Heidi Melz serves as Research Specialist at the RYC. Her area of expertise is fertility and family planning.  Her research agenda centers on women’s decisions about whether and when to get married and to have children, and the public policies that impact those decisions.  Her interests include family policy and socioeconomic differences in marriage and childbearing.

Current projects include:

·         Evaluation of Family Centered Practice in Maryland, in partnership 
          with the Maryland Department of Human Resources

·         Evaluation the Child Welfare Academy’s education and
          training services

·         Implementation evaluation of a Parent Child Foster Care program
          in Baltimore

From 1999-2003, Heidi was a program manager in the public policy division of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, where she developed a nationwide program to advocate increased access to reproductive health care for women and families. Ms. Melz is expecting her Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Sciences from The University of Texas at Austin in fall 2009.