2023-2024 Institute for Social Science Research Scholars Announced
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The Institute for Social Science Research is pleased to announce the selection of its 2023-24 ISSR Scholars. This year's cohort of six faculty members brings an especially strong focus to vital questions in public policy, democratic inclusion and public opinion. They were selected 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 Scholars program with supporting faculty to win the next level of grant funding that can advance their research impact and careers.
“ISSR Scholars are leading ground-breaking research programs and shaping ideas in fields from digital disinformation to access to higher education to the opioid epidemic,” Kamilar says. “ISSR is thrilled to launch work with this new cohort of innovative social scientists.”
2023-24 ISSR Scholars and their research projects are:
Amel Ahmed, associate professor, Department of Political Science, “Framing Democracy: Can Democracy Frames Impact Support for Competition and Inclusion?”
Christoph Bauner, assistant professor, Department of Resource Economics, “Poverty and Inflation – Differential Effects Across Package Sizes”
Seth Goldman, honors associate professor, Department of Communication, Commonwealth Honors College, “Understanding How People of Color Respond to Narratives of Rising Diversity”
Rong Rong, associate professor, Department of Resource Economics, “Promote Grassroots Green Energy with Behavioral Interventions: A Randomized Controlled Trial”
Kelsey Shoub, assistant professor, School of Public Policy, “Shaping Data to Shape Policy: How Transparency & Data Design Informs Policy”
Viviana Chiu Sik Wu, assistant professor, School of Public Policy, “Distributive Justice in the Third Sector: Theorizing and Tracing Philantrhopic Networks in the Grants Market”
ISSR Scholars have emerged from all colleges at UMass Amherst and more than 80% have become successful principal investigators on grants from private philanthropic and government agencies. With support from ISSR and their departments, this year's Scholars will participate in a yearlong 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 also given unique opportunities to consult with nationally recognized experts.
All faculty benefit from intensive support from ISSR’s research methodology and grant support professionals and from the interdisciplinary communication and learning that occurs under the program. The time, resources and relationships available to ISSR Scholars has had a demonstrated impact on promising faculty careers, allowing Scholars to develop a successful large grant proposal by the end of their Scholar year — and raise more than $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.
