The STARs research community produces scholarship across business and social science disciplines to understand STARs’ skills, experiences, career pathways, jobs and more.

With this knowledge, we assist employers, workforce partners and other members of the workforce ecosystem to activate public, private, nonprofit, and social sector resources needed to expand opportunities and promote lasting economic mobility for STARs.

Our Community

Our emerging community of interdisciplinary scholarship is committed to rigorous research about issues that impact STARs. The research projects below reflect working papers and projects that seek to answer questions with implications for how STARs can achieve economic mobility.

Dr. Peter Belmi

The Psychology of Class Transitions and Belonging at Work for STARs

University of Virginia

Dr. Peter Blair

Work Experience Works as a Job Market Signal & Searching for STARs: Work Experience as a Job Market Signal for Workers without Bachelor's Degrees

Harvard University

Jasmine Davis-Randolph

Social Science Researcher

Opportunity@Work

Dr. Papia Debroy

Searching for STARs: Work Experience as a Job Market Signal for Workers without Bachelor's Degrees & Work Experience Works as a Job Market Signal

Opportunity@Work

Ashley Edwards

Director of Data Services

Opportunity@Work

Dr. Erica L. Groshen

Searching for STARs: Work Experience as a Job Market Signal for Workers without Bachelor's Degrees

Cornell University

Justin Heck

Work Experience Works as a Job Market Signal

University of Michigan

Dr. Ashley Jardina

Breaking Down Racial Barriers to STARs Success

Duke University

Adrienne Jones

Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College Career Training Grants

Duke University

Dr. Andrea Jones-Rooy

Measuring the Skills of STARs for Expanded Employment and Hiring Opportunities

New York University

Dr. Neil Lewis, Jr.

Improving Equity Through Employing STARs

Cornell University

Dr. Pamela McCann

The Political Economy of COVID-19 Policy Choices: Stay-at-Home Orders and Essential STARs in the States

University of Southern California

Catherine Owsik

The Psychology of Class Transitions and Belonging at Work for STARs

University of Virginia

Dr. Gina Rosen

Social Science Researcher

Opportunity@Work

Dr. Lisa Krystyna Simon

On Labor Mobility: Career Transitions and Unrealized Potential

Stanford University

Stephanie Tepper

Social Psychology

Cornell University

Pamela Zabala

Laboring Through: How Workers Skilled Through Alternative Routes Traverse the American Workplace

Duke University

Our Insights Advisory Panel

The STARs Insights Advisory Panel is Chaired by Former Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Dr. Erica Groshen, and includes a group of advisors with experience in labor economics, workforce development, future of work and related data across the public, private and academic sector. The panel provides expert guidance to Opportunity@Work’s research agenda and insights work.

Dr. Erica L. Groshen

Senior Extension Faculty at Cornell University

ILR and Former Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Dr. Peter Q. Blair

Faculty Research Fellow of the National Bureau of Economic Research and Assistant Professor of Education

Harvard Graduate School of Education

Dr. Chandra Childers

Study Director

Institute for Women’s Policy Research

Dr. Martin Fleming

Former Vice President and Chief Economist

IBM Corporation

Dr. Michael Strain

Director of Economic Policy Studies and John G. Searle Scholar

American Enterprise Institute

Keith Wardrip

Community Development Research Manager

Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

Join Us Today

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Submit work to be featured

The STARs Research Directory is a living resource that is continually updated with new data, findings, perspectives and tools. Please fill out the form if you have research to add.

Rules for Posting:
  • Include a link to or upload a PDF of a completed piece of research;
  • Include a short description of your submission, addressing how you think it is relevant to STARs;
  • No promotional, sales based, or publicly inaccessible research will be accepted;
  • No editorialized or opinion-based research will be accepted.

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