Amota Ataneka

Amota Ataneka is a Research Associate in the Quantitative and Mixed Methods Research Methodologies (QMRM) division of the School of Education. His current work focuses on the application of Super Learner algorithms (ensembles of machine learning models including neural networks and explainable boosting) to address complex, nonlinear, multilevel, and high-dimensional data structures in education and the broader social sciences. Amota has presented his research work at premier national conferences: the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the American Evaluation Association (AEA), the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness (SREE), and the Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management (APPAM).

Bachelor of Economics: University of Queensland Australia, 2011

Master's of Public Administration (MPA): University of Hawaii USA, 2017

- Teaching Assistant: Graduate-level Research Methods Courses: Course Title: EDST8086 Causal Inference for the Social Sciences; Where: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), Institute for Social Research (ISR), University of Michigan, USA; When: Summer 2024 ,

- Teaching Assistant: Graduate-level Research Methods Courses: Course Title: EDST8086 Experimental & Quasi-experimental Research for Causal Inference Where: School of Education, College of Education, Criminal Justice and Human Services, University of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. When: Fall 2023; Spring 2024; Fall 2024,

- Teaching Assistant: Graduate-level Research Methods Courses: Course Title: EDST8089 Structural Equation Modeling Where: School of Education, College of Education, Criminal Justice and Human Services, University of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA When: Spring 2025,

- Workshop/Professional-Development Instructor:1. Workshop Name: PD25-10 Designing Adequately Powered Cluster and Multisite Randomized Trials to Detect Main Effects, Moderation, and Mediation Where: American Educational Research Association (AERA) Conference, Denver, Colorado, USA. Link When: April 2025, https://tinyurl.com/28cpmdee

- Workshop/Professional-Development Instructor:Workshop Name: Designing Adequately Powered Cluster and Multisite Randomized Trials to Detect Main Effects, Moderation, and Mediation. Where: American Educational Research Association (AERA) Conference, Chicago, IL, USA. Link When: April 2023 Notes: Participants paid $90 on top of conference registration fee to attend this workshop,

- Workshop/Professional-Development Instructor:Workshop Name: Designing Adequately Powered Cluster and Multisite Randomized Trials to Detect Main Effects, Moderation, and Mediation. Where: Annual Meeting of the American Evaluation Association (AEA), Indianapolis, USA. When: October 2023 Notes: Paid workshop; Link , https://eval23.eventscribe.net/fsPopup.asp?PresentationID=1282613&mode=presInfo

- Workshop/Professional-Development Instructor:Workshop Name: Designing Adequately Powered Multilevel Studies Cluster Randomized Trials to Detect Main Effects, Moderation, and Mediation. Where: Northeastern Educational Research Conference (NERA) Conference, Trumbull, Connecticut, USA. Link When: October 2023 Notes: Paid workshop, https://www.nera-education.org/annual_conference.php,

Grant: #1760884 Investigators:PIs: Benjamin Kelcey, Nianbo Dong National Science Foundation (NSF) Designing Multisite Mediation Studies to Track Teacher Development Processes in Mathematics Role:Collaborator $499,996.00 Completed Type:Grant

Grant: #1552535 Investigators:PIs: Benjamin Kelcey National Science Foundation (NSF) Multilevel Mediation Models to Study the Impact of Teacher Development on Student Achievement in Mathematics. Role:Contributor $679,105.00

Peer Reviewed Publications

Bai, F., Xie, Y., Kelcey, B., Ataneka, A., McLean, L., & Phelps, G. (2024). Design Parameter Values for Planning Mediation Studies with Teacher and Student Mathematics Outcomes. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 1–35. https://doi.org/10.1080/19345747.2024.2349670

Ataneka, A., Bai, F., Xie, Y., Kelcey, B., McLean, L., (in review). Evaluations of Literacy-Based Programs: Empirical Values for Designing Studies Probing Mediation, Evaluation Review.

Ataneka, A., Doyle, T., Tomas, L., (in progress). ‘Red-Dirt Thinking’ of School Performance Evaluation: A CritQuant Application of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) in Queensland State Primary Schools.

Bai, F., Kelcey, B., Ataneka, A., Xie, Y., Cox, K., & Dong, N. (revised and resubmitted). Designing Multisite Randomized Trials to Detect (Conditional) Mediation Effects. American Journal of Evaluation.

Bai, F., Kelcey, B., Xie, Y., Ataneka, A., Cox, K., & Dong, N. (revised and resubmitted). Design and Analysis of Multisite Cluster-Randomized Trials Targeting (Conditional) Mediation Effects. Journal of Experimental Education.

Bai, F., Kelcey, B., Ataneka, A., (in-progress), Missing Data in Multilevel Structural Equation Models: A Multilevel Structural-After-Measurement Estimation Approach, Link

Ataneka, A., Kelcey, B., McLean, L., Youngs, P., (in progress), Evaluating the Causal Effect of Teacher Mental Health Induction Program on Teacher Burnout, Depression and Anxiety, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis Link

Other Publications

Ataneka, A., Kelcey, B., Dong, N., Bulus, M., & Bai, F. (2023. ) Power-Up Shiny App User Guide 0.9 .https://www.causalevaluation.org/power-analysis.html,

Ataneka A., (2016. ) Evaluating the efficiency of public hospitals in the State of Hawaii .

Hawaii public Hospitals Efficiency

Book Chapter

Ataneka A., Kelcey B., (2026 ) Cluster Randomized Trials (CRT) Oxford Handbook for Impact Evaluations .Oxford Press

Invited Presentations

Bai, F., Ataneka, A., Kelcey, B., & Xie, Y (2023. ) Designing Adequately Powered Multilevel Studies Cluster Randomized Trials to Detect Main Effects, Moderation, and Mediation .University of Connecticut, Trumbull, Connecticut, USA. Workshop. . Level:Regional

Ataneka, A., Xie, Y., Bai, F., Kelcey, B., & Dong, N. (Oct 2023). Symposium Title: Exploring Variation in Populations and Outcomes: Challenging Design Conventions in Study Parameters, Paper Presented: Design Parameter Values for Multilevel Mediation Studies of Teacher Development. Northeastern Educational Research Conference (NERA) Conference 2023, Trumbull, Connecticut, USA. Link

Xie, Y., Bai, F., Ataneka, A., & Kelcey, B., (2024), Symposium Title: Design and Analysis for Causal Inferences in and across, Paper Presented: Moderation in Multisite Partially Nested Trials: Estimation, Inference, and Design Studies, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, Link

Poster Presentations

Bai, F., Kelcey, B., Ataneka, A., Xie, Y., Dong, N., (April 2025), Experimental Power for Mediation Ataneka, A., Xie, Y., Bai, F., Kelcey, B., & Dong, N. (Oct 2023). Design Parameter Values for Multilevel Mediation Studies of Teacher Development. Effects in Multisite Studies, Northeastern Educational Research Association (NERA), Tru Colorado, USA. Link

Colloquium

Ataneka, A., Xie, Y., Bai, F., Kelcey, B., & Dong, N. (04-2024). Design Parameter Values for Planning Mediation Studies With Teacher and Student Mathematics Outcomes. . Spring Conference, Louisville, Kentucky. Conference. Level:Regional

Paper Presentations

Ataneka, A., Xie, Y., Bai, F., Kelcey, B., & Dong, N. (05-2023. ) Design Parameter Values for Planning Mediation Studies With Teacher and Student Mathematics Outcomes. .Chicago. Conference. Level:National

Ataneka, A., (2017. ) Examining the Efficiency of Public Elementary Schools in the State of Hawaii: An Application of Data Envelopment Analysis .California. Conference. Level:National

Bai, F., Xie, Y., Kelcey, B., Ataneka, A., McLean, L., Dong, N., & Phelps, G. (10-2023. ) Design Parameter Values for Multilevel Mediation Studies of Teacher Development. .Connecticut. Conference.

Ataneka, A., Xie, Y., Bai, F., Kelcey, B., & Dong, N. (09-2023. ) Design Parameter Values for Multilevel Mediation Studies of Teacher Development. .Arlington Virginia . Conference. Level:National

Ataneka, A., Kelcey, B., McLean, L., Youngs, P., (April 2025), Evaluating the Causal Effect of Teacher Mental Health Induction Program on Teacher Burnout, Depression and Anxiety, Presented at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Conference, Denver, Colorado, USA, Link

Kelcey, B., Ataneka, A., (April 2025), Explanatory Machine Learning Methods for Teacher Effectiveness, American Educational Research Association (AERA) Conference, Denver, Colorado, USA, Link

Ataneka, A., Xie, Y., Bai, F., Kelcey, B., & Dong, N. (Oct 2023). Design Parameter Values for Multilevel Mediation Studies of Teacher Development. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Evaluation Association (AEA), Indianapolis, IN. USA, Link

Kelcey, B., Xie, Y., Bai, F., & Ataneka, A. (November 2023). Moderation in Multisite Partially Nested Experiments: Estimation, Inference and Design. Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management (APPAM) Fall Conference 2023, Atlanta, GA, USA.

Kelcey, B., Bai, F., Cox, K., Xie, Y., & Ataneka, A. (April 2024). Structural After Measurement Estimation With Missing Data in Structural Equation Models. American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting 2024, Philadelphia, PA, USA. Link

Kelcey, B., Bai, F., & Ataneka, A. (April 2024). Structural After Measurement Estimation of higher order and (non)linear in n-level Structural Equation Models, American Evaluation Association (AEA) Annual Meeting 2024, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, Link

Kelcey, B., Bai, F., Ataneka, A., & Xie, Y. (April 2024). Experimental Design and Analysis of Multiple Group Individually-Randomized Group Trials. American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting 2024, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

Ataneka, A., Doyle, T., Engel, L., (2021), ‘Red-Dirt Thinking’ of School Performance Evaluation: A CritQuant Application of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) in Queensland State Primary Schools. CASE HDR Conference, Cairns, Australia

Symposium

Ataneka, A., Cox, K., Kelcey, B., Bai, F., Luce, Hannah., (10-2022. ) Detecting Moderation Effects in Cluster Randomized Trials with Partially Nested Data .Washington DC. Conference. Level:International

Ataneka, A., (Discussant) (11-2022. ) Principles of Estimation, Inference & Design in Partially Nested Regression Discontinuity Studies .New Orleans, Louisiana. Conference.

2022 -2025: Official Member AERA (American Educational Research Association) , Washington DC

2022 -2025: Official Member AEA (American Evaluation Association), Washington DC

2022 -2025: Official Member APPAM (Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management), Washington DC

2022 -2025: Official Member SREE (Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness), Washington DC