Natasha Pilkauskas has been awarded a National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation postdoctoral fellowship to further her research on maternal employment characteristics and child wellbeing.
Pilkauskas is among 30 scholars, selected from a pool of 300 applicants, to be honored with the fellowship. She will receive $70,000 to conduct her research and attend professional development retreats.
Her study, “Maternal employment stability, intensity, and quality: Exploring the links with children’s school readiness and later education outcomes,” seeks to understand “whether particular types of maternal employment put children at a greater risk of not being ready for school.”
The study is designed to “shed light on the factors that contribute to gaps in school readiness between advantaged and disadvantaged children, so that we may better craft policies and interventions to close those gaps,” says Pilkauskas.
Natasha Pilkauskas is an assistant professor of public policy at the Ford School. Her research focuses on the health, development, and wellbeing of low-income families and children.
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