$19M in stimulus funds go to U-M retirement study, create 60 jobs

Wednesday, November 4, 2009 | Source: Concentrate

$19 million buys a lot these days, including a lot of research at the University of Michigan.

The U-M Health & Retirement Study, conducted by the university's Institute for Social Research, recently won four grants totaling $19 million from the federal stimulus package. All of that money will translate into 60 new jobs directly, and lots of other work for hungry researchers across the nation.

"We manage the activity centrally here in Ann Arbor," says David Weir, research professor for the U-M Institute for Social Research.

The study already employs between 35-40 full-time people in Ann Arbor and another 150-200 across the nation at any given time. Not all of the new positions and money will be located in Ann Arbor, however. About half of the cash will go toward lab work elsewhere and some of the positions will be for field research across the U.S.

The U-M Health & Retirement Study examines the health and economic conditions of Americans over the age of 50. This new money will allow the researchers to study more than double the number of minority participants, including African-Americans and Latinos.

Source: David Weir, research professor for the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research
Writer: Jon Zemke