People

Mentors

Meet our team of experienced disability and employment research mentors:

Karla Armenti

Sc.D., Work Environment

Work with ARRT postdocs:

Dr. Armenti’s mentorship in the ARRT is focused on the work environment, particularly as it impacts work related injury, illness, and disability. Understanding the context from a policy perspective is critical to finding solutions to improve the health and well-being of NH’s workers. She offers guidance on conducting qualitative research studies using primary data from surveys and focus groups, as well as secondary data analysis using occupational epidemiology methods. Dr. Armenti has also served as a mentor of MPH students as part of the New Hampshire Public Health Association’s mentorship program.

Current grants as Principal Investigator (or co-PI):

Occupational Health Surveillance Program (NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Occupational Health Surveillance Program (2021-2026)

Karla Armenti is a woman with short golden brown hair and glasses

Debra Brucker

Ph.D., Public Policy; M.P.A., Social Policy & Analysis

Work with ARRT postdocs:

Dr. Brucker’s expertise in policy is a benefit to our postdoctoral scholars. Her mentorship centers on disability policy context, as she is widely published in work related to employment, poverty, housing, and food insecurity for people with disabilities. Dr. Brucker also serves as a UNH mentor for new faculty navigating the peer review process and provides guidance to ARRT postdocs in getting their research published.

Current research:

Dr. Brucker is currently studying the effectiveness of a job crafting intervention for improving work performance for persons with disabilities; reasons for not working during the COVID pandemic for persons with disabilities; differences by race and ethnicity in receipt of workplace accommodations; and mental health disparities among persons with disabilities who identify as LGBTQ.

Current grants as Principal Investigator (or co-PI):

Debra Brucker is a woman with curly auburn hair, wearing glasses and standing in front of a rocky oceanside

Megan Henly (ARRT Program Director)

Ph.D., sociology; M.S., Survey Methodology

Work with ARRT postdocs:

Dr. Henly’s mentorship in the ARRT centers on identification and use of secondary survey data to answer employment-related disability research. She offers guidance on survey-specific issues including coding and analysis; guidance on sampling and weighting considerations; and disability measurement.

Current research:

Dr. Henly’s current projects include the role of the built and social environments in shaping health outcomes for people with disabilities; the role of SSI policy in contributing to racial disparities in homeownership; and barriers to employment for people with disabilities.

Current grants as Principal Investigator (or co-PI):

Megan Henly is a woman with shoulder length brown hair in a dark blue blazer leaning up against a stone wall with the Washington Monument and Reflecting Pool in the background

Andrew Houtenville

Ph.D., Economics

Work with ARRT postdocs:

Dr. Houtenville is the Director of the Center for Research on Disability at the Institute on Disability. He oversees grant-funded research activities within the Center and hosts the National Trends in Disability Employment webinar each month. Dr. Houtenville also teaches econometrics and works with our postdocs to provide a labor market perspective to their work.

Current grants as Principal Investigator (or co-PI):

Andrew Houtenville

Post-Docs

Meet our postdoctoral research associates:

Cohort 2 (Starting during academic year 2022-23)

Hyun Ju Kim

Education:

Ph.D., Public Policy, George Mason University

Motivation for applying to the ARRT:

Dr. Kim joined the ARRT program at the Institute on Disability in October of 2022. Hyun Ju’s research interest includes quantitively evaluating public programs such as Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) due to disability. Her research mainly focuses on economic and basic well-being of people with disabilities highlighting different races/ethnicities and genders.

Training during the ARRT:
  • 2023 cohort of Research Communications Academy (RCA) by University of New Hampshire (January – March 2023, Durham, NH)
  • 2023 cohort of Junior Scholar Intensive Training (JSIT) by University of Wisconsin Center for Financial Security and Retirement & Disability Research Center (June 12-16, 2023, Madison, WI)
Peer-reviewed publications written during the ARRT:
Works in preparation
  • SSA disability programs during Covid
  • Accommodation practices for workers with disabilities
Post-ARRT Goal/Plans

Dr. Kim aims to find a permanent position as a microeconomist in disability and employment when she completes the ARRT program in early 2024

Hyun Ju Kim is a woman with straight brown hair styled in a bob. Shes wearing a white blouse with a navy blue blazer with big gold buttons.

Jamie (Jaekyeong) Kwon

Education:

Ph.D., Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University

Motivation for applying to the ARRT:

Jamie “Jaekyeong” Kwon joined the Advanced Rehabilitation Research Training on Employment Program at the Institute on Disability in March 2023. She is mainly interested in using secondary survey datasets to examine the relationship between transportation access and employment outcomes among people with disabilities in the United States. Through her research at the Institute on Disability, she hopes to connect urban planners and disability scholars in facilitating multi-disciplinary discussions on how to address the transportation challenges faced by people with disabilities.

Training during the ARRT:

TBD

Peer-reviewed publications written during the ARRT:
Works in preparation
  • Spatial analysis of geographic variation in disability
Post-ARRT Goal/Plans

Jamie is looking for a faculty position at university disability research centers, disability studies departments, or urban planning departments.

Jamie Kwon is a woman with shoulder length black hair wearing a light brown sweater

Cohort 1 (Starting during academic year 2021-22)

Erica Jablonski

Education:

Ph.D., Sociology, University of New Hampshire

Motivation for applying to the ARRT:

Dr. Jablonski joined the ARRT team as a postdoc in May of 2022. Her dissertation was centered on the experience of informal/family caregivers, whose unpaid work with individuals with disabilities may disrupt their involvement in paid employment, social participation, and overall well-being. This work was qualitative and by working with the IOD researchers, her hope was to gain more experience in quantitative analysis and to establish a network of disability researcher collaborators.

Training during the ARRT:
  • Econometrics and Advanced Econometrics
  • Scholarly Writing Institute (2022)
  • UNH Research Communications Academy
  • National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) 2023 Summer Workshop
Peer-reviewed publications written during the ARRT:
In Press

Jablonski, E., Phillips, K.G., & Henly, M. (in press). Employment barriers experienced at different job acquisition stages by people with and without disabilities. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation.

Works under review
  • Flexible work environments
  • Financial difficulties during Covid-19
Other Publications
Post-ARRT Goal/Plans

Dr. Jablonski has secured a faculty position in the College of Professional Studies at the University of New Hampshire, will be continuing to collaborate with Institute on Disability staff for ongoing manuscripts on caregiving and disability, and is pursuing future research and evaluation opportunities.

Erica Jablonski is a woman with curly red-blond hair and glasses

Chris Surfus

Education:

Ph.D., Public Administration, Western Michigan University

Motivation for applying to the ARRT:

Dr. Surfus’s dissertation research involved qualitative data collection to examine the role of municipal managers in LGBTQ+ community inclusion. As a self-identified gay disabled researcher, they were eager to incorporate disability into his research and to get further training in quantitative research methods. They worked as an Employment ARRT postdoc from 2021 through August 2022.

Training during the ARRT:
  • Epidemiology
  • Stata short courses
Peer-reviewed publications written during the ARRT:
  • Brucker, D.L., Surfus, C.R., & Henly, M. (2023) Mental health experiences in 2021 for U.S. adults with disabilities who are LGBT. Rehabilitation Psychology, 68(4), pp. 374-384. doi: 10.1037/rep0000511
  • Surfus, C.R. (2023) A Statistical understanding of the LGBT population with disabilities. Statistics and Public Policy 10, 1. doi: 10.1080/2330443X.2023.2188056
  • Surfus, C.R. (2023) The COVID-19 Impact on employment for LGBT individuals with disabilities. Journal of Disability Policy Studies (pre-press). doi: 10.1177/10442073231205605
Post-ARRT Goal/Plans

After completing his ARRT postdoc, Dr. Surfus landed a faculty teaching position at Western Michigan University. They are currently seeking a tenure-track position in public administration where they can devote time to disability research in addition to teaching.

Chris Surfus is a man with a shaved head in a navy blue suit