Phi Kappa Phi recently announced the recipients of the 2016 Dissertation Fellowships. The two fellows will receive $10,000 each to support their dissertation writing.

Monica S. Aswani
University of Alabama at Birmingham

Monica S. Aswani is a doctoral candidate in the Health Care Organization and Policy Department at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Her research employs econometric methods to investigate how hospitals may respond to pay-for-performance incentives in Medicare. The questions posed in her dissertation reflect a desire to address germane policy issues through rigorous empirical research. She has also contributed to healthcare quality and patient safety projects through fellowships at Johns Hopkins University and the World Health Organization. Aswani received her Master of Science in Public Health from UAB. Prior to attending UAB, she studied biology as an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

 Dissertation Abstract: Effects of Medicare Reimbursement Policies on the Quality of Hospital Care

Katharine Broton
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Katharine Broton is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She is studying educational inequalities with a focus on higher education. Her current research includes a multi-method study of poverty and material hardship among college students. Broton's research has been supported by the National Science Foundation and Institute of Education Sciences and has appeared in The New York Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Education. Prior to beginning her graduate studies, Broton worked with low-income middle and high school students in pre-college programs and as a program evaluator. She holds her M.S. and B.S. in sociology from UW–Madison.

Dissertation Abstract: The Evolution of Poverty in Higher Education: Material Hardship, Academic Success, and Policy Perspectives