Lauren Schmitz received NIA funding for her project “Life Course Determinants of Epigenetic Age Acceleration and Subsequent Dementia.” Schmitz seeks to understand the impact of interactions between socioeconomic status (SES), genotype, and health behaviors on disparities in epigenetic age acceleration and cognitive decline or Alzheimer’s disease.
Schmitz also received a Sandell Grant to fund her work “The Influence of Early-life Economic Shocks on Long-term Outcomes: Evidence from the U.S. Great Depression.” The project explores how health and economic productivity around retirement age and up to old age vary with early-life economic conditions.
Lindsay Jacobs also received a Sandell Grant for the project “Changes in New Disability Awards: Understanding Trends and Looking Ahead.” Her work aims to analyze current trends in new Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) awards related to changes in cohort characteristics over time, as well as differences over time in the relationship between these characteristics and reported work disability and SSDI applications and awards.
These projects will yield tangible returns related to disability and retirement research, as well as providing relevant training opportunities for CDHA-affiliated graduate students.
UW–Madison’s Center for Financial Security, as part of the Retirement and Disability Research Consortium, received an award from the U.S. Social Security Administration to support 11 major research studies. Congratulations to Michal Engelman and Won-tak Joo who received funding for their project “Retirement in the Context of Intergenerational Transfers.”