Some Members of Our Team
John Darsinos
Lead Analyst
John Darsinos, MPH (East Stroudsburg University, 2016), has spent more than a decade working in the field of program evaluation, assessment, and public health research. He is currently a research scientist and adjunct faculty member at ESU where he is working on a $4 million-dollar NSF grant. This extensive multivariate project includes both quantitative and qualitative research design, implementation and analyses.
For fun, John enjoys spending time on the beaches of Florida and the Carolinas with his fiancée.
David Livert, Ph.D.
Principal Analyst
David Livert, Ph.D. (City University of New York) brings to Illumin considerable experience in research methodology and design, statistical analyses, and program evaluation. Livert has conducted studies for clients ranging from non-profit organizations to institutions of higher education including the National Science Foundation, New York Department of Education, Gates Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, as well as school districts in New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.
Livert received his undergraduate and master's degrees in psychology from Vanderbilt University and his Ph.D. in social psychology from the City University of New York Graduate Center. David enjoys camping, biking, and playing jazz piano. He serves as the Main Representative to the United Nations for the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues.
Chris Aberson, Ph.D.
Principal Analyst
Chris Aberson earned his PhD in Social and Quantitative Psychology from The Claremont Graduate University. He served for 23 years at Cal Poly Humboldt as both a Professor of Psychology and Department Chair. He is completing a six-year term as Editor-in-Chief at Analyses of Public Policy and Social Issues, an official journal of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. He had served as an associate editor at Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, Collabra: Psychology, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, and The Journal of Social Psychology. He previously received the Outstanding Teaching Award and Fellow status from the Western Psychological Association. He has published over 60 peer reviewed articles, books, and invited chapters. His research focuses on intergroup relations and statistical and methodological issues. His most recent book (2019) is the second edition of Applied Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences.
In his free time, he enjoys time with his family, cooking, and running.
Jon Grahe, Ph.D.
Principal Analyst
Jon Grahe earned his PhD in Experimental Social Psychology from the University of Toledo. Across 26 years became a Professor of Psychology and Department Chair at multiple institutions. He is a former President of Western Psychological Association, a former President of Psi Chi: The International Honors Society for Psychology, and a former Managing Executive Editor for the Journal of Social Psychology. He currently serves as Senior Editorial Advisor for Routledge Open Research: Psychology. He was recognized as Fellow for both the Western Psychological Association and Midwestern Psychological Association. He has published over 50 peer reviewed articles in addition to books and invited chapters. His most recent book (2022) is entitled “A Journey into Open Science and Research Transparency in Psychology”, and is a co-editor of two volumes (Volume 1 published 2023) celebrating, “Early Contributions of Women of Color to Psychology”.
Yonas Ermias
Director of Operations, Project Manager
Yonas Ermias, studied Computer Science and Mathematics at Liberty University. He is also registered with the IRS as an RTRP through 2025 and as an EA/RTRP from 2011-2017. Yonas possesses decades in most of the following and years of experience in sales, project management, budget, operations, accounting, public relations, advertising, marketing and executive administration. He is also fluent in Spanish and Amharic and can carry conversations in Serbian, Mandarin, and Sign Language.
In his free time Yonas enjoys reading, cooking, anything wine, playing chess, word games, basketball, and working out.
Louis Prisock, Ph.D.
Senior Analyst
Louis Prisock received his B.S. in Business Administration from Drexel University and his M.A. and Ph.D in sociology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Louis' main research interests are social stratification and political sociology. Louis has published work on African American political ideologies with a specific focus on black conservative thought. In 2018 professor Prisock's book entitled "African Americans In Conservative Movements: The Inescapability of Race was published by Palgrave Macmillan. Currently Louis is working on a book project that examines the financial difficulties of well educated, white collar professional upper middle class Americans. The working title is "American Dreams, Financial Mirages: The Financial Challenges of Upper Middle Class Americans" and is scheduled to be released in the Fall of 2024 by Palgrave Macmillan.
In his spare time Louis enjoys cooking, traveling, taking film classes, and working on several screenplays.
John Protzko, Ph.D.
Senior Analyst
John Protzko, Ph.D. (New York University, 2013), is a cognitive scientist whose research interests are wide and varied. He focuses mostly on big questions about causality and change. His main methodological interests are to see disparate fields merge to become strong er, such as psychometrics and experiments, machine learning and experiments and experiments and experiments.
For fun, John loves being around those closest to him, as well as engaging in sports.
Amml Hussein, Ed.D.
Senior Analyst
Amml Hussein, Ed.D (East Strousburg University 2020), is a dedicated and detail-oriented social worker with seven years of post-graduate experience working with diverse populations including victims of domestic violence, sexual abuse, psychological and/or emotional abuse, and individuals with chemical dependencies/substance abuse.
She has extensive experience dissecting problems and providing professional solutions examining systems holistically to maximize efficacy, efficiency and provide quality results. Amml is currently working on her EdD in educational leadership.
Her dissertation is in predictive modeling of social and emotional learning variables on college student success.
