1 Winter 2015 Vol. 37, No. 1 Four Faculty Join IPR Racial Disparities in America New expertise added IPR researchers examine myriad aspects, in psychology, health, offer policy insights innovation, and economics Four new fellows joined IPR at the In the same month that a grand jury Given the difficult history of U.S. start of the 2014–15 academic year: decided not to indict a white 28-year- race relations—and the ensuing, some- For more information, visit www.ipr.northwestern.edu. information, more For social psychologist Mesmin Destin, old police officer for fatally shooting times imperceptible, effects of race on health and law scholar Michael an 18-year-old, African American high individuals and society—a significant Frakes, and economists Cynthia school graduate in Ferguson, Mo., number of IPR faculty are studying the Kinnan and Matthew Notowidigdo. mostly white Utah voters elected issue across a wide spectrum of topics, These new scholars bring expertise the nation’s first African American, from examining the black/white/Latino in several exciting areas, said IPR Mormon, Republican woman to the test score gap to tracing how the mind Director David Figlio. U.S. House of Representatives. These reacts to a person of a different race or contrasting events offer but one imme- ethnicity. While the questions are chal- diate illustration of the complexity and lenging and the answers never simple, J. Ziv J. promise inherent to understanding, IPR researchers strive to conduct high- and potentially addressing, racial quality research, capable of informing issues in America. meaningful dialogue and policy. (Continued on page 22) Training New Education Experts From left: Mesmin Destin, David Figlio, Methods, tools shared with professionals and students Michael Frakes, and Matt Notowidigdo From workshops to According to Figlio, Kinnan’s expertise multidisciplinary pro- Reese P. in development economics, with projects grams, IPR faculty are in India, Thailand, and China, exemplifies committed to training IPR’s “bread-and-butter” social policy education experts in issues, globally writ. Destin’s research cutting-edge methods. demonstrates a masterful grasp of trans- This summer, Larry disciplinary scholarship in psychology Hedges, an IPR edu- and human development—despite his cation researcher and relatively recent PhD. Frakes, who is in statistician, co-led two Northwestern’s Law School, and Noto- workshops sponsored widigdo, who is based in economics—as by IES, that included offering a workshop (Continued on page 20) specifically for faculty Diane Schanzenbach (left) meets with two of the incoming from minority-serving MPES students, Richard Morel and Elizabeth Debraggio. Inside this Issue institutions. It trained Faculty Honors • Food Stamps, Health … 2–3 participants on methodological skills the leadership of its program director, IPR Faculty Research Notes … 4–7 and tools that are useful to education IPR economist Diane Whitmore Teen Stress • Redemption Narratives … 8–9 researchers. Schanzenbach. It continues to expand Laurel Harbridge • Quincy Stewart … 12–13 With its own commitment to educa- as an innovative and multidisciplinary Larry Hedges • Edith Chen … 14–15 tion research excellence, Northwestern’s doctoral program in the education sci- Recent Books • Working Papers … 16–19 Multidisciplinary Program in Education ences and is housed in the School of Summer Undergraduate Researchers … 21 Sciences (MPES) recently received Education and Social Policy. Obama Speech • Fostering Community … 28 its third consecutive IES grant under (Continued on pages 10–11) 2 Recent Faculty Recognition Awards and Honors Grants Professor and founding chair of medical social sciences David Health psychologist Greg Miller received Cella, an IPR associate, was awarded the John Ware and a grant from the National Institutes of P. Reese P. Alvin Tarlov Career Achievement Prize at the International Health’s Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Society of Quality of Health Conference in Rio de Janeiro to conduct research on the childhood ori- on October 6. The international award, given by the Health gins of coronary heart disease disparities. Assessment Lab/Medical Outcomes Trust, honors leaders With colleagues at the University of in the development, promotion, and education of patient- Georgia, he also received two NIH grants reported outcome measures. to study stress and health in rural African Social psychologist Thomas D. Cook gave the 2014 Annual American youth. Sidney Ball Memorial Lecture at Oxford University on October In work funded by the Foundation 20. Cook’s lecture, “The Major Assumptions of Evidence-Based for Child Development, developmental Greg Miller Policy: Bringing Empirical Evidence to Bear,” was part of a series psychologist Lindsay Chase-Lansdale is collaborating with that has featured many distinguished speakers, including the the Community Action Project of Tulsa to evaluate a model influential economists John Maynard Keynes and James Meade, dual-generation program. lawyer and Nuremberg trial judge Francis Biddle, and sociologist The National Science Foundation awarded biological anthro- and Nobel Peace Prize winner Alva Myrdal. pologist Thomas McDade a grant to study early environments, On August 3 in Vancouver, the Academy of Management’s epigenetics, and inflammation during pregnancy. Network of Leadership Scholars awarded psychologist Alice With a grant from the Spencer Foundation, sociology Eagly the Eminent Leadership Scholar Award for her career professor and chair of IPR’s Program on Poverty, Race, and contributions to the study of leadership. Following her accep- Inequality James Rosenbaum will build on his previous work tance of the award, Eagly gave a keynote talk on “Has Anything on community college outcomes, focusing primarily on career Changed for Women as Leaders?” entry dynamics from public and private two-year colleges. Economist Matthew Notowidigdo and his co-authors received the Hicks-Tinbergen Award on August 25 in Tou- Notable Media Coverage louse, France, for the outstanding article published in the last In a Newsweek story on depression and blood testing, pro- two years in the Journal of the European Economic Association. fessor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and IPR associate In the article, “What Good Is Wealth Without Health? The Eva Redei discussed her research on what could be the first Effect of Health on the Marginal Utility of Consumption,” the blood test to diagnose depression effectively, September 16. researchers examine whether being in good or bad health The New York Times quoted healthcare economist and IPR affects a person’s consumption of goods and services by using associate Leemore Dafny on the Affordable Care Act’s impact a novel model that includes measures of subjective well-being, on hospital mergers, September 17. or “happiness” (see p. 6). Social psychologist Alice Eagly was quoted in a Time Sociologist Lincoln Quillian’s article, magazine story on the perceptions of women in leadership “Segregation and Poverty Concentration: positions, September 25. P. Reese P. The Role of Three Segregations,” won Political scientist and IPR associate Benjamin Page and the American Sociological Association’s social policy professor Fay Lomax Cook’s study on the (ASA) 2014 Jane Addams Award for best political behavior of the extremely rich was written up in The paper in community and urban sociology Washington Post, September 30. at its August meeting in San Francisco. The New York Times featured a study led by economists In it, Quillian helps to expand current David Figlio and Jonathan Guryan, which looked at the understanding of concentrated poverty in effects of birth weight on academic achievement and found minority communities by revealing a third that heavier babies often perform better in school, October 10. Lincoln Quillian type of segregation, in addition to racial and Sociologist Jeremy Freese’s work on differential fertility economic segregation—that is, the segregation of upper- and was featured in a Slate story about the battle over same-sex middle-income members of other racial groups from black and marriage, October 10. Hispanic neighborhoods. Political scientist Wesley Skogan’s research on high rates The ASA also presented sociologist and IPR associate of violence among teens was cited in a Chicago Sun-Times Heather Schoenfeld and her co-author with the Sociology of piece identifying Chicago homicide rates across age groups, Law’s 2014 Distinguished Article Award. The award recognized October 16. “The Transformation of America’s Penal Order: A Historical Political scientist and IPR associate Rachel Beatty Riedl Politicized Sociology of Punishment,” which analyzed the wrote about Burkina Faso’s power vacuum and the potential for interactions between national and state-level policies over democratization during periods of transition in The Washington three distinct, interconnected historical periods to explain the Post, November 5. growth in imprisonment between 1970 and 2001. (Continued on page 3) 3 Infographic: How Food Stamps Impact Long-Term Health IPR economist Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach has syndrome diseases, later in life. conducted extensive research on the evolution and impact The infographic below illustrates one of the researchers’ of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—better core findings: Being in a food-stamp county made the biggest known as the food stamp program. The program did not long-term difference for babies in utero and children up to age begin