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Student Update
November / 2018
Looking Ahead to #2019APPAM
APPAM's 40th Fall Research Conference was a rich experience for the public policy academic community, with numerous student-specific events held during the 2018 conference. Over the course of four festive days and evenings, students enjoyed a PhD Fair, the Equity and Inclusion Fellowship Luncheon, a Friday night Student Mixer, a mentor/mentee meetup, two poster sessions predominantly awarding current students of public policy, and APPAM's inaugural LGBTQI mixer.

As proud as we are of the positive impact of this year's Fall Research Conference on our student members, we think #2019APPAM at the Denver Sheraton can and will be an even richer experience for public policy students. To meet that goal, we need your feedback: Please complete our survey of the overall conference this week if you haven't already! Completing the survey gives all conference registrants a chance to win one of three FREE Fall 2019 Research Conference registrations.
Conference Photo Gallery
Our #2018APPAM photo gallery on APPAM.org features photos from our luncheons, receptions, Poster sessions, wellness programs, and other educational and social events held at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park in DC this month. Feel free to browse and link to photos of yourself and your peers.

Call for nominations:
Nominations for Student Member Policy Council Seat Currently Being Accepted
The APPAM Policy Council includes two seats for student members. The seats are staggered for two-year terms. APPAM is looking for students to join the board as current Council members complete their terms at the end of this year.

If you are interested in serving, please have a professor or advisor send one letter of recommendation and a CV to Tara Sheehan, by December 31, 2018. The letter should be from a professor in the program but need not be from the institutional representative. 

  • The student needs to be a current member in good standing of APPAM.
  • They need to be a student at the time of appointment but not necessarily throughout their entire 2 year term. The term will run from January 2019 through December 2020.
  • They will be a full voting member of the Policy Council upon appointment.  
  • Travel costs and lodging for all Policy Council meetings are taken care of by APPAM. The student is expected to attend all Policy Council meetings.
  • Only current institutional members are able to nominate students. 
  • The appointee will be chosen by mid to late January and will be announced in conjunction with the rest of the Policy Council election results.

Email nominations to Tara Sheehan, tsheehan@appam.org by 12/31.
APPAM Webinar:
The Impact of Student Loan Debt on the Workforce
With student loan debt tripling between 2001 and 2016, hitting the $1.5 trillion milestone in the first quarter of 2018, the Federal Reserve reports that student loan debt now exceeds both auto and credit card debt. How is this debt load affecting their employment choices? What are employers doing to react to this crisis? How is the employment landscape changing?

Regional Student Conferences:
Save the Dates for the 2019 DC and California Regional
Student Conferences
American University
Washington, DC
March 29-30, 2019
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA
April 12-13, 2019
Save the dates for these spring student conferences! Submissions open November 26, 2018 for DC and December 4, 2018 for California.
Coming in First:
Top Student Award Recipients at #2018APPAM
University at Albany alumnus Garima Siwach (pictured top) was presented with the PhD Dissertation Award by H. Elizabeth Peters of Urban Institute on Friday, November 9, 2018. Siwach is an Economic Researcher at the American Institutes for Research. Her work focuses on employment-related interventions for marginalized populations, including those with disabilities, individuals with criminal records, and low-income backgrounds.

Sean Darling-Hammond (pictured middle), PhD student at the University of California, Berkeley, won First Place in the Thursday, November 8, 2018 Poster Session. His winning poster was entitled Making Intergroup Contact "Work": Reducing Bias through Effective Workplace Diversity programs.

Our Saturday, November 10, 2018 First Place Poster Session winner also hails from California. Siobhan O'Keefe (pictured bottom), PhD student at the University of California, Davis received the top honors for her poster Baby's Gone: The effects of increased sentencing severity on fertility and family formation.

Videos of the winners discussing their work will soon be available on APPAM's website and social media.
JPAM Featured Article:
The Effect of R&D Investment on Graduate Student Productivity: Evidence From the Life Sciences

This study examines the role of graduate training and R&D investments on research productivity by focusing on the effect of federal funding for early‐career graduate students. The authors employ a difference‐in‐differences research design drawing upon a sample of high‐quality life science graduate students who either are award recipients or honorable mentions of the prestigious U.S. National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship Program. They find that a $91,000 grant over three years has a limited, yet positive impact on the awardee's productivity. These effects are driven by the sample of graduate students without publications prior to applying for the fellowship.

Listen to the podcast:
Author Daniel Gubits and Michelle Wood participated in the latest edition of The Wonk policy podcast. You can find the podcast with the author interview, or listen to other APPAM podcasts and webinars, here.
Spotlight:
APPAM Members in the News
MIT PhD student Hyejun Kim's data about how hobbies become early stage entrepreneurial ventures, which she collected based on her studies of 400,000 knitters on Ravelry.com, was the subject of a November 14, 2018 Washington Post article.

Mathematica Policy Research recently acquired EDI Group, an international research and data collection organization with extensive survey operations in East Africa and a presence in the United Kingdom.

Duke Public Policy MS student Meg Fee released her memoir on navigating New York City this fall. The book, entitled Places I Stopped on the Way Home: A Memoir of Chaos and Grace, partially concerns Fee's efforts to get binge eating disorders recognized by data scientists. Fee's work concerns the de-stigmatization of weight, women's health and mental health issues.

Have news to share?
We want to feature your work! Email coverage and information to  info@appam.org .
Upcoming:
Mark Your Calendars for These Important Dates
Member
Corner

Membership question?
Email Membership and Administration Manager Ryan Martz for assistance.
Check the APPAM job board.

Are you on the job market or hoping to be soon? We can help you find the position that you're looking for. Browse the listing of job openings at one of our Institutional Members. 

Are you an institutional member and want to include a job listing? Please send the position details and information link to Tristanne Staudt.