Vikas Gawai, PhD candidate, wins CFS RDRC Research Award

The Center for Financial Security’s Retirement and Disability Research Center  (CFS RDRC) names five winners from its 2022 Junior Scholars in Training (JSIT) cohort to receive research awards.

This spring Gawai was one of ten scholars selected from institutions across the U.S. to participate in the JSIT summer training program, a collaborative project between CFS RDRC and Howard University’s Center on Race and Wealth. Scholars work with the Social Security Administration (SSA) to develop research ideas and proposals on topics of retirement and disability. Gawai will work with CFS RDRC and SSA on his proposal to evaluate whether better internet connectivity increases the social security disability insurance (SSDI) application rate in the event of social security office closures. He also won a Traisman Agribusiness Graduate Fellowship from AAE for his proposal on understanding whether early-life exposure to the food stamp program affects later-life occupational mobility.

Learn more about CFS and JSIT: Center for Financial Security (CFS)