SIEPR Summer Undergraduate Research Program

Summer 2025 Undergraduate Research Fellows Program

The SIEPR Undergraduate Research Fellows (UGRF) summer program provides an immersive research experience for ��ɫApp undergraduates. The goals of the program are to connect students with SIEPR faculty and foster mentoring relationships, involve students in policy-relevant economics research, and help them develop research skills. We invite students from all areas of study to apply.

The program runs for 10 weeks, June 23 - August 29, 2025. Students are offered a fellowship stipend of $8000. All students are required to participate in the in-person activities during the program. Due to this we encourage students and mentors to be located within commuting distance of ��ɫApp's campus for the duration of the summer program.

SIEPR UGRF Student Eligibility:

Participants must be current ��ɫApp undergraduates during the summer quarter.
Coterm students and seniors are eligible only if their bachelor’s degree will not be conferred before the end of the research appointment. Coterm students in the graduate tuition group are not eligible.
Students serving a suspension or on a leave of absence during Summer quarter are not eligible.
Students are required to be on campus for program activities for the duration of the summer program.
Students need to acknowledge that they understand the current Financial Aid policies for receiving a stipend payment while enrolled in classes, and are encouraged to check in with the Financial Aid Office before committing to participating in the SIEPR UGRF Program.

Program Activities:

Students are required to attend meetings and seminars in-person throughout the program.
Students create research related goals, in collaboration with their faculty mentor, to build research skills and complete tasks on faculty-led projects throughout the summer equaling approx. 35 hours a week.
Students meet with the Faculty Mentor/Research Team regularly to discuss progress towards research goals.
Students explore their own research interests with the guidance of their faculty mentor.
Students prepare a final presentation at the end of the summer to share their progress on their research goals.

Application Requirements:

A list of the courses that you have taken that are research-related.
Resume
A cover letter that addresses the following:
1. Why are you interested in a SIEPR UGRF position?
2. What is your previous experience, if any, with research?
3. What are your personal research interests?

Current Projects

Applications for Summer 2025 UGRF Program are now open!

Open project

History and Future of Inequality in America

Faculty Mentor: Lukas Althoff

Our research studies how institutions and technological change shape economic inequality. Some projects take a historical perspective, analyzing how long-standing institutions have contributed to persistent racial and economic disparities. By tracing these effects over time, we provide insights into the roots of inequality today. Other projects look to the future, exploring how advancements in artificial intelligence may reshape the value of human capital. As AI develops, it has the potential to redefine the meaning of skill, knowledge, and economic worth in society. Research assistants will work in a small but growing team, engaging with real data, applying analytical methods, and contributing to ongoing debates in economic history, labor economics, and the economics of technology. This position offers valuable experience in empirical research while providing opportunities to collaborate in an active and dynamic research environment.

Responsibilities: Quantitative research through data analysis, potentially involving the collection and preparation of novel data from historical sources. Critical synthesis of relevant economics literature.

Qualifications: Basic to advanced coding skills. Excitement about the economics of inequality and either (1) American history or (2) artificial intelligence.

Open project

School based health centers

Faculty Mentor: Adrienne Sabety

We are studying the impacts of children’s access to school-based health centers on healthcare utilization and outcomes in administrative Medicaid data.

Responsibilities: Required tasks will include writing code to clean, analyze, and visualize data; creating and formatting research output; conducting literature reviews; and active participation in regular research team meetings.

Qualifications: Experience coding in Stata, R, SQL, or Python.

Open project

Exploring the Law and Economics of Licensed Community Care Facilities

Faculty Mentor: Alison Morantz

The mission of the ��ɫApp Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Law and Policy Project (SIDDLAPP) is to generate innovative research and public-facing materials to expand the economic opportunities and civil rights of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), especially those from underserved communities. In March of 2024, SIDDLAPP, in collaboration with Disability Rights California, released a policy report on the state’s residential continuum of care for individuals with I/DD and high behavioral support needs. SIDDLAPP is currently extending this work by compiling data on the licensed community care industry in California. This industry encompasses a range of community-based care providers, including residential facilities, that support individuals with I/DD and other disabling health conditions. The initial goal of the project is to clean, augment, and analyze a large administrative dataset on the market structure, concentration, and regulatory oversight of the state’s licensed care providers. This primary project will offer students with an interest in applied microeconomics hands-on experience with the cleaning and manipulation of large datasets. Depending on mentor availability and interest, the RA(s) may also have the opportunity for data cleaning lessons in R, Stata, and Python. Other possible topics of instruction include project organization, data documentation, and version control software. A common goal of all projects is shaping public policy in ways that strengthen the civil rights and economic opportunities available to individuals with I/DD and other disabilities, particularly those from underserved communities. Over the course of the summer, the RA(s) will gain a deeper understanding of the social and economic barriers faced by individuals with I/DD; how public policy reforms can help individuals with I/DD and their families overcome these barriers; and the roles that different branches of government and diverse community stakeholders can play in furthering these objectives.

Responsibilities: The SIEPR research assistant(s) primary tasks will be: (1) assisting with identifying and correcting data quality deficiencies in our datasets; (2) augmenting datasets with information on other economically consequential factors, such as average resident acuity level and ownership type, from public and private sources; and (3) once the dataset is in final form, conducting some exploratory data analysis (possibly including preliminary regressions) to explore the trends shaping the licensed community care industry in CA. Additionally, the RA(s) will help with code documentation and attend meetings with government officials and other policy stakeholders. The RA(s) may also collaborate with the faculty mentor, SIDDLAPP staff, ��ɫApp Law School's Racial and Disability Justice Pro Bono Project (RAD Justice) and/or other disability rights organizations on other project(s) designed to strengthen the civil rights and economic opportunities available to individuals with I/DD.

Qualifications: High attention to detail, strong communication skills, the capacity to complete work in a timely fashion, and an interest in economic inequality are essential. An interest in disability rights, health economics, and social service programs (such as Medicaid) is preferred but not required. Knowledge of econometrics and experience in programming is preferred, but applicants who do not have these skills will still be considered.

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