May 21, 2026 | News | Award

Elena Pojman Receives 2025 IPUMS Time Use Research Award

The MPIDR is happy to share that Elena Pojman received the 2025 IPUMS Time Use Research Award in the Student Division for her research on "Racial-Ethnic Stratification in Women’s Kin Caregiving Burden Across the Life Course in the United States."

Elena Pojman received the IPUMS Time Use Research Award. © MPIDR/Schulz

Elena joined the Research Group Kinship Inequalities at Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in 2025. Elena was awarded the IPUMS Time Use Research Award, which recognizes research using IPUMS ATUS, IPUMS AHTUS, and/or IPUMS MTUS data. Her awarded research investigates racial and ethnic differences in kinship structure and the timing of caregiving responsibilities throughout the life course. She integrates kinship models with American Time Use Survey (ATUS) data to illustrate differences in caregiving responsibilities for parents, siblings, children, and grandchildren. Her results show that Hispanic women face greater caregiving demands than Black and white women at nearly every age. She identifies these disparate time demands as a possible driver of long-term inequalities in health and socioeconomic outcomes.

The IPUMS Research Awards competition honors outstanding research that uses IPUMS data to advance or deepen understanding of social and demographic processes. The awards recognize papers that showcase the power of the IPUMS data collections through innovative approaches and comparative analyses. Prizes are awarded for the best published and best graduate student work (published or unpublished) in eight categories.