From the halls of the global financial system to the rural markets of the developing world, our graduate students conduct research that yields innovative solutions to the gravest problems facing our society.
Our graduate students are also the backbone of our undergraduate program and the heart of the university. A graduate TA is the first person an undergraduate will ask for help and often the most meaningful mentor of a student navigating university life.
But despite the significant contributions of our graduate students, they face funding shortfalls during summers. To compensate, they often continue teaching, removing themselves from research during valuable summer months, or moving away to work or live with family, which directs their focus away from their research. This is detrimental to their research careers and progress on their dissertation. For those who wish to go into academic or policy research, these summer months are absolutely critical to doing research ambitious enough to earn jobs that position them to influence society.
The Economics Summer Research Accelerator is a new endowment that specifically funds students to engage in research between academic years, a time when graduate students are largely unfunded. Students will be able to work with faculty as student researchers to learn the basic skills of research or receive individual fellowships to pursue their own research ideas. Students will no longer be forced to pause their research to seek outside employment or live with family between academic years. Our goal is to ensure no PhD student lacks the summer funding they need to accelerate their research and excel in their careers.
Reasons to Donate
- Support new research, and accelerate students' progress by funding uninterrupted research time during the summer.
- Provide funding during summer months, when graduate students are typically not funded.
- Help improve graduate student quality of life in Santa Cruz, where housing costs have skyrocketed.
