MRRC Newsletter

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Winner of the 2000 Sandell Dissertation Award
Purvi H. Sevak

The Sandell Dissertation Award was created to honor the late Steven H. Sandell. Dr. Sandell was a distinguished researcher, leader, and public servant. He created and then served as Director of the Division of Policy Evaluation at the Social Security Administration. In spearheading the creation of the Retirement Research Centers, Dr. Sandell hoped that they would serve to cultivate a new generation of social scientists whose work would shape the future direction of policy research. As a tribute to his scholarship, leadership, and vision, a dissertation grant program was established in his name. Each year, one grant is awarded to a doctoral candidate pursuing work in a priority research area. Following competitive review by a National panel of experts in the area of retirement research, this year’s award was granted to Purvi Sevak.

Purvi is a Ph.D. candidate in the department of economics, and a research associate at the Survey Research Center, both at the University of Michigan. She has also been a pre-doctoral trainee, funded by the National Institute on Aging, at the Populations Studies Center at the University of Michigan, since 1997. Her fields of specialization are labor economics and public finance. Her specific areas of interest include disability, aging, and income security. Purvi’s work with the MRRC examines the impact of widowhood on the economic prospects of women. Her other recent work includes: estimating the effect of welfare reform on SSI-disabled caseloads; estimating the potential long-term earnings costs of care giving for elderly parents, and the importance of these costs in the decision to provide informal care; and examining the importance of offspring gender composition on nursing home placement. Before attending graduate school, she was a research assistant with the Lewin Group, a health policy consulting group. Purvi received her Bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in 1995 and her Master’s degree from the University of Michigan in 1998.

Instructions For Sandell Dissertation Grant Applicants

Prerequisites:

  • 1. Admission to Candidacy (completion of all dissertation requirements except research and writing)
  • 2. An approved dissertation proposal for research in the general area of retirement and Social Security policy issues.

    Application Information Required:

  • 1. Cover sheet: The cover sheet should include the title of proposed research, applicant’s name and contact in formation, proposal date, institutional affiliation with full address; names of committee chairperson and members
  • 2. Abstract: one page maximum length
  • 3. Proposal: 10 page maximum length. Reviewers will look for the following major sections within the proposal: hypothesis, background, research significance, research methods and data, bibliography.
  • 4. Budget: A budget should be submitted for a maximum total cost of $25,000.
  • 5. Other Funding Sources: Show other funding available as well as funding requested from other sources.
  • 6. Letters of reference: Three letters of recommendation are required; one must be from the dissertation chair.
  • 7. Resume

    Deadline for submission of proposal

    Applications must be received by February 1, 2001. Award decisions will be announced by April 2, 2001

    Proposal Submission:

    Applications must be submitted in two hard copies and one electronic copy (which may be via file transfer, IBM disk, or zip disk).

  • Sandell Dissertation Grant
    Michigan Retirement Research Center
    University of Michigan
    426 Thompson Street
    Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248
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