Beverly Cigler PhD, is professor of Public Policy and Administration, School of Public Affairs, The Pennsylvania State University—Harrisburg. She also is Director of the Pennsylvania Program to Improve State and Local Government at the School of Public Affairs. Her teaching and research interests include state and local government; alternative service delivery; public finance; government restructuring; state-local relations; disaster emergency management, homeland security and county government. Cigler is co-editor or author of nine books, including Fiscal Health for Local Governments: An Introduction to Concepts, Practical Analysis, and Strategies, and 150 articles and book chapters, including the Pennsylvania chapter in Home Rule in America (CQ Press, 2001). She is faculty associate of the Legislative Office for Research Liaison of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. She has received the National Public Administration Award for Intergovernmental Research; Friend of County Government from the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania, the Honor Roll of Distinguished Women, and a Special Recognition from the Academy of Excellence in County Government.

Michael R. King, PhD, is Executive Director, Legislative Office for Research Liaison (LORL), Pennsylvania House of Representatives. LORL was established in 1976 to help legislators obtain policy research through direct access to the faculty and resources of state universities. For the Pennsylvania Policy Database Project, King serves on the University Advisory Committee and the Committee of Directors of Legislative Service Agencies and State Record Centers . Before coming to LORL, King served from 1968 to 1994 on the faculty of the Department of Political Science at Penn State 's University Park campus. His teaching and research focused on quantitative political history, state legislatures, American state and local politics, public policy, research methodology, and computer applications in social science research. He has written books and articles on critical elections and political realignments in America , state legislative recruitment, legislative staffing, legislative professionalization and state electoral politics. King presently serves on the national and the eastern regional executive committees of the Council of State Governments and is chair of the Eastern Regional Legislative Service Agency Director's Group of the Council of State Governments. He holds Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Political Science from the University of Oregon .

Former Researchers (Hometown):

Wendy N. Baudoin (Carencro, Louisiana)

Rebecca E. Gassert (Hershey, Pennsylvania)

Alecia Antionetta King (Jackson, Mississippi)

Kody Kness

Nancy E. Wilson (San Antonio, Texas)

Supraja Vijay

Robert Rieke (Dwight, Illinois)