Launched in Fall 2025 through a gift from the Gracias Family Foundation, the Gracias Center for Human Sciences and Well-Being represents the newest frontier in economics advanced by BFI. By focusing on both beliefs and scaling, the Center deepens understanding of human development, well-being, and the drivers of positive outcomes worldwide.
As a first step, BFI is excited to announce Kristin Troutman has joined the team to serve as Program Director. For more than a decade, Kristin has managed and implemented a range of UChicago research projects at the intersection of economics and education. She earned a BS from Northern Illinois University and a MSW from University of Illinois at Chicago, and also served as a school social worker prior to joining UChicago. In addition to her responsibilities in support of the Gracias Center, Kristin continues to support the Department of Economics as the Program Director of the Kenneth C. Griffin Applied Economics Incubator.
BFI has also begun the first set of core activities of the Center in collaboration with the TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health. This work will advance groundbreaking research on how caregiver beliefs shape child development. A principal focus will be on providing critical infrastructure for translation and cultural adaptation of the SPEAK assessment tool, enhancing the platform for broader scalability, and building a global research community. We will continue to update you as the work advances.
Finally, the Center issued its inaugural call for proposals. We invited UChicago ladder faculty to propose interdisciplinary research exploring how beliefs unlock human potential and how to maximize the reach of promising interventions. Recipients of the inaugural call will be announced in the coming months. Subscribe to our newsletter for updates.