Professor James Chu Selected as William T. Grant Scholar

Professor James Chu of the Department of Sociology has been named one of seven early-career research scholars by the William T. Grant Foundation.

Launched in 1982, the William T. Grant Scholars Program supports career development for promising early-career researchers, with an emphasis on scholars whose work seeks to reduce inequality or improve the use of research evidence in ways that benefit young people ages 5-25 in the United States.  Scholars receive $425,000 to execute rigorous five-year research plans that aim to stretch their skills and knowledge into new disciplines, content, areas, or methods. The award also includes funding for training and mentorship from experts in areas pertinent to a Scholar’s development.

“This year’s Scholars have proposed exciting projects that will surely push their research in new directions,” noted Senior Program Officer Melissa Wooten, who manages the program on behalf of the William T. Grant Foundation. “We are proud to play a part in the career development of these Scholars and extend our support as they deepen their mentoring relationships, broaden their expertise, and propel research that can make a difference in the lives of young people.” This year’s program is also supported by the Bezos Family Foundation.

Professor Chu, an Assistant Professor of Sociology, focuses his research on questions related to status hierarchies and their consequences for social inequality, and how societies can reduce extreme intergroup conflict. His published work engages a broad range of studies in these areas, from how to reduce anti-democratic attitudes and partisan animosity in the United States, to how religion and party identity influence vaccination intentions, to extensive research on Chinese education and economic development. Professor Chu also teaches classes on status and inequality, social networks, and experimental methods for social research, in addition to the senior thesis seminar.

His newly funded project will explore the potential for community forecasting – whereby members of a relevant jurisdiction are invited to work together to review research evidence to predict outcomes of interest to decision-makers – as a strategy for improving research use by school district administrators. 

“Administrators in school districts may not use education research evidence if they cannot discern its relevance for their jurisdiction, or if they perceive insufficient support among their constituents for doing so,” Professor Chu explained.  “Existing tools that address these obstacles are under development but remain in short supply.”

His project will consist of three integrated parts. First, he will test if people who live in a particular school district can work together to accurately forecast the effects of education programs specific to their locale. Second, he will use a survey experiment to estimate whether participating in community forecasting improves how much people will support the use of research evidence in their districts. Finally, he will test whether supplementing research evidence with community forecasts of site-specific effects will increase district administrators' inclinations to use the evidence.

Two other scholars will support Professor Chu in his project: Jennie Brand, Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles, who will provide mentorship on the assessment of heterogeneous treatment effects in educational contexts; and Anna Dreber, Professor of Economics at the Stockholm School of Economics, who will provide mentorship in designing forecast studies.

The award offers “an opportunity to learn more about a topic I'd always worried and wondered about, but I've never had time to study properly,” noted Professor Chu.  “I am excited to be able stretch myself with a bunch of other extremely bright, intelligent, and thoughtful individuals who are interested in improving the lives of young people.”

Six additional scholars will join the William T. Grant Scholars Program Class of 2031:

• Tolani Britton, in the school of education at the University of California, Berkeley
• Thania Galvan, in the department of psychology at the University of Georgia
• Nikhil Garg, in the school of operations research and information engineering at Cornell University
• Lauren Magee, in the department of pediatrics at Indiana University
• Theresa Rocha Beardall, in the department of sociology at the University of Washington
• Ha Ngan (Milkie) Vu, in the department of preventive medicine at Northwestern University 

For more information, please visit the William T. Grant Scholars program website.

This story was adapted from a press release prepared by the Foundation.