Dr. Sarah Reckhow and PhD student Aliyah Mcilwain win AAPOR award

April 29, 2021

The American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) recently announced that PhD student Aliyah Mcilwain and Associate Professor Dr. Sarah Reckhow are among four teams receiving the 2021 Student-Faculty Diversity Pipeline Award.

Aliyah McilwainDr. ReSarah Reckhowckhow and Ms. Mcilwain will be honored during an awards ceremony during the virtual AAPOR 76th Annual Conference on May 13, 2021. 

The Student-Faculty Diversity Pipeline Awards are intended to recruit faculty-student “pairs” interested in becoming AAPOR colleagues. The award targets members of historically underrepresented racial-ethnic groups, interested in the study of public opinion and survey research methodology. AAPOR believes that the scholarly and practical understanding of our discipline is enhanced by the presence and involvement of different perspectives and creative thought. Such diversity and inclusion leads to consequential research, improved interdisciplinary collaboration, and a greater ability to address, understand, and solve problems related to public opinion and survey research methodology. This Award is for students and faculty who identify as: American Indian or Alaska Native; Black or African American; Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; and Hispanic or Latino.

Aliyah McIlwain, native to Southfield, Michigan, joined the Political Science Doctoral Program in the fall of 2018 as a University Enrichment Fellow. Before joining the department Aliyah graduated Summa Cum Laude from Lincoln University receiving a BS in Mathematics and Computer Science. Aliyah’s research interests involve studying educational disparities and inequalities using education policy documents and text-as-data. Her research interests are at the intersection of public policy and data science.

Dr. Reckhow is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Michigan State University. She was awarded a fellowship from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study for 2018-2019.  Her research and teaching interests include urban politics, education policy, nonprofits and philanthropy, and racial and ethnic politics. Reckhow’s work on urban schools has focused on policy reforms in New York City, Los Angeles, Oakland, and Detroit.