R. Jisung Park, an assistant professor in Penn’s School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2) with a secondary appointment at the Wharton School, has been selected by the Russell Sage Foundation (RSF) as one of 17 visiting scholars for the 2024-2025 academic year.

Visiting scholars work in residence at the RSF to pursue research and writing projects that reflect the foundation’s commitment to strengthening the social sciences and conducting research “for the improvement of social and living conditions in the United States.”

As an incoming scholar, Dr. Park will work with collaborator Anna Stansbury, the Class of 1948 Career Development Assistant Professor and an assistant professor of work and organization studies at the MIT Sloan School of Management. They will investigate the extent to which the availability and quality of workers’ outside labor market options affect their health and safety in the workplace.

Dr. Park is an environmental and labor economist interested broadly in how environmental factors shape economic opportunity. Before joining Penn, he was a member of the faculty at UCLA and a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard.

Dr. Park’s research combines data, quasi-experimental methods, and economic analysis to better understand the implications of environmental change for human life, as well as how effective policy responses may be designed.