University of Michigan

Position Title/Short Description

Full Text of JOE Listing:

Summary:
The Education Policy Initiative seeks candidates interested in deepening their knowledge of rigorous, applied quantitative education policy research for a two-year postdoctoral fellowship. The fellow will receive close mentorship from professors Susan Dynarski, Brian Jacob and Christina Weiland, and will have the opportunity to work with cross-disciplinary U-M faculty.

The fellow will be trained to estimate the causal effects of education policies and practices on student outcomes, emphasizing the use of state and district longitudinal data. Fellows will participate in all aspects of the research process, including design, IRB administration, analysis, and presentation. They will collect, compile and analyze data; design surveys; participate in research planning; write papers; present results at seminars and professional meetings; and supervise research assistants. The fellow will learn how to develop a research partnership with practitioners or public agencies and to communicate results to non-technical audiences, including policymakers.

A goal of this training program is to expand the diversity of researchers trained in rigorous, applied quantitative approaches to studying education policy. We especially encourage applications from scholars of color, scholars who have been the first in their family to pursue postsecondary or postgraduate education, and scholars whose doctoral programs may have provided fewer opportunities to apply their training in quantitative methods to real-world education policy issues.

This is a 2-year fellowship beginning in the summer of 2018. The fellowship is funded by the Institute of Education Sciences grant R305B170015.

Qualifications:
Applicants must have completed their PhD in a relevant social science discipline prior to August 31, 2018 and have academic research experience in public policy, economics, education, quantitative methodology, or other similar fields. Applicants must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States, and cannot have received previous support through an Institute of Education Sciences predoctoral or postdoctoral fellowship.