The ILR Undergraduate Research Fellows Program provides ILR undergraduates with the opportunity to work with a professor during academic year 2025-2026. This program was developed in response to numerous requests we have received from undergraduates for research opportunities and in the hope that it will facilitate one-on-one student/faculty interactions. Students participating in this program will receive an hourly pay of $17 per hour for up to 10 hours a week. Awards will be made on a one semester basis with renewal possible for the second semester.  Students may not earn credit for the research project during the semester or year they are being paid as a research assistant. 

The Employment Question of State-funded Care

The state relies on and pays for individuals and households to take care of various vulnerable populations who fall under its responsibility. Some paid caregivers (such as home care workers) have acquired a partial employee status while others (such as foster parents) are decisively not employees. The project examines the multiple legal frameworks, both within and beyond work law, that govern these care relationships, and the policy reasons behind the divergence in employment structure. Undergraduate fellows will be involved in collecting, briefing, and analyzing legal materials including court opinions, pleadings, legislative hearing records, and others. Applicants shall submit a writing sample (preferably a legal memo, including the one you may have done for a class, such as 2010) as part of the application. – with Professor Yiran Zhang