ASA - American Society on Aging

2006 Awards Programs
Recognizing Excellence in the Field of Aging

Award Winners

2006 ASA GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH AWARDS

ASA gratefully acknowledges the support of the AARP Andrus Foundation for the Graduate Student Research Award. The ASA Graduate Student Research Award is presented to graduate students for exceptional research relevant to aging and applicable to practice.

Jung-Hwa Ha, MSW, MA

Ann Arbor, Michigan

Jung-Hwa Ha is a PhD student in the Joint Doctoral Program in Social Work and Sociology at the University of Michigan. She earned her BA at the Seoul National University in Korea in 1999, and received her MSW and MA (Sociology) at the University of Michigan in 2002.

Her research interests include life course and aging, widowhood, social support, intergenerational relationships and caregiving. Her work has focused on examining the intergenerational relationships between widowed older parents and their adult children using the Changing Lives of Older Couples (CLOC) Study.

Currently, she is working on her dissertation which investigates the determinants and psychological consequences of changing social support following late-life widowhood.

Honorable Mention

Michelle M. Washko, PhD

Silver Spring, Maryland

Michelle M. Washko, Senior Research Associate at the Institute for the Future of Aging Services (IFAS), conducts and manages research on: innovations & policies that enhance the long-term care workforce, affordable housing with services, and volunteering behaviors of mid-life and older adults. Her methodological experience includes both quantitative and qualitative research design & analysis.

Prior to joining the Institute, she served as an analyst and consultant on several research grants, with topics ranging from dementia caregiving to productive aging. She also taught as an adjunct professor in the Department of Psychology and as an instructor to older learners in the Gerontology Institute, both at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

She has held positions in various professional organizations and is currently past-chair of the Emerging Scholars and Professionals Organization (ESPO) in the Gerontological Society of America (GSA). Dr. Washko recently received a PhD and MS in Gerontology from the University of Massachusetts Boston, and an MS in Individual & Family Studies from the University of Delaware.