July 1, 2025
On July 11, the Upjohn Institute hosts the 2025 Dissertation Research Grantee Conference at its headquarters in Kalamazoo, Michigan. This event brings together emerging scholars supported through the Institute’s Dissertation Research Grant program, operated in partnership with the Russell Sage Foundation.
The daylong event will showcase the dissertation research of six promising Ph.D. candidates selected for the 2024 grant cohort. Each recipient was awarded up to $10,000 to support the final stages of their doctoral work. The funding supports research on employment-related topics in any discipline, with a special emphasis on policy-relevant work that advances understanding of issues faced by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities.
The conference is designed to foster discussion and feedback from Upjohn Institute researchers, many of whom are leading experts in labor economics and workforce policy, and to provide a supportive forum for students to present their work as they prepare to enter academic and research careers.
“With this grant program – and with this conference – we are fostering the next generation of researchers,” said Alfonso Flores-Lagunes, Upjohn Institute vice president and director of research. “These talented individuals will help drive our understanding of labor markets and related issues.”
Featured Presentations
The six dissertation grantees selected for 2024 represent a range of disciplines, methods, and topics. Each project addresses a critical labor market issue with strong potential to inform policy and additional research:
Adrian Haws, Cornell University
“Can Immigrants Transfer their Skills? Evidence from Linked International Census Data”
Discussant: Yuci Chen, Upjohn Institute
Tom Lindman, University of Washington
“Paid Family Leave and Parent Wellbeing: Evidence from Administrative Data and Insurance Claims”
Discussant: Gabrielle Pepin, Upjohn Institute
Clara Mejia Orta, Yale University
“La Planta: Latinx Worker Survival in U.S. Slaughterhouses”
Discussant: Aaron Sojourner, Upjohn Institute
Katharine Sadowski, Cornell University
“The Evolution of the Early Childcare Market: Historic Trends and the Effect of Minimum Wage Changes on Access to Quality Care”
Discussant: Brad Hershbein, Upjohn Institute
Jiaming Soh, University of Michigan
“Estimating the Long-Run Impact of Government Spending on Small Businesses and Minority Entrepreneurs in the United States”
Discussant: Tim Bartik, Upjohn Institute
Chas Walker, Boston University
“The Union’s Inspiration: Black Workers, AFSCME, and the Public Sector Upsurge of the 1960s”
Discussant: Will Jones, University of Minnesota