Presidential Graduate Assistantship Positions in Addressing Health Disparities
The School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning invites applications for the prestigious Presidential Graduate Assistantship (PGA) program aimed at scholars from underrepresented backgrounds. We are recruiting two doctoral students to start at ASU in Fall 2025. Our doctoral programs include Geographic Information Science, Geography, and Urban Planning.
Priority will be given to applicants with research interests focused on understanding and addressing disparities in healthcare access and outcomes across marginalized communities. Areas of interest might include (but are not limited to) exploring how factors such as transportation access, healthcare infrastructure, and socioeconomic determinants contribute to these disparities.
The Presidential Graduate Assistantship positions offer:
- Financial Support: Four years of funding (full tuition coverage, stipend, and health insurance), contingent upon satisfactory academic progress.
- Research Opportunities & Mentorship: Collaboration with a team of interdisciplinary faculty mentors with expertise in transportation equity, environmental justice, public health, and spatial analysis. Each doctoral student will work with a principal mentor to develop an Individual Development Plan tailored to their research interests and career goals.
- Professional Development: Doctoral students will join a cohort of scholars across ASU and participate in specialized training, workshops, networking, and mentorship opportunities provided by the Office of Inclusive Excellence and the Graduate College.
Faculty Recruiting PhD students:
- Lindsay Oluyede focuses on transportation insecurity, including barriers to healthcare access.
- Aaron Flores focuses on distributional environmental justice, social vulnerability, and health disparities in the context of hazards and disasters.
- Jose-Benito Rosales Chavez focuses on the role of food systems, food security, dietary behaviors, and social determinants in health outcomes, particularly in marginalized communities.
To Apply:
The deadline to apply is December 15, 2024. Interested applicants should apply to one of our PhD programs in Urban Planning, Geography, or Geographic Information Science. For information on the application process and to apply, please visit Graduate Programs. Note: Applicants should indicate interest in the Presidential Graduate Assistantship in their personal statement.
Contact Us:
For questions, please email sgsup.gradprograms@asu.edu.
About this Program:
The Presidential Graduate Assistantship (PGA) is a merit-based award created to support the recruitment, professional development and faculty mentoring of doctoral students in all fields whose research teaching and service will contribute to advancing the ASU Charter. The program creates opportunities to recruit and mentor doctoral students enrolling in an on-campus immersion degree program who offer great potential to advance into the professoriate and other careers. As part of the LIFT Initiative, this program ensures our continued evolution as a premier public research institution with a fundamental responsibility to the communities that it serves.
About the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning:
The School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (SGSUP) advances the ASU mission and Charter through interdisciplinary research and discovery of public value. SGSUP advances geospatial knowledge for a complex world, emphasizing education, research, and applied solutions to urban and environmental problems. SGSUP is committed to fostering a welcoming and inclusive culture to help students from underrepresented backgrounds achieve success at ASU and beyond.
About Arizona State University:
ASU exemplifies a new prototype for the American public research university. As articulated in the ASU Charter, ASU is a comprehensive public research university, measured not by whom it excludes, but by whom it includes and how they succeed; advancing research and discovery of public value; and assuming fundamental responsibility for the economic, social, cultural and overall health of the communities it serves.