Colleen Stouffer serves as Project Director and Research Fellow for the Social Science Research Center since 2008. Stouffer has conducted research on the social determinants of health among minority and vulnerable populations — with a particular focus on childhood overweight and obesity prevention, physical fitness, health education, and program evaluation. Her publications have appeared in journals such as the Journal of School Health, Journal of Health Disparities Research & Practice, Journal of Pediatric Nursing, and Journal of the Mississippi State Medical Association. She was Project Director for the Public Data Safety Lab (PSDL) which was established in 2007 in partnership with the Mississippi Office of Highway Safety. The lab in part assisted the State of Mississippi in meeting its Highway Safety Performance Plan by collecting, accessing, and investigating fact-based traffic safety records data (2014-2015). Stouffer was the PI on the Project Fit America Evaluation funded by Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi Foundation (2012-2014). Currently, she works with the Kellogg Data Project (since 2014) and the Office of Tobacco Control Unit (since 2016) as a program evaluator.

Stouffer's work is supported in part by MAFES.