Ankita Patnaik

Ankita Patnaik studies programs that are designed to help people obtain and retain employment and economic security, especially programs that serve young people, people with low incomes, and people with disabilities. She is particularly interested in designing and conducting mixed-methods evaluations that can provide reliable evidence on the effectiveness of such programs in improving participants’ lives.

Patnaik currently leads several projects and outcomes or impact studies. She is the project director of the Research Support Services for Employment of Young Adults on the Autism Spectrum project and the Administrative Data Research and Analysis Project. She leads the impact study and benefit-cost study of the Retaining Employment and Talent After Injury/Illness Network Evaluation, and previously was the evaluation lead on the Promoting Readiness of Minors in Supplemental Security Income Evaluation. She has also played key roles in research projects such as the Evaluation of the Refugees with Disabilities Vocational Training and Employment Demonstration, Evaluation of Employment Coaching for TANF and Related Populations, the Self-employment Assistance Study, and the Parents and Children Together Evaluation.

Patnaik’s work has been published in the Journal of Labor Economics and Evaluation Review, discussed in the Economic Report of the President, and cited in press publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. She has presented her research at various forums and conferences, including a congressional briefing in 2016. Patnaik holds a Ph.D. in economics from Cornell University.