About Us

The Texas School Survey of Drug and Alcohol Use is an example of what can be accomplished by integrating public policy objectives with academic research. The survey is sponsored by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) and has been facilitated by the staff of the Public Service and Administration (PSAA) at Texas A&M University since its inception in 1988.

The Public Service and Administration (PSAA) is an academic research organization conducting public policy research on a variety of social, economic, and civil issues. PSAA staff conduct grant and contract research at the international, national, state, and local levels. The following PSAA staff members are responsible for The Texas School Survey of Drug and Alcohol Use:

Shannon Peairson is one of the survey coordinators for the Texas School Survey of Drug and Alcohol Use, and is responsible for recruitment, marketing and district relations. Shannon earned a M.S. in Family, Consumer and Human Development from Utah State University in 2006 with an emphasis in early child development. She joined PSAA in 2009 and has worked on projects covering areas such as education, school discipline, and disability.

M.P. “Trey” Marchbanks III, Ph.D., is an Associate Research Scientist at PSAA, and is the Principal Investigator for The Texas School Survey of Drug and Alcohol Use. Dr. Marchbanks has significant methodological expertise and specializes in using advanced statistical techniques to answer public policy questions. He has been involved in many surveys involving students, teachers and school staff. His work on education policy has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post and Austin American-Statesman and on NPR and CNN. He has also presented his work at the United Nations.


Support Staff consists of Texas A&M University student workers who handle shipping and receiving of survey materials, as well as coding and scanning of completed surveys.