsylvania and the impact of COVID-19 on child care providers. The researchers found that the pandemic had an enormous economic effect on these providers, as at least 80 percent of them shut down at some point during the siege. State leaders used the information gathered as the basis for several rounds of funding grants totaling more than a billion dollars, distributed to child care providers to help weather the shutdowns.