Lauren Rich is a senior researcher at Chapin Hall. Her primary interest is in conducting research that will contribute to improving the life chances of children living in poverty, particularly through the realm of education. She conducts longitudinal study of patterns of service utilization among low-income families, and the relationship of service use to family functioning, child development, and school readiness. She recently completed a five-year project examining outcomes among disadvantaged children and youth attending residential schools. She is a research affiliate of the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study, a longitudinal study of unmarried parents and their children based at Princeton and Columbia universities. Prior to joining Chapin Hall, Dr. Rich was an assistant professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Pennsylvania, where she taught courses on the economics of social welfare, social policy analysis, and community economic development. She has also conducted and published research on youth employment, teen childbearing, welfare reform, child support enforcement, the educational attainment of teen mothers, and the economic status of low-income, noncustodial fathers. Dr. Rich received a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan.