Carolyn Barnes Ph.D. in Political Science and Public Policy from the University of Michigan

Congratulations to Carolyn Barnes, Assistant Professor at Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University, for being selected as a 2023-2024 Visiting Scholar by the Russell Sage Foundation. 

Carolyn Barnes completed her Ph.D. in Political Science and Public Policy from the University of Michigan in 2014. Her project will draw on interviews with 180 workers and 400 beneficiaries of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and Medicaid to investigate barriers to accessing, maintaining and using social safety net programs. She will also explore how the COVID-19 pandemic affected access to these programs.

The Russell Sage Foundation has established a center where Visiting Scholars can pursue their writing and research. Each year, the Russell Sage Foundation invites a number of scholars to its New York headquarters to investigate topics in social and behavioral sciences. The Foundation particularly welcomes groups of scholars who wish to collaborate on a specific project during their residence at Russell Sage. While Visiting Scholars typically work on projects related to the Foundation's current programs, a number of scholars whose research falls outside the Foundation's active programs also participate.

These research projects, and other work conducted by the Visiting Scholars, constitute an important part of the Russell Sage Foundation's ongoing effort to analyze the shifting nature of social and economic life in the United States.