Past Grants

Beth Akers will research and write a book assessing how the risk associated with financing higher education should be shared among individuals, institutions, and government. She will synthesize existing analysis and undertake new research using individual-level longitudinal data on patterns of borrowing and loan repayment.

Damon Wilson and Dávid Korányi will identify policies that could enhance energy security for Europe’s eastern flank. They will explore these issues at a meeting of the Warsaw Global Forum, which is composed of leaders from the region and designed to further U.S.–European cooperation. The project’s findings will appear in a report and an issue brief.

Thomas Popik, William Harris, and George Baker will examine approaches to improve the resilience of the U.S. electric grid. They will identify the spectrum of grid-reliability issues and identify remedial actions that can be taken by regulators at the federal, regional, or state level. They will also outline a proposal for a new federal agency devoted to electric reliability, undertake a case study of the electric reliability threat in New England, educate stakeholders and the public on the need to reform the regulation of electric power generation and distribution, and start to build a cadre of younger analysts and policy thinkers on critical infrastructure issues. The project’s findings will appear in a series of articles and monographs.

Jacqueline Deal, Stephen Rosen, and Aaron Friedberg will lead a series of executive education seminars designed to develop a cadre of young analysts and policy thinkers with the skills to devise and implement long-term competitive strategies to advance U.S. objectives. They will also establish fellowships for some of the most promising participants in the program.

Daniel Goldhaber will direct the research and publications program of the National Center for the Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER). He will work with CALDER affiliates in five states to answer questions in four broad education policy areas: what policies can best improve college and career readiness; what policies can promote the recruitment, advancement, and retention of high-quality teachers and principals; what policies can improve the poorest-performingschools; and what out-of-school factors most affect student achievement. The project’s findings will appear in a series of reports, papers, and policy briefings for state and district officials.

James Rosenbaum will examine how children from disadvantaged backgrounds who choose options other than college enrollment fare later in life. He will analyze data from the Education Longitudinal Study to explore how measures of student non-cognitive traits, such as persistence and self-control, as well as high school performance and post–high school education and training, relate to later life outcomes. He will also undertake research among high school guidance counselors to better understand whether and how they help high school students find non-college opportunities for training and employment. The project’s findings will appear in a series of articles.

Ben Hodges will identify strategies to defend the Baltic states against potential Russian aggression, with particular attention to the Suwalki gap, the corridor between Kaliningrad and Belarus that is the only overland connection between Poland and the Baltic states. The project’s findings will appear in a report.

Clare Lockhart will lead an effort to develop more effective models to deliver assistance to strengthen fragile states. She will work with a small set of donor and recipient countries to design an assistance model to implement the so-called “New Deal for Fragile States,” which seeks to deliver assistance through national institutions to the greatest extent possible. The project’s findings will appear in a white paper.