Xu Qin

Xu Qin is an Associate Professor of Research Methodology (with tenure) at the University of Pittsburgh School of Education and holds a secondary appointment as Associate Professor of Biostatistics at the School of Public Health. She specializes in causal mediation analysis and multilevel modeling, focusing on evaluating intervention impacts and mechanisms. Her work bridges methodological development with applied research in education and health, emphasizing rigorous statistical approaches.

Dr. Qin earned a Ph.D. in Comparative Human Development from the University of Chicago and B.S./M.S. in Statistics from Renmin University of China. She has developed novel statistical methods and software tools for causal mediation analysis, sensitivity analysis, and power calculations. Her research has been funded by NSF, Spencer Foundation, and IES grants, including an NSF CAREER Award (2024) and SREE Early Career Award (2024).

Key research areas include causal moderated mediation analysis, intervention heterogeneity, and methodological solutions for complex educational trials. She actively collaborates with empirical researchers and mentors students in advanced quantitative methods. Notable contributions include frameworks for assessing mediation mechanisms across contexts and tools like R packages for causal analysis.

Dr. Qin teaches courses on statistics, regression analysis, hierarchical linear modeling, and causal mediation. She serves on editorial boards for journals like Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness and Sociological Methodology, and is a member of professional societies including the American Statistical Association.