Student Engagement

Poverty Solutions is committed to training the next generation of thought leaders and practitioners dedicated to preventing and alleviating poverty.

We aim to:

increase students' awareness and understanding of poverty through our interdisciplinary fall speaker series that doubles as a one-credit course;
teach students how to do action-based research through hands-on, real-world experience contributing to Poverty Solutions projects; and
increase students' interest and confidence in pursuing careers related to poverty alleviation.

See the speaker lineup

Poverty Solutions offers a Real-World Perspectives on Poverty Solutions course (SWK 503 section 001), which is open to all students. The one-credit course explores interdisciplinary, real-world poverty solutions from a wide variety of perspectives and encourages the formation of a community of learners at U-M committed to engaging these issues together. Lectures take place Fridays at noon in the fall semester, and the talks will be recorded and posted on YouTube.

“ “This has been the most inspiring class I’ve taken at the university and has been something I looked forward to every week.”

Zoe Xuan Qin, MBA 2025

Student research

Supporting Doctoral Student Research

Poverty Solutions awards annual grants to doctoral students studying poverty issues with a faculty mentor. The request for proposals will be posted here when it is open.

Get an email when the annual request for proposals opens

four 2026-27 Poverty Solutions doctoral research grantees

See funded doctoral student research projects

- David Wehrly of University of Michigan School of Public Health, under the mentorship of Sumit Agarwal, studying "The Effect of Lead Exposure on Fertility and Birth Outcomes: Evidence from the Flint Water Crisis."
- Jonathan Palisoc of University of Michigan School of Public Health, under the mentorship of Richard Hirth, studying "Locked Out at the Gate: How Medicaid Continuity Policies During Incarceration Shape Post Release Coverage, Health, and Reintegration."
- Praew Grittayaphong of University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, under the mentorship of Kathryn Dominguez, studying "Income Volatility, SNAP Participation, and Economic Inequality."
- Zoe Chanin of Michigan Sociology, under the mentorship of Roi Livne, studying "The Fine Print of Precarity: Employment Contracts and the Making of Private Government."
- Margarita Maria Rodriguez Morales, a PhD candidate in public policy and sociology, under the mentorship of Shobita Parthasarathy, studying the Colombian Identification System of Potential Beneficiaries for Social Assistance Programs known as Sisbén, which one of the most successful examples of Algorithmic Scoring Technologies (AST) to predict and target poverty.
- Marnay Avant, PhD candidate in sociology, under the mentorship of Karyn Lacy, studying "Making Home More than a Roof: Low-Income Renters' Experiences with Housing Quality in the Housing Choice Voucher Program."
- Olivia David, PhD candidate in U-M's School of Environment and Sustainability, under the mentorship of Shobita Parthasarathy, studying "Centering Lived Experience in Defining and Designing Effective Water Affordability Policy."
- Katherine Richard, PhD candidate in economics and public policy, under the mentorship of Sarah Miller, studying "Penalties in the Safety Net: Effects of Work Requirement Enforcement on Safety Net Attachment and Labor Supply."
- Catalina Anampa Castro, PhD candidate in public policy and sociology, under the mentorship of Robert Manduca, studying "The Geography of Inequality: Policy, Programs, and Present-day Outcomes."
- Jason Hawes, PhD candidate in resource policy and behavior, under the mentorship of Joshua Newell, studying "The Relationship Between Post-Industrial Cleanup and Poverty in Michigan."
- Jiaming Soh, PhD candidate in economics, under the mentorship of Matthew Shapiro, studying "Small Businesses and Minority Entrepreneurs in the United States."
- Janet Wang, PhD candidate in sociology, under the mentorship of Robert Manduca, studying "The Role of Population Age Structure in the Rise of US Income Inequality, 1960-2022."
- Alexander Fertig, PhD candidate in public policy and economics, under the mentorship of Achyuta Adhvaryu, studying "Reparations as a Tool for Intergenerational Poverty Alleviation: Evidence from the Eastern Cherokees."
- Analidis Ochoa, PhD candidate in sociology and social work, under the mentorship of Celeste Watkins-Hayes, studying "Blood Veins for Hire: Plasma Donation in and Age of Inequality, Instability, and Precarious Work."
- Nikhil Rao, PhD candidate in economics, under the mentorship of Ashley Craig, studying "Examining Interventions to Improve the Post-Release Outcomes of Incarcerated Individuals."
- Brandon Romero, PhD candidate in political science, under the mentorship of Charles Shipan, studying "More COPS, Higher Turnout?"
- Briana Starks, PhD candidate in social work and sociology, under the mentorship of Fabian Pfeffer, studying "Can I Use my EBT Card at the Student Store?" The Intersection of Postsecondary Education and the Welfare State."
- Brittany Vasquez, PhD candidate in public policy and sociology, under the mentorship of Natasha Pilkauskas, studying "The Effect of Subsidized Meals on Student Outcomes: Evidence from Medicaid Direct Certification."
- Peter Carroll, PhD candidate in political science, under the mentorship of Brian Min, studying "Predicting Poverty: Advancing Measurement of Economic Well-being in Uganda through the Combined Use of Publicly Available Satellite Imagery, Representative Surveys, and Government Infrastructure Records."
- Davis Daumler, PhD candidate in sociology, under the mentorship of Fabian Pfeffer, studying "Multigenerational Cycles of Poverty."
- Asher Dvir-Djerassi, PhD candidate in sociology and public policy, under the mentorship of Fabian Pfeffer, studying "Establishing the Relationship between Wealth Inequality, Income Inequality, and Poverty: Applying Counterfactual Historical Simulation to IRS Administrative Tax Data."
- Lanora Johnson, PhD candidate in sociology, under the mentorship of Elizabeth Armstrong, studying "The Gendered Consequences of Crises in Eastern Kentucky."
- Shoshana Shapiro, PhD candidate in public policy and sociology, under the mentorship of Robert Manduca, studying "Measuring the Association Between The COVID-19 Pandemic, Material Hardship, and Work Hours and Earnings in Recreation Industry Dependent Counties."

Student Research Opportunities

Student research assistants work alongside faculty and staff while gaining real-world experience in action-based research and often contributing to policy change.

Research assistants contribute to data analysis, longitudinal research, literature reviews, data preparation, collection and analysis, event support and reporting. They engage with community partners, connect their learning and experience to our projects, and provide the capacity to take on many projects we couldn’t otherwise consider.

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