Fath and Zhang Awarded Grants

Assistant Professors Sean Fath and Yiran Zhang have received grants from the Cornell Center for Social Sciences to support their research.

For his project, “Black Employees’ Allyship Needs,” Fath argues that fulfilling relationships with coworkers can foster positive work outcomes for employees. When Black employees’ allyship needs are met by their white coworkers, they experience higher attachment to coworkers, higher organizational commitment and lower turnover intentions.

Fath joined the Department of Organizational Behavior in the fall of 2020 after earning his doctorate in management and organizations from Duke University. He studies topics related to inequality and hierarchy in organizations and society.

Zhang’s project, “Public Compensation for Family Caregivers: The Governance of Care Work in Consumer-Directed Care,” will examine administrative law judge decisions and will study the everyday legal struggles and the state’s governance of care work in Medicaid-funded consumer-directed personal care programs, an emerging health care delivery model that pays a family member to provide long-term home care.

Zhang joined the faculty of the Labor Relations, Law, & History Department this fall, coming to Cornell after earning a doctorate and a master of laws degree from Harvard Law School. She studies the governance of care work at the intersection of the often-informal labor markets and the economic household.