Project Overview
The Advanced Rehabilitation Research and Training Program on the Future of Employment for People with Disabilities (ARRT FEPD) at the Burton Blatt Institute (BBI) at Syracuse University trains the next generation of highly qualified disability employment researchers. The program’s goal is to increase the number of researchers equipped to conduct rigorous, multidisciplinary research that improves employment policy, practice, and outcomes for people with disabilities.
Over three years, the program will recruit and train four postdoctoral fellows through a structured, twelve-month interdisciplinary curriculum grounded in active federally funded research, including the Disability Employment Policy RRTC and the Employer Disability Practices Center RRTC. Fellows gain hands-on experience with quasi-experimental causal inference models, experimental methods, qualitative approaches, mixed-methods integration, and secondary analysis of large administrative and survey datasets.
Applications will be accepted starting in November of 2026
Training Program
Each fellow completes four integrated didactic modules while embedded in ongoing research projects:
- Disability Employment Policy and Legal Applications
- Research Design and Scientific Methodology
- Employer Practices and Workplace Experiences
- Knowledge Translation, Scientific Writing, Grant Development
Leadership, Mentors, and Advisory Panel
- Principal Investigator and Project Director: Fitore Hyseni, Syracuse University
- Co-Principal Investigator: Peter Blanck, Syracuse University
- Mentors: John Cawley, Emily Wiemers, Maria Zhu, and Chilukuri K. Mohan (Syracuse University); Douglas L. Kruse, Lisa A. Schur, and Mason Ameri (Rutgers University); Ari Ne’eman (Harvard University); Purvi Sevak (Mathematica); Charles-Edouard Catherine (National Organization on Disability)
Contact Information
Director and Co-PI: Fitore Hyseni
Email: fhyseni@syr.edu
Funding Agency
National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR).
Partners
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