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Bhavani Arabandi
Principal Research Associate
Work, Education, and Labor​ Division Apprenticeships and Labor Markets

Bhavani Arabandi is a principal research associate in the Work, Education, and Labor Division at the Urban Institute. She is a labor sociologist whose work focuses on enduring inequalities in the labor market, women’s labor force participation, gender, apprenticeship, and international development. Her expertise is in program design and implementation, qualitative methods research, policy analysis, and technical assistance.

Before joining the Urban Institute, Arabandi worked as a program analyst at the US Department of Labor. She was selected as a fiscal year 2020 CXO Fellow and received the secretary’s award for outreach and training. Before joining the federal service, Arabandi was an academic with extensive experience at public and private universities. She was awarded the Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Award in Teaching and Research and was a postdoctoral research fellow at Rice University. She has published in major journals and has received several awards for her research.

Arabandi has a MSW from the Tata Institute of Social Work, Mumbai, and grassroots experience working with women’s groups in rural India. She also has a MA in sociology from George Mason University and a PhD in sociology from the University of Virginia.

Research and Evidence
Work, Education, and Labor
Expertise
Apprenticeships Artificial Intelligence Transition-Age Young People Families
Tags
Job markets and labor force Racial equity in education Racial inequities in economic mobility International development and governance Apprenticeships Children and youth Global issues