Heather Wojton is the Director, Research Quality and Chief Data Officer for IDA, a role she assumed in 2021. In this position, Heather provides strategic leadership, project management and direction for the corporation’s data strategy. She is responsible for enhancing IDA’s ability to efficiently and effectively accomplish research and business operations by assessing and evolving data systems, data management infrastructure and data-related practices. She also oversees the quality management processes for research projects, including the research product publication process and the technical review process.
Heather joined IDA in 2015 as a member of the research staff. She is an expert in quantitative research methods, including test design and program evaluation. She held numerous research and leadership roles before being named an assistant director of a research division.
As a researcher at IDA, Heather led IDA’s test science research program that facilitates data-driven decision-making within the Department of Defense by advancing statistical, behavioral, and data science methodologies and applying them to the evaluation of defense acquisition programs. Heather’s other accomplishments include advancing methods for test design, modeling and simulation validation, data management and curation, and artificial intelligence testing. In this role, she worked closely with academic and Defense Department partners to adapt existing test design and evaluation methods and develop novel methods where gaps persisted.
Heather has a doctorate in experimental psychology from the University of Toledo and a bachelor’s degree in research psychology from Marietta College, where she was a member of the McDonough International Leadership Program. She is a graduate of the George Washington University National Security Studies Senior Management Program and the Maxwell School National Security Management Course at Syracuse University.