Susan M. Gates

Susan M. Gates is a Professor of Policy Analysis at the RAND School of Public Policy and Director of the Office of Research Quality Assurance at RAND. She is also a Senior Economist specializing in workforce management, defense policy, and K-12 education leadership. Her research focuses on improving government efficiency and resource deployment, with key emphases on defense workforce strategies and school leadership development.

Education: Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford Graduate School of Business; M.A. in Russian and Eastern European Studies from Stanford University.

Research Interests: Defense acquisition workforce, cyber workforce development, military-civilian conversion, educational leadership training, and entrepreneurship policy. Her work integrates labor economics and organizational insights to address challenges in public and private sectors.

Key Contributions: Analysis of military child care systems, defense finance services optimization, and strategic governance of education/training systems. Recent work explores AI integration in defense and civilian workforces.

Awards & Grants: While not explicitly listed, her extensive publications and leadership roles at RAND reflect recognition in policy analysis and defense economics. She has led numerous federally funded studies on workforce readiness and organizational effectiveness.

Labs/Teams: Active in RAND’s national security and education policy research divisions, collaborating with Department of Defense and educational institutions to inform policy.