Steven H. Sandell Grant Program

About Steven H. Sandell

The Center for Retirement Research sponsors the annual Steven H. Sandell Grant Program for scholars in the field of retirement or disability research and policy. The program is funded by the U.S. Social Security Administration to provide opportunities for junior or non-tenured scholars (within seven years of receiving their Ph.D.) from all academic disciplines to pursue cutting-edge projects on retirement or disability issues. Research focal areas include:

Disability incidence in the population;
Labor force participation;
Measuring sources of retirement income and adequacy;
Informing SSA projections;
Effects of SSA communications on worker/beneficiary behavior;
Program interactions with the Affordable Care Act;
State and local government pensions; and
The vocational grid for determining disability insurance.

Grant Awards

Up to three $45,000 grants are awarded based upon the quality of the applicant’s proposal and the proposed budget. Applicants are required to complete the research outlined in the proposal within one year of the award. Grant recipients may be required to present their work to the Social Security Administration in Washington, DC or Baltimore, MD.

Submission

The deadline for the 2019 Sandell Grant Program was January 31, 2019. Download the proposal guidelines and the budget matrix to prepare for next year’s award. Review sample proposals that received awards: Sample 1, Sample 2.