Ellen Meiser joined Keen Independent as a Consultant in the Fall of 2020. She is a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa with a focus in social psychology, criminology and emotions. Prior to joining Keen Independent, Ellen investigated perceptions of success, averageness and failure among individuals employed in creative industries.

Ms. Meiser brings many years of experience conducting in-depth interviews, ethnographic research, participant-observation and expertise in quantitative methods, including content analysis. Applying these skills, Ellen has completed research assignments for the State of Maryland and City of Baton Rouge, Louisiana while at Keen Independent.

Ellen has also served as the Lead Evaluator of the Honolulu County Offender Reentry Project (HCORP), a SAMHSA-funded evaluation study conducted out of the University of Hawai’i’s Social Science Research Institute. As part of this study, Ms. Meiser collected data via interviews, assisted with case management, conducted program evaluation and collaborated with officials from the Honolulu City and County Parole and Probation Department regarding policy.

A radio jockey in her past life, one of Ms. Meiser’s passions is sharing knowledge through audio production. She is a co-creator of the sociology podcast The Social Breakdown, a contributing host on The Annex Sociology Podcast, a research affiliate at the Queens Podcast Lab at the City University of New York (CUNY) Queens College and organizes workshops at academic conferences to promote the integration of alternative media into higher education.

Ms. Meiser is in the final stage of her Ph.D. and earned her Master of Arts in Asian Studies at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa (UHM). She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Hospitality Business Management from the University of Alaska Anchorage. Ellen is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.