This award provides funds for the establishment of a Research Training Group in Studies of Urban Poverty, Race and Social Policy through a collaborative effort of faculty members at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University. The faculty group is a mixture of outstanding junior and senior investigators who come from a variety of disciplines. These include sociology, economics and public policy. The funds provided to the University of Chicago by this award will provide stipends for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, and will defray part of the cost of the trainees' research. In addition, funds will be used to purchase specialized research equipment to be used by trainees, and to bring investigators from other research and academic institutions for symposia and colloquia. Understanding the structure of modern American society and the problems it poses for the development and implementation of public policy is one of the most significant challenges for social scientists. Sophisticated research in this area now requires that paradigms and techniques from economics, political science and demography be coupled. This RTG program will produce a new generation of investigators and teachers with the necessary combination of intellectual and research skills.
