2016 Research Innovation and Development Grants in Economics (RIDGE) Conference

The RIDGE Program encourages new and innovative research on food assistance and nutrition issues and broadens the participation of social science scholars in this important research area. The annual conference is held to provide a forum for grant recipients and attendees to discuss results of recently funded grants on topics that includes food assistance program participation, food insecurity among vulnerable populations, and community influence on food assistance and dietary choices. RIDGE is administered in partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Purdue University.

Location and date:

Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU)
1307 New York Avenue, NW
Washington, DC
October 20, 2016

2016 Research Innovation and Development Grants in Economics (RIDGE) Conference

8:15 – 8:45: Registration and Refreshments

8:45 – 8:55: Opening remarks

• Alex Majchrowicz, Director, RIDGE Program, ERS
• Jay Variyam, Director, Food Economics Division, ERS

Morning session

8:55 – 9:00: Comments from the RIDGE Center for Targeted Studies at the Purdue Center for Regional Development, Purdue University

• Lionel J. “Bo” Beaulieu, Director
  

9:00 - 9:30: Community Eligibility and Child Well-Being

• Colleen Heflin, University of Missouri
  
• Daniel P. Miller, Boston University

9:30 – 10:00: Identifying Multiple Patterns of Characteristics that Result in U.S. Urban and Rural Households Having Very Low Food Security Using Classification Trees

• Edward A. Frongillo, University of South Carolina
  
• Maryah S. Fram, University of South Carolina
  
• Seul Ki Choi, University of South Carolina
  

10:00 – 10:15: Session break

10:15 – 10:20: Comments from the RIDGE Center for National Food and Nutrition Research at the Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin—Madison

• Judi Bartfeld, Director
  

10:20 – 10:50: Design Flaws: The Effect of the Coverage Gap in Food Assistance Programs on Children’s Well-Being

• Irma Arteaga, University of Missouri
• Colleen Heflin, University of Missouri

10:50 – 11:20: The Impact of Expanding the National School Meals Program on School Performance

• Joseph Price, Brigham Young University
  
• Daniel Rees, University of Colorado—Denver

11:20 – 11:50: The Impacts of School Lunch Reforms on Student Outcomes

• Diane Schanzenbach, Northwestern University

11:50 – 1:15: Lunch on your own

Afternoon session

1:15 – 1:45: The Effects of SNAP on Non-Food Consumption: An Instrumental Variables Approach

• Lorenzo Almada, Columbia University
  

1:45 – 2:15: Spatially Heterogeneous Effects of SNAP Participation and Food Insecurity on Hispanic Children’s Physical and Mental Health

• Shannon Monnat, Pennsylvania State University
• Jennifer Van Hook, Pennsylvania State University
• Reaven Faye Chandler, Pennsylvania State University
• Leif Jensen, Pennsylvania State University

2:15 – 2:45: Rural and Urban Comparisons of SNAP Participation, Neighborhood Effects, and Food Outlet Availability on Childhood and Adult BMI Values and Time Spent Obese

• Thomas Vartanian, Bryn Mawr College
• Corrie Tice, Bryn Mawr College

2:45 – 3:00: Session break

3:00 – 3:30: Using Geo-ethnography to Understand How Place and Space Matter in Issues of Food Access

• Lillian MacNell, North Carolina State University
  

3:30 - 4:00: TBD

4:00 – 4:15: Closing remarks and adjournment

• David Smallwood, Branch Chief, Food Assistance Branch, ERS