Jennifer Karas Montez Leads Grant for Center for Aging and Policy Studies

Jennifer Karas Montez, professor of sociology, is the principal investigator for a $1.9 million grant to support the Center for Aging and Policy Studies at the Maxwell School.

The grant was awarded in the summer of 2020 by the National Institute on Aging (NIA). Part of the National Institutes of Health, the NIA awards grants to support 12 centers of innovative research on the demography and economics of aging.

The Center for Aging and Policy Studies (CAPS) is a research consortium that, in addition to Syracuse University, includes Cornell University and the University at Albany.

“We are delighted to receive this grant, as it recognizes CAPS as one of the leading research centers on the demography and economics of aging in the country,” says Montez, who serves as director of the Center, is a Gerald B. Cramer Faculty Scholar in Aging Studies and a faculty affiliate of the Aging Studies Institute and Center for Policy Research. “The cross-site consortium provides exciting opportunities for new collaborations that can improve the health and independence of older adults.”

The center’s objective is to address issues facing middle-age and older adults and the families that care for them. In its first year of funding, CAPS brought together 44 affiliates whose research focuses on the demography and economics of aging, funded four innovative pilot projects, organized a monthly colloquia series, hosted a visiting scholar, offered a grant mentoring program, provided training in big data analyses and partnered with the Syracuse University Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion to disseminate research findings of CAPS affiliates.

In addition to Montez, the center’s leadership team includes Janet Wilmoth, professor and chair of the Sociology Department at Syracuse University; Douglas Wolf, professor of public administration and international affairs and Gerald B. Cramer Professor of Aging Studies at Syracuse University; Kelly Musick, professor and chair of the Policy Analysis and Management Department at Cornell University; and Benjamin Shaw, professor of health policy and management and associate dean for research at the University at Albany.