Institute for Social Science Research Announces 2024-25 Scholars

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Six faculty members representing a range of disciplines across the UMass Amherst campus have been selected as Institute for Social Science Research (ISSR) Scholars for the 2024-25 academic year.

The 2024-25 cohort – who bring a strong focus to vital questions in public policy, democratic inclusion and public opinion – was chosen from a competitive field of applicants based on the strength and complementarity of their proposals to develop important new research spanning cultural, economic, environmental and political domains.

ISSR Director Jason Kamilar, professor of anthropology and a 2017 ISSR Scholar, notes the strength of social sciences across the disciplines at UMass and credits the ISSR Scholars Program with supporting faculty to successfully obtain grant funding that can advance their research impact and careers.

“ISSR Scholars are leading innovative research projects on a diverse array of topics including, the impact of war on public health, the social dynamics of weight related behaviors in children and the effects of tax credits on wages and employment,” Kamilar says. “ISSR is thrilled to launch work with this new cohort of ground-breaking social scientists.” 

The 2024-25 ISSR Scholars and their research projects are:

• Christopher Boone, assistant professor of economics – “The Effects of the Earned Income Tax Credit on Wages and Employment: Evidence from Linked Administrative, Survey, and Census Data”
• Brenda Bushouse, associate professor of public policy – “Philanthropy Commons: Governing the Institutional Arrangement for Giving”
• James Kitts, professor of sociology – “Extending the FAST Study: Social Dynamics of Youth Weight Related Behaviors”
• Lenore Palladino, assistant professor of economics and public policy – “The Myth that Shareholders are Investors”
• Yongjoon Park, assistant professor of resource economics – “Exploring the Impact of War on Air Quality and Public Health in Adjacent Nations: Insights from the Syrian Civil Conflict in Turkey”
• Musbah Shaheen, assistant professor of education – “Impact of Higher Education on Intellectual Humility”

With support from ISSR and their departments, the scholars will participate in a year-long biweekly seminar that helps each of them develop a strong research grant proposal. 

In addition to attending in-depth sessions on grant writing and receiving valuable peer feedback on their proposals, ISSR Scholars are given unique opportunities to consult with nationally recognized experts.

ISSR Scholars have emerged from all UMass Amherst schools and colleges, and over 80% of them have become successful principal investigators on grants from private philanthropic and government agencies. All of the scholars benefit from intensive support from ISSR’s research methodology and grant support professionals, and from the interdisciplinary communication and learning that occurs as part of the program. The time, resources and relationships available to ISSR Scholars has had a demonstrated impact on promising faculty members and their careers, allowing scholars to develop a successful large grant proposal by the end of their scholar year and raise over $38 million in research funding since 2012.

The mission of ISSR is to promote excellence in social science research. One of its most important goals served by the Scholars Program is to strengthen existing social science infrastructure on campus to stimulate high-quality scholarship and build capacity for externally sponsored research grants.