Funded Projects

In 2023-2024, faculty worked on research grants that totaled nearly $50 million. The work they produce impacts families, policy makers, and practitioners around the world and in Wisconsin. Our faculty are nationally-recognized as some of the most impactful, cutting-edge scholars in the field.

More details are listed in faculty bios and you can learn about the research from our PhD students.

The following projects are just a sample of current faculty research.

Implications of Parental Incarceration for Child Health and Wellbeing

Lonnie Berger standing in front of a white wall
Lonnie Berger

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health

Inequalities in Financial Coping During the COVID-19 Crisis: New Insights from Linked Credit Report, Alternative Financial Service, and State Administrative Data

Russell Sage Foundation

Improving Data Collection of Debt and Financial Strain to Assess Health Impacts of Economic Insecurity

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health

Prenatal Opioid Exposure: Birth, Health, Socioeconomic, and Educational Outcomes of Mothers and Their Children

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health

Child Support Policy Research

Research agreement with the Wisconsin Department of Child and Families

Estimating the Impact of SNAP, WIC, and UI in the Primary Prevention of Multiple Forms of Family Violence: A Causal and Computational Approach

Center for Disease control and Prevention, US Department of Health and Human Services

Research and Development Services

Wisconsin Department of Children and Families

Supporting Research on Child Welfare Practice

Wisconsin Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board


Lauren Bishop in front of red and green leaves
Lauren Bishop

Improving Mortality Risk Estimation for Autistic Older Adults using Machine Learning

National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health

Leveraging Claims Data to Compare Disparities in Health Outcomes for Autistic People and People With Down Syndrome

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

The Impact of Wisconsin’s Long-Term Services and Supports Program Implementation on Outcomes for Autistic Adults

Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation

Toward Healthy Aging in Adults with Autism: A Longitudinal Clinical and Multimodal Brain Imaging Study

National Institute of Mental Health


Pajarita Charles standing in front of white wall
Pajarita Charles

A Task-Sharing Approach to Supporting Parents Reentering the Community after Incarceration

Institute of Translational Health Sciences, University of Washington

Washington State Department of Corrections Parenting Sentencing Alternative Program

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

Community-engaged Adaptation of a Well-being Intervention to Support Successful Reentry Following Incarceration

Institute for Clinical and Translational Research and the Wisconsin Partnership Program

Building Bonds with Books during Parental Incarceration: Expansion of the Evaluation of the Making Reading Memories Program

UW-Madison Division of Extension & School of Human Ecology

Incarceration, Child Support, and Family Relationships

Child Support Policy Research Agreement, Wisconsin Department of Children and Families

Building Reading and Relationships with Justice-Involved Families

Wisconsin Idea Collaboration Grant, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education, UW-Madison Division of Extension, and Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation

Supporting Families and Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect

Wisconsin Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board

Impact Evaluation of The Fathers and Families Support Center

Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities, University of Notre Dame


Lara Gerassi

Innovative Approaches to Understanding How, Why, and Under What Conditions University Students Trade Sexual Contact

National Institutes of Health: Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health Program

Toward a Methodologically Rigorous Understanding of In-Person & Virtual Sex Trading for Compensation

Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation


LB Klein in hallway wearing blue jacket over black top.
LB Klein

Preventing Sexual and Relationship Violence among LGBTQ+ College and University Students: Adapting the Bringing in the Bystander® Prevention Program

Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation

A Mixed-Methods, Multi-Stakeholder Study to Understand and Improve Access to Post-Sexual Assault Care for Survivors of Color, LGBTQ+ Survivors, and/or Survivors Living in Poverty

Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation


Jooyoung Kong in front of a white wall
Jooyoung Kong

A Latent Mixture Approach to Modeling Adverse Childhood Experiences among Filial Caregivers

Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education, UW-Madison

 

 


Katherine Magnuson
Katherine Magnuson

Baby’s First Years

National Institutes of Health

Tulsa Prekindergarten Evalatuaion

Several Projects on Wisconsin Child Care

Wisconsin Department of Children and Families

Evaluation of Madison’s Guaranteed Income Project

Madison Forward Fund

Infant Mental Health Intervention for Childcare

Wisconsin Partnership Program

Childcare Shared Services Network

Wisconsin Partnership Program


Jessica Pac in front of a bookcase
Jessica Pac

Unconditional Cash Income and Involvement with Child Protective Services: Evidence from the Expanded Child Tax Credit

National Institutes of Health

Cash Payments and Infant Health: A Natural Experiment

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation


Dr. Alejandra Ros Pilarz in front of a tree
Alejandra Ros Pilarz

Noncustodial Parents’ Child Support and Custodial Parents’ Income Packages: Comparing the Great Recession and COVID-19 Recession Eras

Child Support Policy Research Agreement, Wisconsin Department of Children and Families

Mothers’ Work Schedules, Time with Children, and Child Care Arrangements

Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education, UW-Madison

Understanding Trends in Mothers’ Work Schedules: Implications for Child Health and Development

Population Dynamics Scientist Development Award Program, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Understanding Declines in Regulated Child Care Supply and Subsidy Use in Wisconsin

The Administration for Children and Families/UW Department of Health and Human Services


Stephanie Robert in social work school hallway
Stephanie Robert

Adolescent Responses to Varying Environments in Virtual Reality Simulations

National Institutes of Health

Measuring the Pulse of Wisconsin: A Feasibility Study to Develop an Online Research Panel of Wisconsinites

Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education, UW-Madison, with Funding from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation


Tawandra L. Rowell-Cunsolo in front of a blank wall
Tawandra L. Rowell-Cunsolo

Measuring the Pulse of Wisconsin: A Feasibility Study to Develop an Online Research Panel of Wisconsinites

Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education, UW-Madison

Adolescent Responses to Varying Environments in Virtual Reality Simulations

National Institutes of Health


Tova Walsh in social work school hallway
Tova Walsh

Collaborating to Provide a Gateway to Services and Supports for Noncustodial Fathers

Research agreement with Wisconsin Department of Children and Families

 

 


Marci Ybarra in front of a white wall
Marci Ybarra

Noncustodial Parents’ Child Support and Custodial Parents’ Income Packages: Comparing the Great Recession and COVID-19 Recession Eras

State of Wisconsin, Child Support Policy Research Agreement

Understanding Low Take-up in Social Services

Lab for Economic Opportunities, University of Notre Dame

Equitable Access to Unemployment Compensation Data Tools

Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development