\opening{To Whom it May Concern:}

It is difficult for me to convey strongly enough my enthusiasm for
###'s application to the doctoral program in ### at the ### School of
Education.  ### is a talented, energetic young researcher with a solid
intellectual core, strong intellectual curiosity, and excellent
research skills.  She will be a star doctoral student, and she clearly
has the tools and drive to be a major player in educational research
afterward.

I have known Ms. ### since [year] when she began as a junior research
assistant at the ### Center, on a project that would eventually evolve
into ###.  This earlier version of the project was was led by other
Center research associates, and I was functioning as an informal
methodological consultant.  The project did not make much progress in
its first year or so due to other commitments of the project leaders,
and when they had to drop out to meet those commitments, the project
lead was handed over to Ms. ###, under the supervision of ###, who
conceived the project and provides its broadest intellectual vision,
and myself as methodological guide.

The ### project, which began in earnest as Ms. ### took the reins in
[year], is intended to develop ###.  Although---for administrative
reasons---I am the titular PI for the project, the real project
leader, in both day to day operations and in planning and executing
major project components, has been Ms. ###.  She has been intimately
involved in ###, ###, ###; organizing ###; developing ###; designing
###; designing and launching ###; and managing a local team of
research assistants to help her with the work. Ms. ### has also been a
fully participating co-author on two reports for this study, and the
lead author on a third, the most comprehensive to date.  Since [year],
I have been meeting almost weekly with Ms. ###, discussing a wide
range of topics in statistics, assessment development, evaluation, and
instructional practice.  I am very impressed with her drive,
organizational skills, oral and written communications skills, and
strong intellectual curiosity and practical inventiveness harnessed by
a commitment to theoretical explanation.

In short, on the ### project, Ms. ### has already been behaving like a
postdoctoral researcher a few years out from her doctorate; and this
in addition to consulting and professional development work around the
country as part of her other Center duties.  Her work has been well
beyond the caliber of much dissertation work---and the work of many
active researchers---and both ### and I suggested last winter that she
write a dissertation from her ### project work.  However, she knew
even then that she wanted to return to the field of ###, and she was
quite concerned about not being able to pursue that field with a
dissertation in what would essentially be evaluation research.  If
there were any way we could retain her to continue her leadership on
the ### project I surely would want to do that, but it is clearly
right for her to pursue doctoral work and a career in an area that is
her passion.

Although Ms. ### is an intense thinker and a hard worker, she does not
wear her intensity on her sleeve.  She has easy smile and a diplomatic
approach that puts others at ease.  She is as comfortable in formal
and informal meetings with academic researchers as she is in
negotiating with teachers, principals or superintendents for access to
classrooms for pilot work.  Her diplomacy can be a weakness in that it
very occasionally gets in the way of expressing the urgency or
importance of tasks clearly enough to co-workers and research
assistants, but I see this problem disappearing with growing
experience and maturity.  I have already seen some of this on the
intellectual side where she has grown quite comfortable pressing for
understanding in formal and informal settings.

In sum, {\sc ###} brings a package to graduate study and a career in
educational research that is very hard to beat.  She will be greatly
missed on the ### project.  On the other hand, given her raw talent,
skills and disposition, if I knew how I would attract her to
statistical theory and methodology and bring her into our own graduate
program in Statistics and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon!  She is
clearly going to be a star in whatever field she chooses, the more so
in a field she cares as deeply about as she does ###.  It seems to me
that admitting her should be a no-brainer: she will enhance the ###
program while she is there, and her career will be a credit to the
program afterward.

Please feel free to contact me using the information in the letterhead
if you have any questions or need additional information.

\closing{Sincerely yours,}