Carolyn Sutter serves as a Research & Evaluation Consultant to Pilot Light. She has been involved with Pilot Light since moving to Illinois in 2017, providing research and evaluation consultation and support and as a member of the Associate Board. Carolyn’s first experience with Pilot Light was through her involvement with the Food Education Summit in fall 2017, after which she worked with the Pilot Light team and other collaborators to publish a peer-reviewed journal article related to the process of developing Pilot Light’s Food Education Standards.
Since then, she has worked with the Pilot Light team on a variety of research and evaluation efforts including helping to analyze their teacher and student questionnaires used in the fellowship program. Together Carolyn and the Pilot Light team have submitted multiple federal research grant applications and continue to develop journal articles to share Pilot Light’s approach and success.
In her professional life, Carolyn is a health researcher with an interest in child and family health and nutrition. She received her bachelors from the University of California, San Diego and her masters and PhD from the University of California, Davis. Since then, she has worked at multiple universities and organizations as a Research Scientist. Currently she works at a private healthcare consultancy. In her free time Carolyn enjoys trying all the different food and restaurant options Chicago has to offer, and hanging out at home with her husband and cat.