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The University of Texas at Austin

Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs


News Release

LBJ School Students Display Research in Juried Poster Session at 2009 International Conference on Aging in the Americas

Two LBJ School students were given the opportunity to display their research in a poster session at the 2009 International Conference on Aging in the Americas, organized by LBJ School Professor Jacqueline Angel, held September 15 through 17. Kate Chambers, a second-year Master of Public Affairs student, and Stipica Mudrazija, a PhD candidate, were among 21 national and international students invited to participate in a juried poster session on the second day of the conference.

“I worked as a research assistant during the 2008/09 academic year for the Center on Health and Social Policy,” said Chambers. “ At the suggestion of Dr. Angel, who is also the organizer of the conference, I submitted an abstract that combined some of the knowledge I had learned from my experience working with Dr. Angel—the challenges facing aging Hispanics—and something I was particularly passionate about—access to social services for vulnerable populations—and came up with the research poster "The Failure of the Health Care Safety Net: Are Older Mexican Americans Losing Health Insurance Coverage."

According to Chambers, her study explores the insurance instability and characteristics of elderly Mexican Americans in the United States using data from a six-wave longitudinal study spanning from 1993 to 2007.  Her findings show that elderly Mexican Americans experience significant insurance instability, with those instability trends being strongest for Mexican Americans migrating to the United States later in life.  In addition, migration, occupation, income, and health characteristics have strong correlations with type of insurance coverage.  Finally, recent expansions in Medicare through Part-D have enabled later life migrants to take advantage of expanded health care coverage. According to Chambers, this research is particularly important at this time because it highlights factors that must be addressed in any discussion about proposed changes to universal and elderly health care.

“Every time you attend or participate in a conference you learn something new; from the experts, mentors, and your fellow students who are also presenting,” said Chambers.  “It's a great way to completely immerse yourself in a specific field, but at the same time, hear a range of differing opinions on issues you originally thought enjoyed a certain amount of consensus.” 

Chambers says that the experience of participating in the conference will also help her with her future job search.

 “Having the opportunity to conduct independent research outside of the classroom and have it viewed by experts in the field is extremely important to my future research goals,” said Chambers.  “Having to translate and then articulate your research into a coherent story that can inform or persuade an audience into, in my situation, an argument for the necessity of a strong health care safety net for vulnerable elderly, is a valuable line item not only on a research resume, but for any job you take on in the future.”

Click here to download a PDF of Chambers poster


Mudrazija’s research began as a paper written for Angel’s class on Women and Changing World of Work.

“As the research done for the class and initial results I got proved to be promising, I decided to both expand and refine the analysis, which is what I am currently doing,” said Mudrazija. “Therefore, it is fair to say this is still very much work in progress.”

According to Mudrazija, her research, focused on transitional process from later career years to retirement among the baby boomers, show women to be less likely to have full time employment and more likely to be in other, on average less lucrative, labor force statuses compared to men, even in the later stage of their career. They are also more likely to retire earlier. What is particularly worrisome to Mudrazija is that gender differences observed among earlier generations have not visibly diminished for the baby boomers, and this might be a sign that more should be done in order to address the issue of the labor market setup, retirement incentives as well as the larger social setup.

“This was the first time I made a poster so just the process of making it was a very beneficial learning experience in and of itself,” said Mudrazija. “Due to their presentation format, posters force authors to condense and to large extent even simplify their research, results and implications in particular. Being in a policy school, it is particularly important to be able to explain concepts that are sometimes complicated and multilayered to those who sometimes have limited knowledge of the issue of interest. “

According to Mudrazija, participating in a poster session is an important part of making the transition from a student to a researcher.

“Since I started my PhD studies more than two years ago, I believe I significantly improved my research skills and have subsequently started engaging in relevant research both with Dr. Angel and individually,” said Mudrazija. “This transition from a student to a researcher is arguably the most sensitive part of the whole process of doctoral studies. I appreciate the fact that LBJ School’s faculty in general, and in my case Dr. Angel in particular, guide me through this transition while still leaving me practically unlimited freedom to focus on the research questions that interest me most.”

Click here to download a Powerpoint version of Mudrazija’s poster.


The 2009 International Conference on Aging in the Americas is the third installment of a conference series established in 2001. The ultimate objective of the conference is to develop consensus on the best means of ensuring healthful aging of individuals of Mexican ancestry in the United States to inform health care policy and research.

For more information on the conference, visit: http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/caa/


 

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