The Center for Healthy Aging & Innovation (CHAI) can serve as a host for the Graduate School’s Interdisciplinary Doctoral Fellowship. As noted by the Graduate School: “The Interdisciplinary Doctoral Fellowship (IDF) provides a unique opportunity for outstanding mid-career Ph.D. students who are engaged in interdisciplinary research to study with faculty at one of the University’s interdisciplinary research centers or institutes during the fellowship year.”

In 2022-2023 CHAI is hosted Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences Ph.D. student, Dana Urbanski, who examined the usefulness of over-the-counter hearing aids for older adults with cognitive impairment. “Working with CHAI faculty has infused my dissertation with new methodologies, approaches, ideas, and perspectives. CHAI has fundamentally shaped the way I think about my work and the difference I hope to make for older adults living with cognitive impairment and hearing loss. I cannot recommend highly enough the IDF experience with CHAI,” says Urbanski.

More information about the IDF can be found on the Graduate School’s website. Students interested in CHAI as a host site should contact Associate Director for Education Marti DeLiema, Ph.D., at mdeliema@umn.edu