Jane E. Palmer is a nonresident fellow in the Family and Financial Well-Being Division at the Urban Institute and an associate professor in the Department of Justice, Law and Criminology at American University. She oversees the university’s certificate program in community-based research and is the founder and former director of the Community-Based Research Scholars program. Before receiving her doctoral degree, Palmer worked for nearly a decade in nonprofit organizations in Chicago and St. Louis as an advocate, social worker, program manager, and executive director, with an emphasis on eradicating violence.

Palmer is a quantitative and qualitative researcher with expertise in community-engaged methods, research on sensitive topics, survey research methods, anti-oppressive research methods, and issues related to gender-based violence. She teaches research methods, statistics, and social policy–oriented courses to undergraduate and graduate students.

She is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Interdisciplinary Research Leader, part of a grant and fellowship program that supports a three-year community-based research project, with her colleague Jessica Owens-Young. For this project, Owens-Young and Palmer are collaborating with the DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence. She is also an evaluation consultant with the DC Coalition to End Sexual Violence.

Palmer holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Smith College, a master’s degree in social work from the Jane Addams College of Social Work at the University of Illinois Chicago, and a doctoral degree in justice, law, and society, with a concentration in public policy, from American University.