Current and former Institute for Population Research (IPR) affiliates Dr. David Kinitz and Dr. Alec P. Rhodes have been selected for the Center of Aging Families (CAF) Emerging Scholars Program. 

As the 2026 Cohort, Kinitz and Rhodes will receive two years of support, including seed grant funding, structured dual mentoring, networking and community-building opportunities, and grant writing support. By the end of the two-year period, they will submit K or R series grant applications to the National Institute on Aging.

Specifically, Dr. Kinitz will advance his project, "Family Structure and the Association Between Financial Insecurity and Healthcare Access Among Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Older Adults," and Dr. Rhodes will further his project "Children’s Intergenerational Income Mobility and Parents’ Health in Later Life."

David Kinitz is an assistant professor at The Ohio State University College of Social Work and a current IPR affiliate. His research focuses on LGBTQIA+ health and employment, social determinants of health, and labor market phenomena.

Alec P. Rhodes is an assistant professor of sociology and integrated liberal arts at Purdue University and a former IPR graduate student affiliate. His scholarship and research focuses on labor market trends across careers and places, and inequality, poverty, and mobility.

The Center for Aging Families is a tri-university collaboration among The Ohio State University, Bowling Green State University, and Purdue University that aims to deepen understanding of how family relationships shape the aging experience in the United States.

To advance innovative aging family science, each year CAF selects two junior faculty affiliates for its Emerging Scholars Program.

More information about Kinitz and Rhodes' abstracts, as well as their affiliate profiles, can be found on CAF's 2026 Emerging Scholar's page. 

The Institute of Population Research congratulates Kinitz and Rhodes on earning this award and looks forward to the advancement and success of their research.