BIO

I am an Associate Professor in the Economics Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I'm currently also a partnering scholar with the Institute of Government & Public Affairs and a faculty affiliate with the Family Resiliency Center, both at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In past lives, I worked in the Research Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland as an Economist, for the President's Council of Economic Advisers in the George H.W. Bush Administration as a Junior Staff Economist (during my Ph.D. program), and for the Economic Research Service of the USDA (during college). I have a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and graduated cum laude from Vassar College with departmental distinction in Economics.

My research focuses on the influence of public policy on well-being across the lifecourse. Important areas of work include the unintended effects of social policies aimed at single parent households, persons with disabilities, and the elderly; caregiving in non-familial settings such as day cares, community group homes, and nursing homes; and the caregiving workforce. Current areas of emphasis are child-development- and education-related areas. Work in this vein includes the impact of important family events on children's healthy development; factors influencing how children are parented; and participation of family care providers in the Child and Adult Care Feeding Program. I am also interested in undergraduate economics education, recently completing an RCT of undergraduate students at my University to improve understanding of the pipeline of women into the economics profession.

I have an extensive record of public service. I'm happy to share my professional skills with public agencies, and I've been responsible for conducting the data analysis for the Illinois Department of Human Service's biannual report to the Federal government, documenting its status in meeting its requirements under the Child Care and Development Blog Grant for many years. I'm most gratified when my research is translated into impactful public service. My work on the low-wage caregiving workforce was cited in the U.S. Supreme Court case Harris v. Quinn on homecare worker unionization. My declaration on the status of direct care workers in Illinois was cited by the judge as the key evidence in her decision in Ligas v. Norwood, a case brought against the state of Illinois on behalf of individuals with developmental disabilities.

I've received some fellowships and awards and numerous grants. I've been an affiliate of the Joint Centers for Poverty Research at both Northwestern and the University of Michigan, the Disability Research Institute at the University of Illinois, and I maintain affiliation with the Michigan Retirement Research Center. I've received grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, the Social Security Administration, among other funders.