Postdoctoral Fellow Profile: Kwabena Krah
Written by Allyson Hamzey
When reflecting on the best advice he’s ever received, Postdoctoral Fellow for the Institute for Racial Justice (IRJ), Kwabena Krah, credits his brother. After his one year of national service in Ghana, the professor Krah was working with asked him to continue working as his teaching and research assistant with the intention of pursuing advanced degrees abroad.
This presented him with a difficult choice: further pursue his academic career or stay closer to his mother in his hometown in the Ashanti region of Ghana, Africa. He remembers his brother’s words upon contemplation of this decision: “You can do this. I believe in you. You’re smart and should stay in school.”
Fueled by this reassurance, he set his sights on the United States for the next chapter in his career. His first stop in his academic journey abroad after passing the Graduate Record Examination (GRE)? Mississippi State University, where he ultimately earned his master’s in agricultural economics.
One standout memory from the day of his arrival in the U.S. remains vivid in his mind. With a chuckle, he recalls he moment he laid eyes on his connecting flight from Atlanta, Georgia to Starkville, Mississippi:
“When I saw that small airplane, I'm like, ‘Man, where are we going?’”
And so, with that tiny airplane and a leap of faith into the unknown, Krah’s international career began.
What drew you to the IRJ?
Following his master’s studies, Krah earned his PhD in agricultural and applied economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Following his work at the Center of Global Development in Washington D.C. after completing his PhD, Krah was eager to continue his career in the U.S. Upon finding the IRJ’s job description, Krah was intrigued: “My work has always been about inequality, food insecurity, and poverty, but it always has been in an international context looking at other developing countries.”
“I have never looked at these issues critically by adding a racial dimension,” Krah, who specializes in economic justice at the IRJ, says. “I always think about inequality, but so when I saw the IRJ's job description, I'm like, man, this is like describing a lot of the things that I do – it's just that I don't look at these things through this [racial] lens. This is an exciting way to help solve or address inequality.”
The opportunity to live with his partner and his child in Chicago full-time again secured his decision even further. The infancy of the IRJ and the opportunities to offer “new ideas and suggestions” enticed Krah too.
“I have room to grow it with the Institute and to maybe feel proud at some point as well. I was part of the pioneers of this, right? I was among the first cohort to join this Institute. We built this,” he says. “It is exciting to feel like you're able to be on the cusp of something new with people and helping develop it.”
“It is exciting to feel like you're able to be on the cusp of something new with people and helping develop it.”
What makes this fellowship different from others?
When asked about what makes the IRJ unique, a big smile grows on his face.
“Flexibility. When I say flexibility, it encompasses a lot of things. You have a chunk of time to do your own research, something that excites you,” Krah says. “You can do whatever you want as long as it's something that solves the problem or addresses racial disparities. I think that’s amazing, because other postdoc programs don’t offer that.”
“The salary too, compared to others, is way better. The time, the flexibility in doing our own research, and also the fact that it offers remote work too,”
Grant submission is a large component of Krah’s work. The opportunity to write grants and learn how to revise them is a significant benefit, he added.
“The resources, the opportunities for us to collaborate, work independently, to develop these grant proposals and submit them, it's a great thing that I personally am really benefiting from.”
Another invaluable component of the IRJ’s postdoctoral fellowship is the support in navigating academia and gaining soft skills from IRJ team members, Krah shared.
“We get precious, precious advice from the team that you wouldn’t get anywhere else."
How is it different being in a Postdoc cohort rather than working individually?
"We have the freedom to do our own things. When we get the chance to be with each other, we are able to talk to each other from different angles and in so many dimensions. That brings up a lot of room for us to share more,” Krah says. “As opposed to maybe one person, me working with one or two people, you're kind of limited in that space. And so, you are not even able to reason widely or have that diverse mindset to come to meetings with.”
Share more about your research projects at the IRJ.
DRINKING WATER REPORT WITH VARUNA: Kwabena collaborated with Varuna to explore inequalities in clean water access in the U.S. and its connection to race. The report is titled: "Finding Solutions to Drinking Water Inequalities in the US: A White Paper on 65,000 Cities.”
“I got the chance to revisit drinking water challenges across the U.S.,” he says. “We specifically zoom in on minority communities to try to understand the drivers of these challenges, and where these challenges are taking place the most.”
“In the report, we give some recommendations and digital solutions that could actually offer some help in mitigating or addressing such challenges,” he says. “We pull data from different sources like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and then some demographics from the Census Bureau. We link that to city-level data on drinking water violations and try to see how these demographic characteristics predict the likelihood of a drinking water violation being observed in a particular city, village or town."
Some of the biggest drinking water violations are happening in bigger cities, the report illuminates.
“We do see that places with higher proportions of Blacks and Latinx report elevated levels of drinking water violations,” Krah says. “In places where you have higher unemployment rates, you're more likely to witness higher levels of drinking water violations."
Postdoctoral Fellow Kwabena Krah presents his Varuna research to the IRJ team, titled "Drinking challenges in predominantly minority occupied communities in the U.S."
“We do see that places with higher proportions of Blacks and Latinx report elevated levels of drinking water violations,” Krah says. “In places where you have higher unemployment rates, you're more likely to witness higher levels of drinking water violations."
Experience in grant writing has been essential in his professional development, according to Krah, as he explains the grantwriting projects he's worked on.
JUSTICE40 INITIATIVE: “For the Justice40 Initiative, Farzaneh [Khayat] and I submitted a proposal to be considered for the Schreiber grant," Krah says. "“The Justice40 initiative is an initiative which was put in place or implemented by the Biden administration. The initiative mandates that for certain federal programs or federal investments, 40 percent should go to disadvantaged communities.”
He shares that the initiative doesn’t clearly outline the extent to which programs are going to serve communities, which inspired the proposal.
LEADERSHIP SCHOLARS PROGRAM: “For the Leadership Scholars Program, we’re trying to develop an evaluation plan, not just the plan, but we are going to execute it,” he says. “It’s a really nice experience for some of us who have never really managed a full project like that.”
“The program came about because the Schreiber family gave the University one hundred million dollars, to help first-generation students, students of color, and underprivileged students,” he says. “What they’re asking us to do is try and evaluate the program, to think about how beneficial the program has been to these people.”
The focus is evaluate the program’s impact on students, staff, and the university community as a whole. As part of the evaluation, Krah and his colleagues are conducting focus groups interviews with the goal of finding ways to improve the program.
“[We’re asking] how will this influence the number of people of color, or first-generation students applying to Loyola," he says.
What’s it like working with a cohort?
Krah notes that while quantitative research is his specialty, he’s found value in different research approaches from his cohort members, Farzaneh Khayat and Meghna Chandra.
“Working closely with Farzaneh, Meghna, especially on the Leadership Scholars’ program, reading some of their work, I have come to appreciate the value of qualitative research."
Bouncing ideas off of his cohort members helps to situate research questions, he says.
Final thoughts?
“IRJ is an institute that I think is walking its talk,” he says. “We try to understand the issue, but we also make that extra step of trying to help solve the problem.”
“IRJ is an institute that I think is walking its talk,” he says. “We try to understand the issue, but we also make that extra step of trying to help solve the problem.”
Written by Allyson Hamzey
When reflecting on the best advice he’s ever received, Postdoctoral Fellow for the Institute for Racial Justice (IRJ), Kwabena Krah, credits his brother. After his one year of national service in Ghana, the professor Krah was working with asked him to continue working as his teaching and research assistant with the intention of pursuing advanced degrees abroad.
This presented him with a difficult choice: further pursue his academic career or stay closer to his mother in his hometown in the Ashanti region of Ghana, Africa. He remembers his brother’s words upon contemplation of this decision: “You can do this. I believe in you. You’re smart and should stay in school.”
Fueled by this reassurance, he set his sights on the United States for the next chapter in his career. His first stop in his academic journey abroad after passing the Graduate Record Examination (GRE)? Mississippi State University, where he ultimately earned his master’s in agricultural economics.
One standout memory from the day of his arrival in the U.S. remains vivid in his mind. With a chuckle, he recalls he moment he laid eyes on his connecting flight from Atlanta, Georgia to Starkville, Mississippi:
“When I saw that small airplane, I'm like, ‘Man, where are we going?’”
And so, with that tiny airplane and a leap of faith into the unknown, Krah’s international career began.
What drew you to the IRJ?
Following his master’s studies, Krah earned his PhD in agricultural and applied economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Following his work at the Center of Global Development in Washington D.C. after completing his PhD, Krah was eager to continue his career in the U.S. Upon finding the IRJ’s job description, Krah was intrigued: “My work has always been about inequality, food insecurity, and poverty, but it always has been in an international context looking at other developing countries.”
“I have never looked at these issues critically by adding a racial dimension,” Krah, who specializes in economic justice at the IRJ, says. “I always think about inequality, but so when I saw the IRJ's job description, I'm like, man, this is like describing a lot of the things that I do – it's just that I don't look at these things through this [racial] lens. This is an exciting way to help solve or address inequality.”
The opportunity to live with his partner and his child in Chicago full-time again secured his decision even further. The infancy of the IRJ and the opportunities to offer “new ideas and suggestions” enticed Krah too.
“I have room to grow it with the Institute and to maybe feel proud at some point as well. I was part of the pioneers of this, right? I was among the first cohort to join this Institute. We built this,” he says. “It is exciting to feel like you're able to be on the cusp of something new with people and helping develop it.”
What makes this fellowship different from others?
When asked about what makes the IRJ unique, a big smile grows on his face.
“Flexibility. When I say flexibility, it encompasses a lot of things. You have a chunk of time to do your own research, something that excites you,” Krah says. “You can do whatever you want as long as it's something that solves the problem or addresses racial disparities. I think that’s amazing, because other postdoc programs don’t offer that.”
“The salary too, compared to others, is way better. The time, the flexibility in doing our own research, and also the fact that it offers remote work too,”
Grant submission is a large component of Krah’s work. The opportunity to write grants and learn how to revise them is a significant benefit, he added.
“The resources, the opportunities for us to collaborate, work independently, to develop these grant proposals and submit them, it's a great thing that I personally am really benefiting from.”
Another invaluable component of the IRJ’s postdoctoral fellowship is the support in navigating academia and gaining soft skills from IRJ team members, Krah shared.
“We get precious, precious advice from the team that you wouldn’t get anywhere else."
How is it different being in a Postdoc cohort rather than working individually?
"We have the freedom to do our own things. When we get the chance to be with each other, we are able to talk to each other from different angles and in so many dimensions. That brings up a lot of room for us to share more,” Krah says. “As opposed to maybe one person, me working with one or two people, you're kind of limited in that space. And so, you are not even able to reason widely or have that diverse mindset to come to meetings with.”
Share more about your research projects at the IRJ.
DRINKING WATER REPORT WITH VARUNA: Kwabena collaborated with Varuna to explore inequalities in clean water access in the U.S. and its connection to race. The report is titled: "Finding Solutions to Drinking Water Inequalities in the US: A White Paper on 65,000 Cities.”
“I got the chance to revisit drinking water challenges across the U.S.,” he says. “We specifically zoom in on minority communities to try to understand the drivers of these challenges, and where these challenges are taking place the most.”
“In the report, we give some recommendations and digital solutions that could actually offer some help in mitigating or addressing such challenges,” he says. “We pull data from different sources like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and then some demographics from the Census Bureau. We link that to city-level data on drinking water violations and try to see how these demographic characteristics predict the likelihood of a drinking water violation being observed in a particular city, village or town."
Some of the biggest drinking water violations are happening in bigger cities, the report illuminates.
“We do see that places with higher proportions of Blacks and Latinx report elevated levels of drinking water violations,” Krah says. “In places where you have higher unemployment rates, you're more likely to witness higher levels of drinking water violations."
Postdoctoral Fellow Kwabena Krah presents his Varuna research to the IRJ team, titled "Drinking challenges in predominantly minority occupied communities in the U.S."
Experience in grant writing has been essential in his professional development, according to Krah, as he explains the grantwriting projects he's worked on.
JUSTICE40 INITIATIVE: “For the Justice40 Initiative, Farzaneh [Khayat] and I submitted a proposal to be considered for the Schreiber grant," Krah says. "“The Justice40 initiative is an initiative which was put in place or implemented by the Biden administration. The initiative mandates that for certain federal programs or federal investments, 40 percent should go to disadvantaged communities.”
He shares that the initiative doesn’t clearly outline the extent to which programs are going to serve communities, which inspired the proposal.
LEADERSHIP SCHOLARS PROGRAM: “For the Leadership Scholars Program, we’re trying to develop an evaluation plan, not just the plan, but we are going to execute it,” he says. “It’s a really nice experience for some of us who have never really managed a full project like that.”
“The program came about because the Schreiber family gave the University one hundred million dollars, to help first-generation students, students of color, and underprivileged students,” he says. “What they’re asking us to do is try and evaluate the program, to think about how beneficial the program has been to these people.”
The focus is evaluate the program’s impact on students, staff, and the university community as a whole. As part of the evaluation, Krah and his colleagues are conducting focus groups interviews with the goal of finding ways to improve the program.
“[We’re asking] how will this influence the number of people of color, or first-generation students applying to Loyola," he says.
What’s it like working with a cohort?
Krah notes that while quantitative research is his specialty, he’s found value in different research approaches from his cohort members, Farzaneh Khayat and Meghna Chandra.
“Working closely with Farzaneh, Meghna, especially on the Leadership Scholars’ program, reading some of their work, I have come to appreciate the value of qualitative research."
Bouncing ideas off of his cohort members helps to situate research questions, he says.
Final thoughts?
“IRJ is an institute that I think is walking its talk,” he says. “We try to understand the issue, but we also make that extra step of trying to help solve the problem.”