Our Story
Soldata Research Services was founded by our drive to help address the rapid decline of the Christian faith in the United States. It is our belief as an organization that our society needs Christianity now more than ever. However, if current trends persist, the average church will only have 15 parishioners by 2060, leading to thousands of church closures and a scarcity of Christian communities for our future generations. With this bleak outlook present, our founder Dr. Rios asked himself, ‘What can I do to help?’
His answer came from a chance opportunity to serve on his church’s call committee for a new rector. During this service work, he learned first hand how difficult it is for churches to obtain quality data-based insights to inform decision making. Then, a light bulb went off in his head, ‘What if I use my gifts associated with data science to address this issue?’ After praying on the situation, he founded Soldata Research Services to empower Christian leaders with scientifically grounded data. In doing so, Soldata sees itself as partnering with fellow Christians in building vibrant and growing faith communities that can serve as beacons of hope in our modern world.
Our Team
Joseph Rios
Founder & Chief Data Scientist
Joseph Rios is an internationally award-winning data scientist who holds a PhD in psychometrics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Prior to founding Soldata Research Services, he gained four years of experience as a research scientist at a large not-for-profit organization where he assisted in developing surveys that are currently used throughout the world. Most recently, he served as a tenure-track professor in quantitative methodology at a leading research intensive university. He has published over 35 peer-reviewed articles in prestigious academic journals and taught PhD-level courses in data science.
See Xiong
User Experience (UX) Designer
See is a user experience designer with a hybrid background in design and business. Her goal is to make the Soldata experience accessible and user-friendly to all. This includes the ease of navigation of the website as well as making sure the reports are helpful and easy to understand. With more than 10 years of experience in design, marketing and sales, she's extremely passionate about using technology to improve everyday lives.
What's the meaning behind the name Soldata?
Great question. The name can be broken down into two parts: Sol and data. The former represents a shortened version of Solomon, the wisest of men known in the Bible. From the book of Proverbs, Solomon teaches us to constantly seek wisdom by increasing our learning and attainment of wise counsel (NIV, Proverbs 1:5). Although wisdom is ultimately bestowed upon us by God, we believe that quality data can help us in our pursuit of knowledge.
Giving Back
A guiding principle of Soldata Research Services is to honor God through our work. To support this mission, 10% of all profits are directly donated to two charities. Given our passion for limiting hunger in our communities, we have partnered with Feeding San Diego, an organization dedicated to connecting every person facing hunger with nutritious meals by maximizing food rescue. Every $1 donated from Soldata provides two meals for underserved individuals and families across San Diego County. In addition, given that one in three Americans struggle with debt associated with the high cost of medical services in the U.S., Soldata has also partnered with RIP Medical Debt. This organization erases medical debt for households that earn less than 4 times the federal poverty level or whose debts are 5% or more of annual income. Every $1 donated by Soldata reduces an individual's medical debt by $100. So, when parterning with Soldata Research Services, you are directly contributing to feeding the hungry and ending medical debt for individuals in need.
